Editing Psychological warfare (section)

==History==

===Early===
[[File:Napoli BW 2013-05-16 16-24-01 DxO.jpg|thumb|left|Mosaic of [[Alexander the Great]] on his campaign against the [[Persian Empire]].]]

Currying favor with supporters was the other side of psychological warfare, and an early practitioner of this was [[Alexander the Great]], who [[Wars of Alexander the Great|successfully conquered]] large parts of [[Europe]] and the [[Middle East]] and held on to his territorial gains by co-opting local elites into the Greek administration and culture. Alexander left some of his men behind in each conquered city to introduce Greek culture and oppress dissident views. His soldiers were paid dowries to marry locals<ref>Lance B. Curke Ph.D., ''The Wisdom of Alexander the Great: Enduring Leadership Lessons From the Man Who Created an Empire'' (2004) p. 66</ref> in an effort to encourage [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]].

[[Genghis Khan]], leader of the [[Mongol Empire]] in the 13th century AD employed less-subtle techniques. Defeating the will of the enemy before having to attack and reaching a consented settlement was preferable to facing his wrath. The Mongol generals demanded submission to the Khan and threatened the initially captured villages with complete destruction if they refused to surrender. If they had to fight to take the settlement, the Mongol generals fulfilled their threats and massacred the survivors. Tales of the encroaching horde spread to the next villages and created an aura of insecurity that undermined the possibility of future resistance.<ref>David Nicolle, ''The Mongol Warlords: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane'' (2004) p. 21</ref>

Genghis Khan also employed tactics that made his numbers seem greater than they actually were. During night operations he ordered each soldier to light three torches at dusk to give the illusion of an overwhelming army and deceive and intimidate enemy scouts. He also sometimes had objects tied to the tails of his horses, so that riding on open and dry fields raised a cloud of dust that gave the enemy the impression of great numbers. His soldiers used arrows specially notched to whistle as they flew through the air, creating a terrifying noise.<ref>{{cite book|author=George H. Quester|title=Offense and Defense in the International System|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVyuYeBGKHcC&pg=PA43|year=2003|publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=43|access-date=19 March 2016|isbn=9781412829939}}</ref>

In the 6th century BCE Greek [[Bias of Priene]] successfully resisted the [[Lydia]]n king [[Alyattes of Lydia|Alyattes]] by fattening up a pair of mules and driving them out of the besieged city.<ref>{{cite book|last=Diogenes Laertius|title=Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers|url=http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlbias.htm|access-date=16 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626194826/http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlbias.htm|archive-date=26 June 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> When Alyattes' envoy was then sent to Priene, Bias had piles of sand covered with wheat to give the impression of plentiful resources.

During the [[Granada War]], Spanish captain Hernán Pérez del Pulgar routinely employed psychological tactics as part of his guerrilla actions against the [[Emirate of Granada]]. In 1490, infiltrating the city by night with a small retinue of soldiers, he nailed a letter of challenge on the main [[mosque]] and set fire to the [[Alcaicería of Granada|alcaicería]] before withdrawing.<ref>Bruno Barragán Fernández, ''Cincuenta personajes de Ciudad Real para la historia'', 2016</ref>

In 1574, having been informed about the pirate attacks previous to the [[Battle of Manila (1574)|Battle of Manila]], Spanish captain [[Juan de Salcedo]] had his relief force return to the city by night while playing marching music and carrying torches in loose formations, so they would appear to be a much larger army to any nearby enemy. They reached the city unopposed.<ref>Isabelo de los Reyes y Florentino, ''Artículos varios sobre etnografía: Historia y costumbres de Filipinas'', p. 52</ref>

=== Modern Era ===
Because psyops shape public opinion and public memory, the rise of the printing press and mass communication greatly increased the use of psyops for military advantage. During the Indian Wars of the 17th through 19th centuries, politicians, newspaper reports and fictional novels about Native Americans all conveyed the belief that tribes in the Northeast had "died out," and leaders of New England communities even gave speeches about the "last Indians" in New England, even as Native Americans continued to reside in these communities.<ref name=":1" />

===World War I===
[[File:James Bryce.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lord Bryce]] led the [[The Bryce Report|commission]] of 1915 to document German [[Rape of Belgium|atrocities committed against Belgian civilians]].]]
The start of modern psychological operations in war is generally dated to [[World War I]]. By that point, Western societies were increasingly educated and urbanized, and mass media was available in the form of large circulation [[newspaper]]s and posters. It was also possible to transmit propaganda to the enemy via the use of [[Airborne leaflet propaganda|airborne leaflets]] or through explosive delivery systems like modified artillery or [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]] rounds.<ref name="PSYOP">{{cite web|url=http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIAllies.html|title=Allied PsyOp of WWI|access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

At the start of the war, the belligerents, especially the British and Germans, began distributing propaganda, both domestically and on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western front]]. The British had several advantages that allowed them to succeed in the battle for [[world opinion]]; they had one of the world's most reputable news systems, with much experience in international and cross-cultural communication, and they controlled much of the [[undersea communications cable]] system then in operation. These capabilities were easily transitioned to the task of warfare.

The British also had a [[diplomatic service]] that maintained good relations with many nations around the world, in contrast to the reputation of the German services.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMRBAAAAIAAJ|title=Psychological Warfare|author=Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony|year=2006|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=7 February 2013}}</ref> While German attempts to foment revolution in parts of the [[British Empire]], such as [[Ireland]] and [[India]], were ineffective, extensive experience in the [[Middle East]] allowed the British to successfully induce the Arabs to [[Arab revolt|revolt]] against the [[Ottoman Empire]].

In August 1914, [[David Lloyd George]] appointed a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP), [[Charles Masterman]], to head a [[Wellington House|Propaganda Agency]] at Wellington House. A distinguished body of literary talent was enlisted for the task, with its members including [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[Ford Madox Ford]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Thomas Hardy]], [[Rudyard Kipling]] and [[H. G. Wells]]. Over 1,160 pamphlets were published during the war and distributed to neutral countries, and eventually, to Germany. One of the first significant publications, the ''[[The Bryce Report|Report on Alleged German Outrages]]'' of 1915, had a great effect on general opinion across the world. The pamphlet documented [[Rape of Belgium|atrocities]], both actual and alleged, committed by the German army against Belgian civilians. A Dutch illustrator, [[Louis Raemaekers]], provided the highly emotional drawings which appeared in the pamphlet.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Battle for the Mind: German and British Propaganda in the First World War|url=http://quadri.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/the-battle-for-the-mind-german-and-british-propaganda-in-the-first-world-war/|website=Quadri.wordpress.com|date=25 April 2008}}</ref>

In 1917, the bureau was subsumed into the new [[Department of Information (United Kingdom)|Department of Information]] and branched out into [[telegraph]] communications, [[radio]], newspapers, magazines and the cinema. In 1918, [[Viscount Northcliffe]] was appointed Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. The department was split between propaganda against Germany organized by H.G Wells, and propaganda against the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] supervised by [[Wickham Steed]] and [[Robert William Seton-Watson]]; the attempts of the latter focused on the lack of ethnic cohesion in the Empire and stoked the grievances of minorities such as the [[Croatia|Croats]] and [[Slovenia|Slovenes]]. It had a significant effect on the final collapse of the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] at the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]].<ref name="PSYOP" />

Aerial leaflets were dropped over German trenches containing postcards from [[prisoners of war]] detailing their humane conditions, surrender notices and general propaganda against the [[Wilhelm II|Kaiser]] and the German [[general]]s. By the end of the war, [[MI7b]] had distributed almost 26 million leaflets. The Germans began shooting the leaflet-dropping pilots, prompting the British to develop unmanned leaflet balloons that drifted across [[no-man's land]]. At least one in seven of these leaflets were not handed in by the soldiers to their superiors, despite severe penalties for that offence. Even General [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] admitted that "Unsuspectingly, many thousands consumed the poison", and [[Prisoner of War|POWs]] admitted to being disillusioned by the propaganda leaflets that depicted the use of German troops as mere [[cannon fodder]]. In 1915, the British began airdropping a regular leaflet newspaper ''[[Le Courrier de l'Air]]'' for civilians in German-occupied France and Belgium.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmC1mS35ROcC|title=British Propaganda in the Twentieth Century: Selling Democracy|author=Taylor, Philip M.|year=1999|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|access-date=7 February 2013|isbn=9780748610396}}</ref>

At the start of the war, the French government took control of the media to suppress negative coverage. Only in 1916, with the establishment of the Maison de la Presse, did they begin to use similar tactics for the purpose of psychological warfare. One of its sections was the "Service de la Propagande aérienne" (Aerial Propaganda Service), headed by Professor Tonnelat and [[Jean-Jacques Waltz]], an Alsatian artist code-named "''Hansi''". The French tended to distribute leaflets of images only, although the full publication of [[US President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]], which had been heavily edited in the German newspapers, was distributed via airborne leaflets by the French.<ref name="PSYOP" />

The [[Central Powers]] were slow to use these techniques; however, at the start of the war the Germans succeeded in inducing the [[Sultan]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] to declare 'holy war', or [[Jihad]], against the Western [[infidel]]s. They also attempted to foment rebellion against the [[British Empire]] in places as far afield as [[Ireland]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[India]]. The Germans' greatest success was in giving the Russian revolutionary, [[Lenin]], free transit on a sealed train from [[Switzerland]] to [[Finland]] after the overthrow of the [[Tsar Nicholas II|Tsar]]. This soon paid off when the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] took [[Russia]] out of the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psywarrior.com/GermanWWIPSYOP.html|title=German WWI PsyOp|access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

===World War II===

Germany's ''[[Fall Grün (Czechoslovakia)|Fall Grün]]'' plan of invasion of Czechoslovakia had a large part dealing with psychological warfare aimed both at the Czechoslovak civilians and government as well as, crucially, at Czechoslovakia's allies.<ref name="Hruška">{{Citation
| last1  = Hruška
| first1 = Emil
| title     = Boj o pohraničí: Sudetoněmecký Freikorps v roce 1938
| publisher = Nakladatelství epocha, Pražská vydavatelská společnost
| place     = Prague
| edition = 1st
| year    = 2013
| page  = 9
}}</ref> It became successful to the point that Germany [[Appeasement|gained the acquiescence]] of the British and French governments to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia without having to fight an all-out war, sustaining only minimum losses in [[Sudetendeutsches Freikorps#Terrorism|covert war]] before the [[Munich Agreement]].{{fact|date=October 2024}}

[[File:Map of Operation Bodyguard subordinate plans.png|thumb|left|Map depicting the targets of all the subordinate plans of [[Operation Bodyguard]].]]
During World War II, the British made extensive use of deception – developing many new techniques and theories. The main protagonists at this time were 'A' Force, set up in 1940 under [[Dudley Clarke]], and the London Controlling Section, chartered in 1942 under the control of John Bevan.<ref name=LatimerBG>Latimer (2004), pg. 148–149</ref><ref name=ODNB>Cruickshank (2004)</ref> Clarke pioneered many of the strategies of military deception. His ideas for combining fictional orders of battle, visual deception and [[double agent]]s helped define Allied deception strategy during the war, for which he has been referred to as "the greatest British deceiver of WW2".<ref>{{cite book|author=Rankin, Nicholas|title=Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914–1945|author-link=Nicholas Rankin|date=1 October 2008|publisher=[[Faber and Faber]]|isbn=978-0-571-22195-0|page=178}}</ref>

During the lead-up to the Allied [[invasion of Normandy]], many new tactics in psychological warfare were devised. The plan for [[Operation Bodyguard]] set out a general strategy to mislead German high command as to the date and location of the invasion, which was obviously going to happen. Planning began in 1943 under the auspices of the [[London Controlling Section]] (LCS). A draft strategy, referred to as Plan Jael, was presented to Allied high command at the [[Tehran Conference]]. [[Operation Fortitude]] was intended to convince the Germans of a greater Allied military strength than was the case, through fictional [[field army|field armies]], faked operations to prepare the ground for invasion and "leaked" misinformation about the Allied order of battle and war plans.

Elaborate [[D-Day naval deceptions|naval deceptions]] (Operations ''Glimmer'', ''Taxable'' and ''Big Drum'') were undertaken in the English Channel.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbier, Mary|title=D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=30 October 2007|url={{google books|GXLFo4_2PC8C|page=70|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0275994792|page=70}}</ref> Small ships and aircraft simulated invasion fleets lying off Pas de Calais, Cap d'Antifer and the western flank of the real invasion force.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbier, Mary|title=D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=30 October 2007|url={{google books|GXLFo4_2PC8C|page=108|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0275994792|page=108}}</ref> At the same time [[Operation Titanic]] involved the [[RAF]] dropping fake paratroopers to the east and west of the Normandy landings.

[[File:DummyShermanTank.jpg|thumb|A dummy [[Sherman tank]], used to deceive the Germans.]]
The deceptions were implemented with the use of double agents, radio traffic and visual deception. The British "[[Double-Cross System|Double Cross]]" anti-espionage operation had proven very successful from the outset of the war,<ref name=Masterman>{{cite book |author=Masterman, John C|author-link=John Cecil Masterman |title=The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945 |publisher=Australian National University Press |isbn=978-0-7081-0459-0 |year=1972|orig-year=1945}}</ref> and the LCS was able to use double agents to send back misleading information about Allied invasion plans.<ref name=Ambrose>{{cite magazine|author=Ambrose, Stephen E.|title=Eisenhower, the Intelligence Community, and the D-Day Invasion|author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose|magazine=The Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=64|number=4|page=269|issn=0043-6534|year = 1981|publisher = Wisconsin Historical Society}}</ref> The use of visual deception, including mock tanks and other military hardware had been developed during the [[North Africa campaign]]. Mock hardware was created for ''Bodyguard''; in particular, dummy landing craft were stockpiled to give the impression that the invasion would take place near [[Calais]].

The Operation was a strategic success and the [[Operation Overlord|Normandy landing]]s caught German defences unaware. Continuing deception, portraying the landings as a diversion from a forthcoming main invasion in the Calais region, led Hitler into delaying transferring forces from Calais to the real battleground for nearly seven weeks.<ref>{{cite book|author=Latimer, John|author-link=Jon Latimer|title=Deception in War|publisher=New York: Overlook Press|year=2001|isbn=978-1-58567-381-0|page=238}}</ref>

===Vietnam War===
[[File:Vietnampropaganda.png|thumb|left|upright|"Viet Cong, beware!" – [[South Vietnam]] leaflets urging the defection of [[Viet Cong]].]]

The United States ran an extensive program of psychological warfare during the [[Vietnam War]]. The [[Phoenix Program]] had the dual aim of assassinating National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF or [[Viet Cong]]) personnel and terrorizing any potential sympathizers or passive supporters. During the Phoenix Program, over 19,000 NLF supporters were killed.<ref>{{cite web|author=Janq Designs |url=http://www.specialoperations.com/History/Vietnam/phoenix.html |title=Special operation – Phoenix |website=Specialoperations.com |access-date=18 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512063242/http://www.specialoperations.com/History/Vietnam/phoenix.html |archive-date=12 May 2011 }} The [[Chieu Hoi]] program of the [[South Vietnamese]] government promoted NLF defections.

When members of the [[Viet Cong]] were assassinated, [[CIA]] and [[Special Forces]] operatives placed [[playing cards]] in the mouth of the deceased as a calling card, with the aim of striking fear into the enemy.</ref> In [[Operation Wandering Soul]], the United States also used tapes of distorted human sounds and played them during the night making the Vietnamese soldiers think that the dead were back for revenge.

The Vietcong and their forces also used a program of psychological warfare during this war. Trịnh Thị Ngọ, also known as Thu Hương and [[Hanoi Hannah]], was a Vietnamese radio personality. She made English-language broadcasts for North Vietnam directed at United States troops. During the Vietnam War, Ngọ became famous among US soldiers for her propaganda broadcasts on Radio Hanoi. Her scripts were written by the North Vietnamese Army and were intended to frighten and shame the soldiers into leaving their posts. She made three broadcasts a day, reading a list of newly killed or imprisoned Americans, and playing popular US anti-war songs in an effort to incite feelings of nostalgia and homesickness, attempting to persuade US GIs that the US involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust and immoral.<ref name="hanoi hannah">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/hanoi-hannah-vietnam-propaganda-dies-87-505704|title=Vietnam-era propagandist 'Hanoi Hannah' dies at 87|author=Jeff Stein|website=newsweek.com|publisher=[[Newsweek]]|date=3 October 2016|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=9 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809154445/https://www.newsweek.com/hanoi-hannah-vietnam-propaganda-dies-87-505704|url-status=live}}</ref> A typical broadcast began as follows:

<blockquote>How are you, GI Joe? It seems to me that most of you are poorly informed about the going of the war, to say nothing about a correct explanation of your presence over here. Nothing is more confused than to be ordered into a war to die or to be maimed for life without the faintest idea of what's going on.<ref>Hanoi Hannah, 16 June 1967</ref></blockquote>

===21st century===
[[File:Your future al-Zarqawi.jpg|thumb|upright|An American PSYOP leaflet disseminated during the [[Iraq War]]. It shows a caricature of [[Al-Qaeda|Al-Qaeda in Iraq]] leader [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] caught in a [[rat trap]]. The caption reads "This is your future, Zarqawi".]]

The [[CIA]] made extensive use of [[Contras|Contra]] soldiers to destabilize the [[Sandinista]] government in [[Nicaragua]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2005/1/10/is_the_u_s_organizing_salvador|access-date=16 December 2008|title=Is the U.S. Organizing Salvador-Style Death Squads in Iraq?|work=[[Democracy Now!]]|date=10 January 2005}}</ref> The CIA used psychological warfare techniques against the [[Panama]]nians by delivering unlicensed TV broadcasts. The United States government has used propaganda broadcasts against the [[Cuba]]n government through [[TV Marti]], based in [[Miami, Florida]]. However, the Cuban government has been successful at jamming the signal of TV Marti.

In the [[Iraq War]], the United States used the [[shock and awe]] campaign to psychologically maim and break the will of the [[Iraqi Army]] to fight.

In cyberspace, [[social media]] has enabled the use of [[disinformation]] on a wide scale. Analysts have found evidence of doctored or misleading photographs spread by social media in the [[Syrian Civil War]] and [[2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine]], possibly with state involvement.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://jsis.washington.edu/news/russia-disinformation-ukraine/|access-date=25 October 2017|title=Countering Disinformation: Russia's Infowar in Ukraine|work=[[University of Washington]]|date=25 October 2017}}</ref> Military and governments have engaged in psychological operations (PSYOP) and [[Information warfare|informational warfare]] (IW) on social networking platforms to regulate foreign propaganda, which includes countries like the [[Ntrepid|US]], [[Internet Research Agency|Russia]], and [[50 Cent Party|China]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-facebook-trump-and-russia/|access-date=25 October 2017|title=What We Know—and Don't Know—About Facebook, Trump, and Russia|magazine=Wired|date=26 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks|access-date=17 March 2011|title=Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media|work=The Guardian|date=17 March 2011}}</ref>

In 2022, [[Meta Platforms|Meta]] and the [[Stanford Internet Observatory]] found that over five years people associated with the U.S. military, who tried to conceal their identities, created fake accounts on social media systems including [[Balatarin]], [[Facebook]], [[Instagram]], [[Odnoklassniki]], [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]], [[Twitter]], [[VKontakte]] and [[YouTube]] in an influence operation in Central Asia and the Middle East. Their posts, primarily in Arabic, Farsi and Russian, criticized Iran, China and Russia and gave pro-Western narratives. Data suggested the activity was a series of covert campaigns rather than a single operation.<ref name=voa-20221124>{{cite news |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/meta-report-us-military-behind-online-influence-campaign-targeting-central-asia-middle-east/6848112.html |title=Meta Report: US Military Behind Online Influence Campaign Targeting Central Asia, Middle East |publisher=Voice of America |date=24 November 2022 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref><ref name=sio-20220824>{{cite web |url=https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_stanford_internet_observatory_report_unheard_voice.pdf |title=Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations |website=Stanford Internet Observatory |date=24 August 2022 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref>

In operations in the South and East China Seas, both the United States and China have been engaged in "[[Cognitive Warfare|cognitive warfare]]", which involves displays of force, staged photographs and sharing disinformation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 April 2021|title=US navy sends China the message: 'we're watching you'|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3129122/us-navy-warns-china-were-watching-you-destroyer-shadows|access-date=12 April 2021|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Chung | first=Lawrence | title=Beijing using 'cognitive warfare' to sway Taiwan public opinion by feeding it misinformation, warns report |newspaper=South China Morning Post | date=5 January 2021 | url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3116539/beijing-using-cognitive-warfare-sway-taiwan-public-opinion}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Farahany | first=Nita | title=TikTok is part of China's cognitive warfare campaign | newspaper=The Guardian | date=25 March 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/25/tiktok-china-cognitive-warfare-us-ban}} Article has detailed analysis of development, risks, and countering of brain-centred techniques.</ref> The start of the public use of "[[Cognitive Warfare|cognitive warfare]]" as a clear movement occurred in 2013 with China's political rhetoric.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 December 2023|title=Cognitive Warfare: The Forgotten War with Tanguy Struye de Swielande|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMSDL02yDag|access-date=1 January 2024|website=Youtube|language=en}}</ref>