Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
In its first few pages, the book accuses the Quakers of obscenity,
adultery, civil commotion, conspiracy, blasphemy, subversion and
lunacy.[8] Milton was not out of fashion in applying bad manners to
propaganda. It is merely regrettable that he did not transcend the
frailties of his time.
=Other Instances From History.= Innumerable other instances of
propaganda in warfare and diplomacy could be culled out of history;
these would not mean much if they were presented as mere story-telling.
The cultural factors would have to be figured out; the military
situation would need to be appraised in realistic terms; the media
available for psychological warfare would have to be charted pretty
carefully, before the instances would become usable examples. Here are
some of the most promising topics:
Naval psychological warfare techniques used by the Caribbean pirates to
unnerve prospective victims.
Cortez's use of horses as psychological disseminators of terror among
the Aztecs, along with his exploitation of Mexican legends concerning
the Fair God.
The failure of Turkish psychological warfare in the great campaigns of
1683 which left the issue one of purely physical means and cost Turkey
the possible hegemony of central Europe.
The propaganda methods of the British East India Company in the conquest
of India against overwhelming Indian numerical superiority. (Edmond
Taylor mentions these in his _Richer by Asia_.)
The preventive psychological warfare system set up by the Tokugawa
shoguns after 1636, which bottled up the brains of the Japanese through
more rigorous control than has ever been established elsewhere over
civilized people.
The field psychological warfare of the Manchus, who conquered China
against odds running as much as 400 to one against them, and who used
terror as a means of nullifying Chinese superiority.
The propaganda of the European feudal classes against the peasant
revolts, which identified the peasants with filth, anarchy, murder, and
cruelty.
The Inquisition considered as a psychological warfare facility of the
Spanish Empire.
The agitational practices of the French Revolutionaries.
Early uses of rockets and balloons for psychological effect.
The beginnings of leaflet-printing as an adjunct to field operations.
Such a list just begins to touch on subjects which can and should be
investigated, either as staff studies or by civilian historians.
Collection of the materials and framing of sound doctrines for
psychological warfare are no minor task.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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