8/1/2018 10 Ancient Psychological Warfare Tactics - Listverse

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HISTORY

10 Ancient Psychological Warfare

Tactics
ABRAHAM RINQUIST DECEMBER 11, 2016

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Psychological warfare misleads, intimidates, and demoralizes the enemy. This use of
threats, propaganda, and subtler strategies has been employed for millennia to influence
adversaries’ thinking. Civilians and soldiers alike are targets of this cunning. Those who
can control their targets’ emotions and reasoning emerge victorious over superior forces.

Aztec Death Whistles

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Photo credit: mexicolore.co.uk

Aztec death whistles sound like the “scream of 1,000 corpses.” Twenty years ago,
archaeologists unearthed two of these skull-shaped instruments in Mexico. They were
clutched in the hands of a sacrificed man at the temple of the wind god.

Initially believed to be toys, the whistles were used in rituals and war. Designed to sound
like a human howling in pain, death whistles were reserved for rare occasions.

Some insist that death whistles were used in sacrifices and to guide the recently deceased
to the land of the dead. Others believe that their main use was psychological warfare.

At the beginning of a battle, the whistles’ unnerving sound would break the resolve of the
enemy. Some experts believe that these death whistles allowed listeners to enter a trance
state. Aztec physicians frequently employed sound in healing.

36 Stratagems
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Photo credit: gbtimes.com

The 36 Stratagems is an ancient collection of Chinese proverbs on warfare. Most are based
on the art of deception and use subtle psychological techniques to undermine an enemy’s
will to fight.

The work contains proverbs so universal that they have become cliches. It contains
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sections on “Attack Strategies,” “Chaos Strategies,” “Desperate Situation Strategies,” and

many other scenarios. All modern versions of 36 Stratagems are derived from a ragged
copy discovered in Szechwan at a book vendor’s stall in 1941.

The work’s author and publication date remain unknown. Most experts trace the work’s
origins to the Warring States Period between 403 and 221 BC. Some of the proverbs refer
to specific events as early as 35 BC. In addition, most experts now believe that there was
no single author and that 36 Stratagems was compiled over centuries.

Sacred Shields
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Photo credit: projectgameofwar.com

In 525 BC, the Battle of Pelusium marked Egypt’s decisive defeat by the Persians and a
milestone of psychological warfare. Led by Emperor Cambyses II, the Achaemenid Persians
swept in from the east and exploited the Egyptians’ reverence for felines.

The invaders drew cats on their shields. Some speculate that they may have pinned real
cats to their protective gear. The Egyptians worshiped the feline god Bastet and refused to
harm their sacred symbol. In Stratagems, Polyaenus insists that the Persian front line
contained dogs, ibises, sheep, and cats—all sacred to the Egyptians.

According to Herodotus, Cambyses invaded because he had been tricked by the pharaoh.
Cambyses had requested the hand of Amasis’s daughter in marriage. Assuming she would
become a concubine, the Egyptian ruler disguised the daughter of the former pharaoh in
her place.

When Cambyses discovered the charade, he attacked. Polyaenus believed that Cambyses’s
victory was due to psychological warfare.

Terror Tactics Of Tamerlane

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Photo credit: creatinghistory.com

Born in 1336, Timur the Lame (aka Tamerlane) was a 14th-century Uzbek chieftain. Despite
the paralysis of half his body, he conquered Central Asia, most of the Muslim world, and
parts of India.

Legends of Tamerlane’s terror tactics are legion. Historians estimate that his forces
slaughtered 17 million people—5 percent of the world at the time. He became infamous for
building pyramids with the skulls of his vanquished. The technique was intended to
spread fear in anyone who dared to oppose him.

Some say that he beheaded 90,000 residents of Baghdad and built 120 pyramids with their

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skulls. After he defeated Delhi, Tamerlane slaughtered the city as a lesson to India. It took
nearly a century for Delhi to recover from the devastation.

After defeating the Ottoman Empire, Tamerlane took the Byzantine gates home with him.
He also took the sultan in a cage, which he kept on display in his parlor.

Vlad The Impaler

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Photo via Wikimedia

Vlad III (aka Vlad Dracula or Vlad the Impaler) was one of the most adept students of
psychological warfare in history. The 15th-century Romanian prince spent much of his
youth as a political hostage of the Ottomans.

Although he was treated well, Vlad developed a bilious hatred of his captors. Some
speculate that the Ottomans even taught him his favorite method of psychological warfare:
impaling.

In 1462, Sultan Mehmet II invaded Vlad’s territory. Upon entering the capital, the sultan
was greeted by what looked like a forest of Ottoman POWs’ festering corpses impaled
on spikes.

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Nearly all records of Vlad were written by his enemies. While far from factual, they provide
insight into the fear he inspired. Vlad was forced to find ingenious means of fighting with
limited resources. Psychological warfare offered the solution. It might seem cruel, but it
was an effective tactic against a force much larger than his own.

Philip II Of Macedonia
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Photo credit: forceindia.net

Philip II of Macedonia laid the groundwork for the “greatness” of his son, Alexander. When
Philip took the throne in 359 BC, Macedonia was a fractured backwater subject to the
whims of foreigners. In less than a year, Philip quashed all internal threats and set up
Macedonia to become an ancient superpower. He was a master of psychological warfare.

When doing battle with the Chalcidian League, Philip destroyed the city of Stagirus.
According to ancient accounts, it would have been hard for a visitor to tell that the city had
ever been inhabited. The remaining Chalcidian cities surrendered without resistance.

During the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Philip employed two strategies of psychological
warfare. First, he tired out the Athenian and Theban rebels through boredom, forcing them
to wait in the blistering sun. Then he made a false attack, which drew them toward a
slowly retreating front line that ensnared them.

Genius Of Genghis Khan

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Photo credit: Bill Taroli

Terror was Genghis Khan’s greatest tool. He destroyed cities that opposed him—slaying
soldiers and civilians alike. During the siege of Merv, each Mongol soldier was ordered to
decapitate 400 inhabitants before burning the city to the ground. The death toll may have
been inflated tenfold, but Genghis wanted it that way.

Genghis often exaggerated the size of his forces. He placed dummies on horseback and
had each soldier light a string of bonfires at night. When attacking both Samarkand and
Europe, he advanced on fronts over 1,300 kilometers (800 mi), preventing the enemy from
knowing his numbers.

Genghis’s feigned retreats lured pursuers into a prepared position where archers
annihilated them. Without fail, Genghis knew more about his adversaries than his enemies
knew of the Mongols. Genghis exploited this lack of information to create division and fear.
He also terrified opponents with camel-mounted kettledrums thundering with Mongol
cavalry charges.

Suicide Army
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Photo credit: zmescience.com

King Goujian of Yue reigned between 496 and 465 BC, the latter part of the Spring and
Autumn Period that was marked by a conflict with the state of Wu. During this battle,
Goujian had his front line decapitate themselves as a bizarre form of psychological
warfare.

According to a history of ancient China called the Shiji, Goujian’s suicidal front was
composed of condemned criminals. However, some believe that “criminals sentenced to
death” should be read as “soldiers willing to die.” This reflects an ancient Chinese
worldview that one would be compensated for sacrifices made during life.

Decapitation might be better translated as “committing suicide by cutting your throat.”

This was a common technique in ancient China. However, others believe that the self-
decapitating soldiers are nothing more than a legend.

Either way, after years of struggle, Goujian overcame his adversary and annexed their
territory.

War Chariots
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During the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, Hittite forces used heavy chariots to crash through
the lines of Ramses II’s Re division (aka Army of Re), causing chaos and terror.

In contrast, the lighter Egyptian war chariots were manned by a driver and a fighter,
usually with a bow and arrow and occasionally a spear. They could maneuver more quickly
than their enemies in heavier chariots, which could allow the Egyptians to dispatch their
enemies before the enemies returned to their own side.

Most experts believe that the invading Hyksos introduced the chariot to Egypt in the
Second Intermediate Period. By the 15th century BC, Thutmose III had over 1,000 chariots
at his command. These were used against infantry and had an enormous psychological
impact on untrained and inexperienced soldiers. By 1000 BC, mounted cavalry replaced the
war chariot.

Hannibal’s Folly
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Photo credit: zmescience.com

Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca drove the Romans mad with his psychological
warfare techniques in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). During the Battle of Trebia in
218 BC, Hannibal lured the Roman forces across the Trebia River with an attack of
Numidian horsemen.

Hannibal lay in ambush on the other side and slaughtered the Romans, who emerged
disorganized, tired, and freezing. At the Battle of Lake Trasimene the following year, he
goaded Flaminus into battle by exploiting the Roman general’s headstrong nature.

Hannibal’s name is almost synonymous with his march over the Alps with war elephants.
Curiously, this bold attempt at psychological warfare was actually a blunder.
Elephants were not adapted to the cold environment. Those that survived the trek were
weak and ineffective.

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