Psychological Warfare
By
PAUL M. A. LINEBARGER
_School of Advanced International Studies_
DUELL, SLOAN AND PEARCE
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT 1948, 1954, BY PAUL M. A. LINEBARGER
All rights reserved. No part of this book in excess of five hundred
words may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from
the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 48-1799
SECOND EDITION
SECOND PRINTING
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
_FOR
GENEVIEVE, MY WIFE,
WITH LOVE_
Transcriber's Notes:
Text originally marked up as bold is surrounded by =, text in italics by
_. All footnotes can be found after the Appendix, before the Index.
Obvious printer's errors have been remedied, a list of all other changes
can be found at the end of the document. Note: While the list of charts
mentions a "Chart X", no such chart was contained in the book.
Preface to the Second Edition
The present edition of this work has been modified to meet the needs of
the readers of the mid-1950s. The material in the first edition
following page 244 has been removed; it consisted of a chapter hopefully
called "Psychological Warfare and Disarmament." A new Part Four,
comprising three fresh chapters, has been added, representing some of
the problems confronting students and operators in this field. Pages
1-243 are a reprint from the first edition.
This edition, like the first, is the product of field experience. The
author has made nine trips abroad, five of them to the Far East, since
1949. He has profited by his meeting with such personalities as Sir
Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner for the Federation of
Malaya, who was later murdered by the Communists, meetings with
Philippine, Republic of Korea, Chinese Nationalist, captured Chinese
Communist and other personalities, as well as by association with such
veterans in the field as General MacArthur's chief psywar expert,
Colonel J. Woodall Greene. To Colonel Joseph I. Greene, who died in
1953, the author is indebted as friend and colleague. He owes much to
the old friends, listed in the original acknowledgment, who offered
their advice and comment in many instances.
Many readers of the first edition wrote helpful letters of comment. Some
of their suggestions have been incorporated here. The translators of the
two Argentine editions of this book; the translator of the Japanese
edition, the Hon. Suma Yokachiro; and the translator of the first and
second Chinese editions, Mr. Ch'ên En-ch'êng--all of them have made
direct or indirect improvements in the content or style of the work.
The author also wishes to thank his former student, later his former ORO
colleague, now his wife, Dr. Genevieve Linebarger, for her encouragement
and her advice.
The author hopes that, as U. S. agencies and other governments move
toward a more settled definition of doctrine in this field, a third
edition--a few years from now--may be able to reflect the maturation of
psywar in international affairs. He does not consider the time
appropriate for a fundamental restatement of doctrine; he hopes that
readers who have suggestions for future definitions of scope, policy, or
operations can communicate these to him for inclusion in later printings
of this book.
P.M.A.L.
_3 August 1954_
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is the product of experience rather than research, of
consultation rather than reading. It is based on my five years of work,
both as civilian expert and as Army officer, in American psychological
warfare facilities--at every level from the Joint and Combined Chiefs of
Staff planning phase down to the preparing of spot leaflets for the
American forces in China. Consequently, I have tried to avoid making
this an original book, and have sought to incorporate those concepts and
doctrines which found readiest acceptance among the men actually doing
the job. The responsibility is therefore mine, but not the credit.
Psychological warfare involves exciting wit-sharpening work. It tends to
attract quick-minded people--men full of ideas. I have talked about
psychological warfare with all sorts of people, all the way from Mr. Mao
Tse-tung in Yenan and Ambassador Joseph Davies in Washington to an
engineer corporal in New Zealand and the latrine-coolie, second class,
at our Chungking headquarters. I have seen one New York lawyer get
mentally befuddled and another New York lawyer provide the solution, and
have seen Pulitzer Prize winners run out of ideas only to have the
stenographers supply them. From all these people I have tried to learn,
and have tried to make this book a patchwork of enthusiastic
recollection. Fortunately, the material is non-copyright; unfortunately,
I cannot attribute most of these comments or inventions to their
original proponents. Perhaps this is just as well: some authors might
object to being remembered.
A few indebtednesses stand out with such clarity as to make
acknowledgment a duty. These I wish to list, with the caution that this
list is not inclusive.
First of all, I am indebted to my father, Judge Paul M. W. Linebarger
(1871-1939), who during his lifetime initiated me into almost every
phase of international political warfare, whether covert or overt, in
connection with his life-long activities on behalf of Sun Yat-sen and
the Chinese Nationalists. On a limited budget (for years, out of his own
pocket) he ran campaigns against imperialism and communism, and for
Sino-American friendship and Chinese democracy, in four or five
languages at a time. For five and a half years I was his secretary, and
believe that this experience has kept me from making this a book of
exclusively American doctrine. There is no better way to learn the
propaganda job than to be whipped thoroughly by someone else's
propaganda.
Second only to my debt to my father, my obligation to the War Department
General Staff officers detailed to Psychological Warfare stands forth.
By sheer good fortune, the United States had an unbroken succession of
intelligent, conscientious, able men assigned to this vital post, and it
was my own good luck to serve under each of them in turn between 1942
and 1947. They are, in order of assignment: Colonel Percy W. Black,
Brigadier General Oscar N. Solbert, Colonel Charles Blakeney, Lieutenant
Colonel Charles Alexander Holmes Thomson, Colonel John Stanley,
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hirsch, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Buttles,
Colonel Dana Johnston, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Tatum, and Lieutenant
Colonel Wesley Edwards. Their talents and backgrounds were diverse but
their ability was uniformly high. I do not attribute this to the
peculiar magic of Psychological Warfare, nor to unwonted prescience on
the part of The Adjutant General, but to plain good luck.
Especial thanks are due to the following friends, who have read this
manuscript in whole or in part. I have dealt independently with the
comments and criticism, so that none of them can be blamed for the final
form of the book. These are Dr. Edward K. Merat, the Columbia-trained
MIS propaganda analyst; Mr. C. A. H. Thomson, State Department
international information consultant and Brookings Institution staff
member; Professor E. P. Lilly of Catholic University and concurrently
Psychological Warfare historian to the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lieutenant
Colonel Innes Randolph; Lieutenant Colonel Heber Blankenhorn, the only
American to have served as a Psychological Warfare officer in both World
Wars; Dr. Alexander M. Leighton, M.D., the psychiatrist and
anthropologist who as a Navy lieutenant commander headed the OWI-MIS
Foreign Morale Analysis Division in wartime; Mr. Richard Hirsch; Colonel
Donald Hall, without whose encouragement I would never have finished
this book; Professor George S. Pettee, whose experience in strategic
intelligence lent special weight to his comment; Colonel Dana Johnston;
Mr. Martin Herz, who may some day give the world the full account of the
mysterious Yakzif operations; and Mrs. M. S. Linebarger.
Further, I must thank several of my associates in the propaganda
agencies whose thinking proved most stimulating to mine. Mr. Geoffrey
Gorer was equally brilliant as colleague and as ally. Dean Edwin Guthrie
brought insights to Psychological Warfare which were as much the
reflection of a judicious, humane personality as of preeminent
psychological scholarship. Professor W. A. Aiken, himself a historian,
provided data on the early history of U. S. facilities in World War II.
Mr. F. M. Fisher and Mr. Richard Watts, Jr., of the OWI China Outpost,
together with their colleagues, taught me a great deal by letting me
share some of their tasks and my immediate chief in China, Colonel
Joseph K. Dickey, was kind to allow a member of his small, overworked
staff to give time to Psychological Warfare. Messrs. Herbert Little,
John Creedy and C. A. Pearce have told me wonderful stories about their
interesting end of propaganda. Mr. Joseph C. Grew, formerly Under
Secretary of State and Ambassador to Japan, showed me that the
processes of traditional responsible diplomacy include many skills which
Psychological Warfare rediscovers crudely and in different form.
Finally, I wish to thank Colonel Joseph I. Greene in his triple role of
editor, publisher and friend, to whom this volume owes its actual being.
While this material has been found unobjectionable on the score of
security by the Department of the Army, it certainly does not represent
Department of the Army policy, views, or opinion, nor is the Department
responsible for matters of factual accuracy. I assume sole and complete
responsibility for this book and would be glad to hear the comment or
complaint of any reader. My address is indicated below.
PAUL M. A. LINEBARGER
2831 29th Street N.W.
Washington 8, D. C.
20 June 1947
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
PART ONE: DEFINITION AND HISTORY
CHAPTER 1: Historic Examples of Psychological Warfare 1
CHAPTER 2: The Function of Psychological Warfare 25
CHAPTER 3: Definition of Psychological Warfare 37
CHAPTER 4: The Limitations of Psychological Warfare 48
CHAPTER 5: Psychological Warfare In World War I 62
CHAPTER 6: Psychological Warfare In World War II 77
PART TWO: ANALYSIS, INTELLIGENCE, AND ESTIMATE OF THE SITUATION
CHAPTER 7: Propaganda Analysis 110
CHAPTER 8: Propaganda Intelligence 132
CHAPTER 9: Estimate of the Situation 150
PART THREE: PLANNING AND OPERATIONS
CHAPTER 10: Organization for Psychological Warfare 168
CHAPTER 11: Plans and Planning 194
CHAPTER 12: Operations for Civilians 203
CHAPTER 13: Operations Against Troops 211
PART FOUR: PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AFTER WORLD WAR II
CHAPTER 14: The "Cold War" and Seven Small Wars 244
CHAPTER 15: Strategic International Information Operations 268
CHAPTER 16: Research, Development and the Future 283
APPENDIX: Military PsyWar Operations, 1950-53 301
INDEX 309
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1: A Basic Form of Propaganda 2
2: Nazi Troop Morale Leaflet 4
3: One of the Outstanding Leaflets of the War 5
4: The Pass Which Brought them in 6
5: Revolutionary Propaganda 9
6: Propaganda for Illiterates 10-11
7: Propaganda Through News 13
8: One of the Mongol Secret Weapons 14
9: Black Propaganda from the British Underground, 1690 18-19
10: Secret American Propaganda Subverting the Redcoats 20
11: Desertion Leaflet from Bunker Hill 21
12: Money as a Carrier of Propaganda 22-23
13: Surrender Leaflet from the AEF 70
14: Radio Program Leaflet, Anzio, 1944 82
15: Radio Leaflet Surrender Form, Anzio, 1944 83
16: Invitation to Treason 84
17: Anti-Radio Leaflet 86
18: Anti-Exhibit Leaflet 96
19: Propaganda Against Propaganda 100
20: Re-Use of Enemy Propaganda 102
21: Mockery of Enemy Propaganda Slogans 118
22: Mockery of Enemy Propaganda Technique 119
23: Direct Reply Leaflet 120
24: Black Use of Enemy Subversive Materials 121
25: Black Use of Enemy Information Materials 122-123
26: Religious Black 124
27: Malingerer's Black 125
28: Nostalgic Black 133
29: Nostalgic White, Misfire 134
30: Nostalgic White 135
31: Oestrous Black 137
32: Oestrous Grey 138
33: Oestrous Grey, Continued 139
34: Obscene Black 141
35: Informational Sheet 142
36: Counterpropaganda Instructions 144
37: Defensive Counterpropaganda 146
38: Black "Counterpropaganda" 148
39: Leaflet Production: Military Presses 169
40: Leaflet Production: Rolling 169
41: Leaflet Distribution: Attaching Fuzes 170
42: Leaflet Distribution: Packing the Boxes 171
43: Leaflet Distribution: Loading the Boxes 172
44: Leaflet Distribution: Bombs at the Airfield 172
45: Leaflet Distribution: Loading the Bombs 173
46: Leaflet Distribution: The Final Result 174
47: Consolidation Propaganda: The Movie Van 175
48: Consolidation Propaganda: Posters 176
49: Consolidation Propaganda: Photo Exhibit 176
50: Consolidation Propaganda: Door Gods 188
51: Basic Types: Start of War 198
52: Basic Types: Troop Morale 212
53: Paired Morale Leaflets 213
54: Troop Morale Leaflet, Grey 214
55: Chinese Communist Civilian Morale Leaflet 215
56: General Morale: Matched Themes 215
57: The Unlucky Japanese Sad Sack 216-217
58: Civilian Personal Mail 218-219
59: Basic Types: Newspapers 220
60: Basic Types: Spot-News Leaflets 221
61: Basic Types: Civilian Action 222
62: Basic Types: Labor Recruitment 224
63: Action Type: Air-Rescue Facilities 231
64: Pre-Action News 232
65: Direct Commands to Enemy Forces 233
66: Basic Types: Contingency Commands 234
67: Tactical Surrender Leaflets 235
68: Basic Types: Surrender Leaflet 236
69: Improved Surrender Leaflet 239
70: End of War 241
71: Official Chinese Letter 250
72: Intimidation Pattern 256
73: Communist Wall Propaganda 258
74: Divisive Propaganda, Korean Model 266
75: UN Propaganda 302
76: Korean Leaflet Bomb, Early Model 303
77: UN Themes 305
78: Home-front Morale 306
79: The Famous Airplane Surrender Leaflet 308
Chart I 92
Chart II 95
Chart III 112
Chart IV 130
Chart V 180
Chart VI 181
Chart VII 183
Chart VIII 185
Chart IX 190
Chart X 248
PART ONE
DEFINITION AND HISTORY
CHAPTER 1
Historic Examples of Psychological Warfare
Psychological warfare is waged before, during, and after war; it is not
waged against the opposing psychological warfare operators; it is not
controlled by the laws, usages, and customs of war; and it cannot be
defined in terms of terrain, order of battle, or named engagements. It
is a continuous process. Success or failure is often known only months
or years after the execution of the operation. Yet success, though
incalculable, can be overwhelming; and failure, though undetectable, can
be mortal.
Psychological warfare does not fit readily into familiar concepts of
war. Military science owes much of its precision and definiteness to its
dealing with a well defined subject, the application of organized lawful
violence. The officer or soldier can usually undertake his task of
applying mass violence without having to determine upon the enemy. The
opening of war, recognition of neutrals, the listing of enemies,
proclamation of peace--such problems are considered political, and
outside the responsibility of the soldier. Even in the application of
force short of war, the soldier proceeds only when the character of the
military operation is prescribed by higher (that is, political)
authorities, and after the enemies are defined by lawful and
authoritative command. In one field only, psychological warfare, is
there endless uncertainty as to the very nature of the operation.
Psychological warfare, by the nature of its instruments and its mission,
begins long before the declaration of war. Psychological warfare
continues after overt hostilities have stopped. The enemy often avoids
identifying himself in psychological warfare; much of the time, he is
disguised as the voice of home, of God, of the church, of the friendly
press. Offensively, the psychological warfare operator must fight
antagonists who never answer back--the enemy audience. He cannot fight
the one enemy who is in plain sight, the hostile psychological warfare
operator, because the hostile operator is greedily receptive to attack.
Neither success nor defeat are measurable factors. Psychological
strategy is planned along the edge of nightmare.
=The Understanding Of Psychological Warfare.= In a formal approach to
this mysterious part of the clean-cut process of war, it might be
desirable to start with Euclidian demonstrations, proceeding from
definition to definition until the subject-matter had been delimited by
logic. Alternatively it might be interesting to try a historical
approach, describing the development of psychological warfare through
the ages.
The best approach is perhaps afforded by a simplification of both a
logical and historical approach. For concrete examples it is most
worthwhile to look at instances of psychological warfare taken out of
history down to World War II. Then the definitions and working
relationships can be traced and--with these in mind--a somewhat more
detailed and critical appraisal of World Wars I and II organizations and
operations can be undertaken. If a historian or philosopher picks up
this book, he will find much with which to quarrel, but for the survey
of so hard-to-define a subject, this may be a forgivable fault.
[Illustration: _Figure 1: A Basic Form of Propaganda._ This American
leaflet, issued during the Philippine landings, was dropped on inhabited
Philippine areas in order to obtain local civilian cooperation with the
landing forces. It can be called the "civilian-action" type.]
Psychological warfare and propaganda are each as old as mankind; but it
has taken modern specialization to bring them into focus as separate
subjects. The materials for their history lie scattered through
thousands of books and it is therefore impossible to brief them. Any
reader contemplating retirement from the army to a sedentary life is
urged to take up this subject.[1] A history of propaganda would provide
not only a new light on many otherwise odd or trivial historical events;
it would throw genuine illumination on the process of history itself.
There are however numerous instances which can be cited to show
applications of psychological warfare.
=The Use Of Panic By Gideon.= One of the earliest (by traditional
reckoning, 1245 B.C.) applications was Gideon's use of the lamps and
pitchers in the great battle against the Midianites.
The story is told in the seventh chapter of the Book of Judges. Gideon
was in a tactically poor position. The Midianites outnumbered him and
were on the verge of smiting him very thoroughly. Ordinary combat
methods could not solve the situation, so Gideon--acting upon more
exalted inspiration than is usually vouchsafed modern commanders--took
the technology and military formality of his time into account.
Retaining three hundred selected men, he sought for some device which
would cause real confusion in the enemy host. He knew well that the
tactics of his time called for every century of men to have one
light-carrier and one torch-bearer for the group. By equipping three
hundred men with a torch and a trumpet each, he could create the effect
of thirty thousand. Since the lights could not be turned on and off with
switches, like ours, the pitchers concealed them, thus achieving the
effect of suddenness.
[Illustration: _Figure 2: Nazi Troop Morale Leaflet._ In this leaflet,
used on the Italian front in 1944, the Nazis did not call for any
specific action from their American GI readers. Their aim was merely
depression of American morale for future exploitation by action
propaganda. Note the extreme simplicity of the message. Throughout World
War II, the Nazis were misled by their own tendentious political
intelligence reports and consequently overestimated the kind and degree
of American opposition to Franklin D. Roosevelt. They mistook normal
complaint for treasonable sedition; hence, leaflets such as this seemed
practical to the Germans.]
[Illustration: _Figure 3: One of the Outstanding Leaflets of the War._
Prepared in 1945 for distribution by B-29s operating over Japan, this
leaflet lists eleven Japanese cities which were marked for destruction.
The leaflet is apparently of the civilian-action type, calling on
Japanese civilians to save their own lives. At the same time, it had the
effect of shutting down eleven strategically important cities, thus
hurting the Japanese war effort while giving the Americans a reputation
for humanity and also refuting enemy charges that we undertook
indiscriminate bombing.]
[Illustration: _Figure 4: The Pass Which Brought them in._ Germans liked
things done in an official and formal manner, even in the midst of
chaos, catastrophe and defeat. The Allies obliged, and gave the Germans
various forms of very official-looking "surrender passes," of which this
is one. The original is printed in red and has banknote-type engraving
which makes it resemble a soap-premium coupon. (Western Front, 1944-45,
issued by SHAEF.)]
He had his three hundred men equipped with lamps and pitchers. The lamps
were concealed in the pitchers, each man carrying one, along with a
trumpet. He lined his forces in appropriate disposition around the enemy
camp at night and had them--himself setting the example--break the
pitchers all at the same time, while blowing like mad on the trumpets.
The Midianites were startled out of their sleep and their wits. They
fought one another throughout their own camp. The Hebrew chronicler
modestly gives credit for this to the Lord. Then the Midianites gave up
altogether and fled. And the men of Israel pursued after the
Midianites.[2] That settled the Midianite problem for a while; later
Gideon finished Midian altogether.
This type of psychological warfare device--the use of unfamiliar
instruments to excite panic--is common in the history of all ancient
countries. In China, the Emperor-usurper Wang Mang on one occasion tried
to destroy the Hunnish tribes with an army that included heavy
detachments of military sorcerers, even though the Han Military Emperor
had found orthodox methods the most reliable; Wang Mang got whipped at
this. But he was an incurable innovator and in 23 A.D., while trying to
put down some highly successful rebels, he collected all the animals out
of the Imperial menagerie and sent them along to scare the enemy:
tigers, rhinoceri, and elephants were included. The rebels hit first,
killing the Imperial General Wang Sun, and in the excitement the animals
got loose in the Imperial army where they panicked the men. A hurricane
which happened to be raging at the same time enhanced the excitement.
Not only were the Imperial troops defeated, but the military propaganda
of the rebels was so jubilant in tone and so successful in effect that
the standard propaganda theme, "Depress and unnerve the enemy
commander," was fulfilled almost to excess on Wang Mang. Here is what
happened to him after he noted the progress of the enemy: "A profound
melancholy fell upon the Emperor. It undermined his health. He drank to
excess, ate nothing but oysters, and let everything happen by chance.
Unable to stretch out, he slept sitting up on a bench."[3] Wang Mang was
killed in the same year, and China remained without another economic new
deal until the time of Wang An-shih (A.D. 1021-1086), a thousand years
later. Better psychological warfare would have changed history.
=Field Propaganda Of The Athenians And The Han.= A more successful
application of psychological warfare is recorded in the writings of
Herodotus, the Greek historian:
Themistocles, having selected the best sailing ships of the Athenians,
went to the place where there was water fit for drinking, and engraved
upon the stones inscriptions, which the Ionians, upon arriving the
next day at Artemisium, read. The inscriptions were to this effect,
'Men of Ionia, you do wrong in fighting against your fathers and
helping to enslave Greece. Rather, therefore, come over to us or if
you cannot do that, withdraw your forces from the contest and entreat
the Carians to do the same. But if neither of these things is
possible, and you are bound by too strong a necessity, yet in action,
when we are engaged, behave ill on purpose, remembering that you are
descended from us and that the enmity of the barbarians against us
originally sprang from you.'[4]
This text is very much like leaflets dropped during World War II on
reluctant enemies, such as the Italians, the Chinese puppet troops, and
others. (Compare this Greek text with _Figure 5_.) Note that the
propagandist tries to see things from the viewpoint of his audience. His
air of reasonable concern for their welfare creates a bond of sympathy.
And by suggesting that the Ionians should behave badly in combat, he
lays the beginning of another line--the propaganda to the Persians,
"black" propaganda making the Persians think that any Ionian who was
less than perfect was a secret Athenian sympathizer. The appeal is sound
by all modern standards of the combat-leaflet.
Another type of early military propaganda was the political denunciation
which, issued at the beginning of war, could be cited from then on as
legal and ethical justification for one side or the other. In the
Chinese _San Kuo_ novel, which has probably been read by more human
beings than any other work of fiction, there is preserved the alleged
text of the proclamation of a group of loyalist pro-Han rebels on the
eve of military operations (about A.D. 200). The text is interesting
because it combines the following techniques, all of them sound: 1)
naming the specific enemy; 2) appeal to the "better people"; 3) sympathy
for the common people; 4) claim of support for the legitimate
government; 5) affirmation of one's own strength and high morale; 6)
invocation of unity; 7) appeal to religion. The issuance of the
proclamation was connected with rather elaborate formal ceremony:
The House of Han has fallen upon evil days, the bonds of Imperial
authority are loosened. The rebel minister, Tung Cho, takes advantage
of the discord to work evil, and calamity falls upon honorable
families. Cruelty overwhelms simple folk. We, Shao and his
confederates, fearing for the safety of the imperial prerogatives,
have assembled military forces to rescue the State. We now pledge
ourselves to exert our whole strength, and to act in concord to the
utmost limit of our powers. There must be no disconcerted or selfish
action. Should any depart from this pledge may he lose his life and
leave no posterity. Almighty Heaven and Universal Mother Earth and the
enlightened spirits of our forefathers, be ye our witnesses.[5]
Any history of any country will yield further examples of this kind of
material. Whenever it was consciously used as an adjunct to military
operations, it may appropriately be termed military propaganda.
[Illustration: _Figure 5: Revolutionary Propaganda._ When revolution
favors one side or the other in war, revolutionary propaganda becomes an
instrument which is used by one constituted government against another.
This leaflet was issued by the Azad Hind Fauj (Free India Army) of the
Japanese puppet Subhas Chandra Bose. (Singapore, then called Shonan,
1943 and 1944.) The leaflet avoids direct reference to the Japanese, and
is therefore "block" propaganda. Its theme is simple: the British are
alleged to eat while the Hindus starve. At the time, this argument had
some plausibility. There was famine in Bengal, but no white men were
found among the thousands of emaciated dead.]
=Emphasis on Ideology.= In a sense, the experience of the past may,
unfortunately, provide a clue to the future. The last two great wars
have shown an increasing emphasis on ideology or political faith (see
definition, page 30 below) as driving forces behind warfare, rather than
the considerations of coldly calculated diplomacy. Wars become more
serious, and less gentlemanly; the enemy must be taken into account not
merely as a man, but as a fanatic. To the normal group-loyalty of any
good soldier to his army, right or wrong, there is added the loyalty to
the Ism or the Leader. Warfare thus goes back to the Wars of Faith. It
is possible that techniques from the Christian-Mohammedan or from the
Protestant-Catholic wars of the past could be reëxamined with a view to
establishing those parts of their tested experience which may seem to
be psychologically and militarily sound in our own time. How fast can
converts be made from the other side? In what circumstances should an
enemy word of honor be treated as valid? How can heretics (today, read
"subversive elements") be uprooted? Does the enemy faith have weak
points which permit enemy beliefs to be turned against personnel at the
appropriate times? What unobjectionable forms should leaflets and
broadcasts follow in mentioning subjects which are reverenced by the
enemy but not by ourselves?
[Illustration: _Figure 6: Propaganda for Illiterates._ Propaganda
reached out for the mass audience in World War II. Some of the most
interesting developments in this line were undertaken by CBI Theater
facilities and their Japanese competitors. The leaflet shown above is
designed to tell its story in Hindustani (Devanagari script) or in
Romanized Hindustani to Indians who could read either form, and in
pictures to the illiterates. It starts with the Union Jack and ends with
the Congress flag used by the puppet pro-Japanese Indian leader, Subhas
Chandra Bose.]
[Illustration: _Figure 7: Propaganda Through News._ News is one of the
best carriers of psychological warfare to the enemy. One of these
newspapers is directed by the Allies to the German troops in the Ægean
Islands; the other by the Germans to the Americans in France. Of the
two, the Allied paper (in German) is the more professional job. Note the
separation of appeals from the news, the greater newsiness of the news
columns, and the explanation provided for third-party civilians in their
own Greek language (top right).]
The expansion of the Islamic Faith-and-Empire provides a great deal of
procedural information which cannot be neglected in our time. It has
been said that men's faith should not be destroyed by violence, and that
force alone is insufficient to change the minds of men. If this were
true, it would mean that Germany can never be de-Nazified, and that
there is no hope that the democratic peoples captured by totalitarian
powers can adjust themselves to their new overlords or, if adjusted, can
be converted back to free principles. In reality warfare by Mohammed's
captains and successors demonstrated two principles of long-range
psychological warfare which are still valid today:
A people can be converted from one faith to the other if given the
choice between conversion and extermination, stubborn individuals being
rooted out. To effect the initial conversion, participation in the
public ceremonies and formal language of the new faith must be required.
Sustained counterintelligence must remain on the alert against
backsliders, but formal acceptance will become genuine acceptance if all
public media of expression are denied the vanquished faith.
If immediate wholesale conversion would require military operations that
were too extensive or severe, the same result can be effected by
toleration of the objectionable faith, combined with the issuance of
genuine privileges to the new, preferred faith. The conquered people are
left in the private, humble enjoyment of their old beliefs and folkways;
but all participation in public life, whether political, cultural or
economic, is conditioned on acceptance of the new faith. In this manner,
all up-rising members of the society will move in a few generations over
to the new faith in the process of becoming rich, powerful, or learned;
what is left of the old faith will be a gutter superstition, possessing
neither power nor majesty.
These two rules worked once in the rise of Islam. They were applied
again by Nazi overlords during World War II, the former in Poland, the
Ukraine and Byelorussia, the latter in Holland, Belgium, Norway and
other Western countries. The rules will probably be seen in action
again. The former process is difficult and bloody, but quick; the latter
is as sure as a steam-roller. If Christians, or democrats, or
progressives--whatever free men may be called--are put in a position of
underprivilege and shame for their beliefs, and if the door is left open
to voluntary conversion, so that anyone who wants to can come over to
the winning side, the winning side will sooner or later convert almost
everyone who is capable of making trouble. (In the language of Vilfredo
Pareto, this would probably be termed "capture of the rising elite"; in
the language of present-day Marxists, this would be described as
"utilization of potential leadership cadres from historically superseded
classes"; in the language of practical politics, it means "cut in the
smart boys from the opposition, so that they can't set up a racket of
their own.")
[Illustration: _Figure 8: One of the Mongol Secret Weapons._ The Mongol
conquerors used rumor and terror in order to increase their military
effectiveness. Once they came to power, they used spectacular military
displays as a means of intimidating conquered peoples. This old French
engraving shows a war-howdah mounted on four elephants allegedly used by
Kublai Khan, grandnephew to Genghis Khan and friend of Marco Polo the
Venetian. Obviously impractical for field use, the vehicle is well
suited for ceremonial display and mere mention of it is a factor for
"warfare psychologically waged."]
=The Black Propaganda Of Genghis Khan.= Another demonstration of
psychological warfare in the past was so effective that its results
linger to this day. It is commonly thought that the greatest conqueror
the world has seen--Temujin, the Genghis Khan--effected his Mongol
conquests with "limitless hordes" of wild Tatar horsemen, who flooded
the world by weight of sheer numbers. Recent research shows that the
sparsely settled countryside of Inner Asia could not have produced
populations heavy enough to overwhelm the densely settled areas of the
great Mongol periphery by weight alone. The empire of the Khan was built
on bold military inventiveness--the use of highly mobile forces, the
full use of intelligence, the coordination of half-global strategy, the
application of propaganda in all its forms.[6] The Mongols were fighting
the Sung Dynasty in China and the Holy Roman Empire in Prussia four
thousand miles apart when neither of their adversaries knew (in more
than rumor) that the other existed. The Mongols used espionage to plan
their campaigns and deliberately used rumor and other means to
exaggerate accounts of their own huge numbers, stupidity, and ferocity.
They did not care what their enemies thought as long as the enemies
became frightened. Europeans described light, hard-hitting _numerically
inferior_ cavalry as a "numberless horde" because Mongol agents
whispered such a story in the streets. To this day most Europeans do not
appreciate the lightness of the forces nor the cold intelligence of
command with which the Mongols hit them seven centuries ago.
Genghis even used the spies of the enemy as a means of frightening the
enemy. When spies were at hand he indoctrinated them with rumors
concerning his own forces. Let the first European biographer of Genghis
tell, in his own now-quaint words, how Genghis put the bee on Khorezm
(Carizme):
And a Historian, to describe their Strength and Number, makes the
Spies whom the King of _Carizme_ had sent to view them, speak thus:
They are, say they to the Sultan, all compleat Men, vigorous, and look
like Wrestlers; they breathe nothing but War and Blood, and show so
great an Impatience to fight, that the Generals can scarce moderate
it; yet though they appear thus fiery, they keep themselves within the
bounds of a strict Obedience to Command, and are intirely devoted to
their Prince; they are contented with any sort of Food, and are not
curious in the choice of Beasts to eat, like Mussulmen [Mohammedans],
so that they are subsisted without much trouble; and they not only eat
Swines-Flesh, but feed upon Wolves, Bears, and Dogs, when they have no
other Meat, making no distinction between what was lawful to eat, and
what was forbidden; and the Necessity for supporting Life takes from
them all the Dislike which the _Mahometans_ have for many sorts of
Animals; As to their Number, (they concluded) _Genghizcan's_ Troops
seem'd like the Grasshoppers, impossible to be number'd.
In reality, this Prince making a Review of his Army, found it to
consist of seven hundred thousand men....[7]
Enemy espionage can now--as formerly--prove useful if the net effect of
it is to lower enemy morale. The ruler and people of Khorezm put up a
terrific fight, nevertheless, despite their expectation of being
attacked by wolf-eating wrestlers without number; but they left the
initiative in Genghis' hands and were doomed.
However good the Mongols were in strategic and tactical propaganda,
they never solved the problem of consolidation propaganda (see page 46,
below). They did not win the real loyalty of the peoples whom they
conquered; unlike the Chinese, who replaced conquered populations with
their own people, or the Mohammedans, who converted conquered peoples,
the Mongols simply maintained law and order, collected taxes, and sat on
top of the world for a few generations. Then their world stirred beneath
them, and they were gone.
=The Blindness Of John Milton.= Moving across the centuries for an
example, it is interesting to note that John Milton, author of _Paradise
Lost_ and of other priceless books of the English-speaking world, went
blind because he was so busy conducting Oliver Cromwell's psychological
warfare that he disregarded the doctors' warning and abused his ailing
sight. And the sad thing about it was that it was not very good
psychological warfare.
Milton fell into the common booby-trap of refuting his opponents item by
item, thus leaving them the strong affirmative position, instead of
providing a positive and teachable statement of his own faith. He was
Latin Secretary to the Council, in that Commonwealth of England which
was--to its contemporaries in Europe--such a novel, dreadful, and
seditious form of government. The English had killed their king, by
somewhat offhanded legal procedures, and had gone under the Cromwellian
dictatorship. It was possible for their opponents to attack them from
two sides at once. Believers in monarchy could call the English
murderous king-killers (a charge as serious in those times as the charge
of anarchism or free love in this); believers in order and liberty could
call the British slaves of a tyrant. A Frenchman called Claude de
Saumaise (in Latin form, Salmasius) wrote a highly critical book about
the English, and Milton seems to have lost his temper and his judgment.
In his two books against Salmasius, Milton then committed almost every
mistake in the whole schedule of psychological warfare. He moved from
his own ground of argument over to the enemy's. He wrote at excessive
length. He indulged in some of the nastiest name-calling to be found in
literature, and went into considerable detail to describe Salmasius in
unattractive terms. He slung mud whenever he could. The books are read
today, under compulsion, by Ph.D. candidates, but no one else is known
to find them attractive. It is not possible to find that these books had
any lasting influence in their own time. (In these texts written by
Milton in Latin but now available in English, Army men wearying of the
monotonous phraseology of basic military invective can find extensive
additions to their vocabulary.) Milton turned to disappointment and
poetry; the world is the gainer.
The vocabulary of seventeenth-century propaganda had a strident tone
which is, perhaps unfortunately, getting to be characteristic of the
twentieth century. The following epithets sound like an American Legion
description of Communists, or a Communist description of the Polish
democrats, yet they were applied in a book by a Lutheran to Quakers. The
title of the tirade reads, in part:
... a description of the ... new Quakers, making known the sum of
their manifold blasphemous opinions, dangerous practices, Godless
crimes, attempts to subvert civil government in the churches and in
the community life of the world; together with their idiotic games,
their laughable action and behavior, which is enough to make sober
Christian persons breathless, and which is like death, and which can
display the lazy stinking cadaver of their fanatical doctrines....
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.
[Illustration: _Figure 9: Black Propaganda from the British Underground,
1690._ When William of Orange took the crown of England away from the
timid rascal, James II, he met opposition from the Loyalists devoted to
the Stuarts. This broadsheet demonstrates an early form of black
propaganda. It also provides a good instance of propaganda material
borrowing a familiar form of expression in order to get its message
across, in this case, the tradesman's enumeration of debit and credit.]
[Illustration: _Figure 10: Secret American Propaganda Subverting the
Redcoats._ Readers of Charles Dickens' great novel, _Barnaby Rudge_,
will remember that anti-Catholicism was a lively propaganda issue in
England at the time of the American Revolution. This American propaganda
avoids discussion of the theme of American independence--a topic on
which Englishmen were liable to hold united opinions--and instead
attempts to subvert British troops by means of the anti-Catholic appeal.
(Original source unknown; from War Department files. Probable date,
1775.)]
[Illustration: _Figure 11: Desertion Leaflet from Bunker Hill._ This
leaflet is as valid today as the day it was written. No source is
indicated, but neither is any attempt made to suggest a false source
different from the true one; it is in modern parlance "grey" propaganda.
Wealth, food, health and economic status are played up simultaneously;
difficult political issues are not argued--they are sidestepped.]
=The American Revolution.= In the American Revolution, psychological
warfare played a very important role. The Whig campaign of propaganda
which led up to colonial defiance of Britain was energetic and expert in
character, and the very opening of hostilities was marked by passionate
appeals to the civilian population in the form of handbills. The
American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill used one of the earliest
versions of front-line combat propaganda (see Figure 11). The appeal was
as direct as could be wished. Artful use was made of the sharp class
distinctions then existing between British officers and enlisted men;
fear was exploited as an aid to persuasion; the language was pointed.
Even in our own time, the Bunker Hill propaganda leaflet stands as a
classic example of how to do good field propaganda.
The Americans made extensive use of the press.[9] When the newspaper
proprietors veered too far to the Loyalist side, they were warned to
keep to a more Patriotic line. If, in the face of counter-threats from
the Loyalists, the newspaper threatened going out of business
altogether, it was warned that suspension of publication would be
taken as treason to America. The Whigs, before hostilities, and their
successors, the Patriots of the war period, showed a keen interest in
keeping the press going and in making sure that their side of the story
got out and got circulated rapidly. In intimidation and control of the
press, they far outdistanced the British, whose papers circulated
chiefly within the big cities held as British citadels throughout the
war. Political reasoning, economic arguments, allegations concerning the
course of the war, and atrocity stories all played a role.
[Illustration: _Figure 12: Money as a Carrier of Propaganda._ The note
on the left above is French revolutionary currency; observe the use of
revolutionary slogans. Next to it is the famous Russian 10,000 ruble
bill which calls for the world revolution in seven languages. The
Japanese peso note (at top of page 22) carries American propaganda on
the reverse; captured notes were overprinted by Psychological Warfare
Branch during the Philippine campaign and dropped back on the enemy. The
two five-rupee notes date from the Japanese occupation of Burma. The
lower of the two was issued by Americans as a means of deriding the
Japanese.]
George Washington himself, as commander of the Continental forces,
showed a keen interest in war propaganda and in his just, moderate
political and military measures provided a policy base from which
Patriot propagandists could operate.
Some wars are profoundly affected by a book written on one side or the
other; the American revolutionary war was one of these. Thomas Paine's
_Common Sense_ (issued as a widely sold series of pamphlets) swept
American opinion like wildfire; it stated some of the fundamentals of
American thinking, and put its bold but reasonable revolutionary case in
such simple terms that even conservatives in the Patriot group could not
resist using it for propaganda purposes.[10] _Common Sense_ has become a
classic of American literature, but it has its place in history too, as
"the book that won the war." Other pamphleteers, with the redoubtable
Sam Adams in the lead, also did well.
American experience in the Mexican war was less glorious. The Mexicans
waged psychological warfare against us with considerable effect, ending
up with traitor American artillerymen dealing out heavy murder to the
American troops outside Mexico city. Historians in both countries gloss
over the treason and subversion which occurred on each side.
In the Civil War, psychological warfare was practised by both Lincoln
and the Confederacy in establishing propaganda instrumentalities in
England and on the continent of Europe. The Northern use of Negro
troops, which was followed, at the end of the war by the Confederate
plans for raising Negro troops, did not become the major propaganda
issue it might have because of the community of feeling on the two
sides, indecision on each side as to the purpose of the war (apart from
the basic issue of union or disunion), and the persistence of
politics-as-usual both North and South of the battle line.
=Boers And Burmese.= In the latter part of the nineteenth century, two
sets of British wars indicate the effect psychological warfare can play.
The British conquered both Burma and the Boers. The Burmese were more
numerous, had the larger country, and (if they had had leadership
comparable to the Japanese leadership of the time) could have developed
the larger military potential. But Burma was conquered by the British in
a final war which went on quietly and ingloriously. No nation came to
their aid. They did not even get a chance to surrender. The British
simply ended the war in the middle by announcing the end of the Burmese
government, and by making a one-sided declaration that Burma was annexed
to the Empire of India. The political death of Burma occurred on 1
January 1886, but the event has been forgotten.
The Boers, on the other hand, made a stir throughout the world. They got
in touch with the Germans, Irish, Americans, French, Dutch, and
everybody else who might criticize Britain. They stated their case
loudly and often. They waged commando warfare, adding the word
_commando_ to international military parlance, and sent small units deep
into the British rear, setting off a mad uproar and making the world
press go crazy with excitement. When they finally gave in, it was on
reasonable terms for themselves; they left the British with an
internationally blacked eye.
Nobody remembered the Burmese; everybody remembered the Boers. The Boers
used every means they could think of; they did everything they could.
They even captured Winston Churchill.
These examples may show that the military role of propaganda and related
operations is not as obscure or intangible as it may have seemed. They
cannot be considered history but must be regarded as a plea for the
writing of history. More recent experience is another question, and
involves tracing the doctrines pertaining to psychological warfare which
have now become established military procedure in the modern armies.