Definition of Psychological Warfare

In most armed conflicts, two types of strategies are used in parallel. On the one hand, the mobilization of troops from the point of view of the strategy and military tactics. On the other, a series of complementary and different actions to the use of force conventional. This last dimension of armed conflict it is known by a name, psychological warfare.

Beyond the military context

This proposal is not exclusive to military confrontations, as it is also present in other types of situations. There are wars of this nature between some couples that are in the process of separation, between companies that compete for the same market niche or between the media. communication.

Main objectives and means used at the military level

The first and fundamental objective is to keep the will of the troops themselves high.

A classic example of this strategy occurs when the soldiers of an army are visited by a character from the world of the show (Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch performed in front of United States troops during the Korean War and the War of Vietnam).

It is important to demoralize or intimidate the enemy through messages that provoke pessimism in some sense. Sometimes such messages are false, but through them it is possible to generate uncertainties and fears. This way of acting connects with the idea that anything goes in war.

Through some propaganda system it is possible to try to change the mentality of the masses that support the enemy forces.

The slogans on the war posters played a prominent role in the different conflicts of the 20th century

Propaganda systems constitute the fundamental weapon of all psychological warfare. For this, war posters have been used with slogans of all kinds accompanied by suggestive images.

In the poster with the figure of Uncle Sam a resounding message appears: "I want you". With this slogan the government of the United States went to the whole of the society to obtain that the young people enlisted in the army. The poster was used in World War I and II.

In the context of the Spanish civil war, the city of Madrid was being besieged by national troops. The Republican government popularized a slogan to keep the moral from Madrid, "They will not pass."

During World War II the Nazism The German set up a powerful propaganda machine to keep the Germans together. Among the slogans used we can highlight one: "A people, a Reich, a Führer".

Propaganda posters have already gone down in history. Currently advertising messages are in the context of Internet and social media. The spread of "fake news" is the new tool of psychological warfare.

Photos: Fotolia - poosan / xunantunich