Psychological Warfare in the Time of Alexander The Great and Genghis Khan

In June of 1968, the USA began ‘Operation wandering soul’, a tactic employed to directly strike terror into the hearts of their Vietnamese opponents. Modern warfare was a spiritually terrifying concept for the Vietnamese due to their beliefs involving the afterlife and funerary rites. They believed that the dead must be buried, without this the soul would be doomed to wander in agony. Therefore, the idea of bodies of their fellow soldiers potentially being lost forever in the jungles or behind enemy lines was highly unsettling. The psychological Operations unit therefore saw a chilling way to weaken the resolve of the Southern Vietnamese soldiers and the ‘Ghost tapes’ where born. These tapes featured the pained cries of the lost soul of a soldier, pleading with his countrymen to turn back, all the while laced with traditional funerary music and the weeping of other souls. The tapes would prove effective, leading to many soldiers being captured and even causing civilians to flee their homes on a few occasions. But these psychological tactics are not born from the modern warfare, they are positively ancient.

Alexander The Great: Occupy and adapt

Alexander The Great is often credited as one of the earliest practitioners of psychological warfare, using political and cultural manipulation alongside his seemingly unstoppable conquest of the east.
Alexander weaponised faux unity, although he did not regimentally force Greek culture on new territories, he did heavily encourage the adoption of a Hellenistic world view. A sense of shared identity among the people of Alexander’s empire was vital for its survival, some political scholars even suggest that without a shared sense of identity a country (Or empire in this case) is doomed to crumble from the inside, either by rebellion or failure in the motivation to preserve the country by way of war and defence. If you were living in the Persian empire after Alexander’s conquest you would feel the weight of his presence everywhere. Not only had he married Roxana, daughter of King Daruis, but eight of his officers also married Persian woman as part of a peace settlement. Moreover, Alexander would offer payed incentives for his officers to marry subjects, leaving many to remain in the cities to keep an eye on the population. In effect, Alexander had eyes all over his empire monitoring it for signs of internal tensions. The threat of rebellion was therefore somewhat quelled by this ominous looming threat. This in particular has been applied from wars to colonialism, the Conquistadors in particular where encouraged to take native wives and have children to assure a greater Spanish influence in their new colonies.

For his part, Alexander was known to adopt Persian dress and elements of Persian religion into his own life, this choice would gain him loyalty from people from across his vast empire. His willingness to assimilate himself into this culture was not surprising, Alexander had a reputation for being a hands-on leader. He would be found amongst his men in military camps, dressed in the same attire and spoke to any member regardless of rank. In the eyes of his loyal soldiers, Alexander was a leader who aspired devotion. The practice of proskynesis may have served to amplify the feelings of dedication to Alexander, it too was a Persian concept that he would quickly adopt with even a little modest hesitation. Essentially it was he practice of kissing the hands or feet of the highest-ranking people in their society, in particular their king. However, this overt demonstration of subjection provoked revulsion in the Greeks, who believed in an equality among men. In their minds, this was treatment for a god. Callisthenes would confront the issue with a damning address to Alexander
“Think carefully about the following: when you come back to Greece, are you going to force the Greeks, who are the men who most appreciate their freedom, to accept the proskynesis or will you exempt the Greeks of it, keeping it as an outrageous obligation to the Macedonians? Or maybe are you going to get over with all these honor issues at once and for all, so you get those that are proper to man from Greeks and Macedonians, and will leave rituals that are used by barbarians for when you are among barbarians?”
As a result, Alexander would assure that this practice would not be forced on Greeks. Once again he was proving his worth as a leader who could respect other cultural sensibilities whilst reaping the benefits of both of these differing nations for himself.
The unmatched allegiance given to Alexander by his people served as an unusual piece of intimidation to those who faced him. Knowing that the man coming for your city had an undefeated army that was aggressively loyal to him rather than the concept of their nation had to make their hearts drop. The Greek historian, Arrian, that by the time of his Persian conquest, Alexander was so feared that Persian soldiers threw themselves from the cliffs rather than face him. A quote ascribed to Alexander himself best exemplifies the strength he perceived within himself “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

Genghis Khan: Manipulating Perceptions

Genghis Khan, known for his sheer might and brutality in battle was also adept with using fear and manipulation against those unlucky enough to become his targets. It is thought that Genghis Khan’s army was as large as 150,000 at its hight, however he was no above using scare tactics to make his armies look far larger. For example, in 1204, whilst campaigning against the Neiman, Genghis Khan ordered each man to light five fires. His army was only around 40,000 at this time, but those who beheld the vast orange lights from the camps believed the army to be at least 100,000 or larger. This only continued upon the battlefields as the mounted archers that the Mongols became infamous for would use specially designed arrows with a small hole in the side, making a far more pronounced whistling sound, causing rivals to shrink at the sound that promised thousands more arrows than would actually come. The threat of an arrow storm was enough to cause the breaking of ranks, leading to the Mongols then being able to charge into the carnage to cut down rival forces. On other occasions Genghis’s would order spare horses to be ridden far back from the ranks, giving the impression of oncoming reinforcements.  Certainly, striking a deep sense of dread into your opponents proved to be an excellent way of demoralizing citizens and rival armed forces alike.

Genghis Khan’s propaganda campaigns would in turn serve as a means of weakening the oppositions resolve even before the armies where anywhere near the cities. Mongol soldiers would be sent to discreetly enter the target city to spread rumours and stories about the size, brutality and sheer might that Genghis Khan’s armies possessed. This coercion also proved useful to sow the seeds of internal discord, effectively triggering internal rebellions. Such was the case with the prince of the Neiman, Kuchlug Khan. After the Neiman had fallen to the Mongols, Kuchlug Khan fled westwards, where he soon married Hahhu, daughter of the ruler of Qara Khitai. Shortly thereafter he overthrew his father in law, taking the land for himself in 1211. His fatal flaw however was his religious practices. Kuchlug favoured the minority Buddhists citizens and began to persecute Muslim majority. Naturally, this set the foundations for rebellion, a rebellion that Mongol forces aided and encouraged as a means of eliminating Kuchlug as a threat. It was Genghis Khan’s favoured General, Jebe, that had ignited those flames, actively speaking to citizens to  tell them that all would be treated fairly under the rule of Genghis Khan. Ultimately Kuchlug’s army was disabled by his own people, whilst Kuchlug himself was handed over to Jebe, ultimately being decapitated in 1218.

As strange as It may seem, many did in fact view Genghis Khan as a liberator, their ability to court a group within a nation to assist them via rebellion was part of building this image. As well as this Genghis Khan would be tactile in his own use of religion in his empire, being rather tolerant of religious practices and capitalising on them as needed. It is said that he would consult Buddhist monks, Christian missionaries, and Muslims at any given time on issues, giving him invaluable insight into different ideologies. But he didn’t just uses this to dissuade internal religious conflicts, just as you may expect from Genghis Khan, he used as a means of propaganda, understanding the importance of balancing fear and mercy.