In most armed conflicts, two types of strategies are used in parallel. On the one hand, the mobilization of some troops from a strategic and military point of view. On the other hand, a series of actions that are complementary and different from the use of conventional force. This last dimension of armed conflict is known as psychological warfare.
In addition to 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 among some couples who are in the process of separation between companies that compete for the same niche market and even among the means of communication . Psychological Warfare
Main objectives and means used in the military field
The first and fundamental objective is to keep the troops’ will to triumph high.
A classic example of this strategy occurs when soldiers from an army are visited by a character from the world of entertainment (Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch played for US troops during the Korean War and the Vietnam War).
It is important to demoralize or intimidate the enemy through messages that provoke pessimism in some way. Sometimes these messages are false, but through them it is possible to generate uncertainty and fear. This way of acting is connected with the idea that anything goes in war. Psychological Warfare
Through some propaganda system there is the possibility of trying to change the mentality of the masses that support the enemy forces.
Slogans on war posters played a prominent role in the various conflicts of the 20th century.
Propaganda systems are the fundamental weapon of all psychological warfare. For this, war posters are used with slogans accompanied by all kinds of suggestive images.
On the poster with the picture of Uncle Sam appears a resounding message : “I want you”. With this slogan, the US government was addressing society as a whole to get young people to enlist in the army. The poster was used in the First and Second World War. Psychological Warfare
In the context of the Spanish Civil War, the city of Madrid was being besieged by national troops
The republican government popularized a motto to keep Madrid’s morale high : “They will not pass.”
During World War II, German Nazism put in place a powerful propaganda machine to hold the Germans together. Among the slogans used, we can highlight one of them: “One people, one Reich, one Führer”.
Advertising posters have gone out of fashion in history. Currently, advertising messages are in the context of the internet and social networks. The spread of “fake news” is the new tool of psychological warfare. Psychological Warfare
