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[–] SerbianKebab [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoralization_%28warfare%29

Demoralization is, in a context of warfare, national security, and law enforcement, a process in psychological warfare with the objective to erode morale among enemy combatants and/or noncombatants. That can encourage them to retreat, surrender, or defect rather than defeating them in combat.

Morale is often perceived as a necessary precursor to success in international relations because success most often goes to those who believe in their cause, as they more easily maintain a positive outlook that contributes to their ability to work harder for the cause.[1]:88 High morale can directly contribute to "an economy of food, textiles, fuel, and other commodities, and to stimulate recruiting, employment in war industries, service in relief work, and the purchase of bonds."[2]:9 Writing in 1965, French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul described the importance of morale in modern society by saying:

The modern citizen is asked to participate in wars such as have never been seen before. All men must prepare for war, and for a dreadful type of war at that – dreadful because of its duration, the immensity of its operations, its tremendous losses, and the atrocity of the means employed. Moreover, participation in war is no longer limited to the duration of the war itself; there is the period of preparation for war, which becomes more and more intense and costly. Then there is the period in which to repair the ravages of war. People really live in a permanent atmosphere of war, and a superhuman war in every respect. Nowadays everybody is affected by war; everybody lives under its threat…The more demanded of man, the more powerful must be those motivations.

Denial of an enemy image

Front of leaflet

Back of leaflet

Front of a Nazi leaflet attempting to demoralize black US soldiers by stressing how they were ill-treated both at home and in war and missed by their family.

An important precursor to successful demoralization is an effort to deny the target the ability to project frustrations and hatred upon a common enemy.[2]:162 Such efforts will affect the tendency of the target's citizenry to project their discontent towards a common enemy identified by their government.[2]:162 As a result, frustrations will build until it is necessary to divert them elsewhere, and seeds of doubt are then sown in the minds of the citizenry who now question the capability of their leadership in identifying the most ominous threat.[2]:162–163

The operations of the German Gazette des Ardennes, published in occupied areas of France during World War I, are an example of this aspect of strategic demoralization.[2]:161–162 The Gazette des Ardennes regularly published propaganda articles that sought to deny the French of a German enemy image.[2]:162 Articles would carry such themes as: the Kaiser has always been known and respected for promoting peace, even among the British and French intellectual elite; the Kaiser is a kind and gentle family man; "all the stories about the German barbarities are poisonous lies"; German occupying soldiers are kind to and loved by French children; and Germans have an irrepressible love of music, religion, and morality that permeates wherever they are.[2]:162–163 The themes are illustrative of "defense by denial".[2]:163