心理战是通过宣传和其他活动造成的心理因素,从精神上瓦解敌国及其军队的一种作战手段。它作为一种专门的斗争手段被普遍重视,是在第一次世界大战之后,但在此之前,各种心理战的尝试已经开始。如瓦解德国雇佣军,就是美国在独立战争时期有组织有计划实施的一次大规模的心理战。18世纪70年代,英国为维持其庞大的殖民地,在海外四处用兵,兵力捉襟见肘。为弥补人力不足,英国利用英王乔治三世在德国的亲戚关系,向德国的诸侯国雇佣军队。历史上,德国为偿还债务,也乐于向英国出租军队。这些由职业军人组成的雇佣军队,主要由 Psychological warfare is a psychological tactic through the propaganda and other activities that mentally disintegrate enemy forces and their armed forces. It was generally regarded as a specialized means of struggle after World War I, but before that, various psychological warfare attempts have begun. A disintegration of a German mercenary is a large-scale psychological war organized and planned by the United States during the War of Independence. In the 1870s, the United Kingdom stretched its military forces overseas to maintain its huge colony. In order to compensate for manpower shortage, the United Kingdom used the relatives of King George III in Germany to hire troops to the German vassal states. Historically, Germany was willing to pay its troops to the United Kingdom to pay its debts. These mercenary troops, composed of professional soldiers, are mainly composed of