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204-478: An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an " ambush ". Ambushes as a basic fighting tactic of soldiers or of criminals have been used consistently throughout history, from ancient to modern warfare . The term "ambush" is also used in animal behavior studies, journalism , and marketing to describe methods of approach and strategy. In

408-549: A de facto Roman protectorate there. Nonetheless, Roman–Persian rivalry over control and influence in Armenia continued unabated for the next several decades. The decision of the Parthian King Artabanus III to place his son on the vacant Armenian throne triggered a war with Rome in 36 AD, which ended when Artabanus III abandoned claims to a Parthian sphere of influence in Armenia. War erupted in 58 AD, after

612-679: A holy war . In the Caucasus he inflicted a defeat on an army led by a Persian-allied Arab chief and then won a victory over the Persians under Shahrbaraz. Following a lull in 623, while he negotiated a truce with the Avars, Heraclius resumed his campaigns in the East in 624 and routed an army led by Khosrau at Ganzak in Atropatene. In 625 he defeated the generals Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan in Armenia, and in

816-526: A kill zone is a hallmark of good troops and training in any ambush situation. Ambushes were widely used by the Lusitanians , in particular by their chieftain Viriathus . Their usual tactic, called concursare , involved repeatedly charging and retreating, forcing the enemy to eventually give them chase, to set up ambushes in difficult terrain where allied forces would be awaiting. In his first victory, he eluded

1020-543: A prize court could adjudicate the British claim. When the British ship was out of sight, Stewart suggested to the prize master the propriety of opening the hatches to air out Nerina's hold. The master gave the order, and the fifty American passengers Stewart had hidden belowdecks before Nerina was boarded rushed out and retook the ship. Stewart's successful deception enabled him to resume command and sail Nerina to New London, Connecticut , which he reached on 4 August. In

1224-589: A "shift of emphasis in the 'grand strategy of the Roman empire' ", but his successor, Hadrian , decided that it was in Rome's interest to re-establish the Euphrates as the limit of its direct control. Hadrian returned to the status quo ante , and surrendered the territories of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Adiabene to their previous rulers and client-kings. War over Armenia broke out again in 161, when Vologases IV defeated

1428-486: A "tyrant", was eventually deposed by Heraclius, having sailed from Carthage . Around the same time, the Persians completed their conquest of Mesopotamia and the Caucasus, and in 611 they overran Syria and entered Anatolia, occupying Caesarea . Having expelled the Persians from Anatolia in 612, Heraclius launched a major counter-offensive in Syria in 613. He was decisively defeated outside Antioch by Shahrbaraz and Shahin , and

1632-424: A British assault from that location. Wolfe's soldiers at Quebec City capitalized on the favorable balance of forces created by the deception. First, they opened a road from the riverbank to the city heights. Next, they deployed into battle formation on a farmer's field near the city walls. Caught by surprise, Montcalm knew he would not be able to withstand a siege and had no choice but to fight. On 13 September 1759,

1836-453: A Roman–Parthian alliance (c. 105 BC). When Lucullus invaded Southern Armenia and led an attack against Tigranes in 69 BC, he corresponded with Phraates III to dissuade him from intervening. Although the Parthians remained neutral, Lucullus considered attacking them. In 66–65 BC, Pompey reached agreement with Phraates, and Roman–Parthian troops invaded Armenia , but

2040-459: A U.S. military detachment under the command of Stephen Decatur Jr. , was assigned to retrieve the ship or destroy it to keep Tripoli from putting it into service. The raiding party deceived the Tripolitan authorities by sailing into Tripoli harbor aboard USS  Intrepid , a captured Tripolitan ketch which they disguised as a Maltese merchant ship. The ship's Sicilian harbor pilot spoke to

2244-400: A century of almost continuous conflict, left both empires crippled. When Kavadh II died only months after coming to the throne, Persia was plunged into several years of dynastic turmoil and civil war. The Sasanians were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation from Khosrau II's campaigns, religious unrest, and the increasing power of the provincial landholders . The Byzantine Empire

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2448-557: A cook and interpreter, he obtained work at the fort, where over the next year he became proficient in the Danish language and conducted reconnaissance to learn about the activities of the facility's occupants and the people with whom they traded. After gaining familiarity with Fort Christiansborg's occupants and operations, in 1693 Asamani informed the Danish traders who occupied it about a group of Akwamu who desired to purchase weapons and ammunition, and suggested they were so anxious to buy that

2652-465: A dispute soon arose over the Euphrates boundary. Finally, Phraates asserted his control over Mesopotamia, except for the western district of Osroene , which became a Roman dependency. The Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus led an invasion of Mesopotamia in 53 BC with catastrophic results; he and his son Publius were killed at the Battle of Carrhae by the Parthians under General Surena ; this

2856-650: A few years they were struck by the onslaught of the Arabs (newly united by Islam), which, according to Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". The Sasanian Empire rapidly succumbed to these attacks and was completely conquered. During the Byzantine–Arab wars, the exhausted Roman Empire's recently regained eastern and southern provinces of Syria , Armenia , Egypt and North Africa were also lost, reducing

3060-465: A flotilla of small boats to ferry his 9,000 troops across the river to the relative safety of Manhattan Island . Moving under cover of darkness, Washington's troops withdrew unit by unit to avoid the appearance that a general retreat was taking place. The wheels of supply wagons and gun carriages were wrapped in rags to muffle their noise, and troops ordered to remain silent to avoid alerting the nearby British. Rear guard units kept campfires blazing through

3264-549: A force of approximately 600, and was tasked with harassing the enemy in the backcountry of South Carolina. In January 1781, as a British force commanded by Banastre Tarleton closed in on Morgan near Cowpens, South Carolina on the Broad River , he opted to fight rather than risk being attacked while attempting to cross the water. Knowing the British regarded Patriot militia as inferior, Morgan used this perception to his advantage by arranging his troops in three lines. The first

3468-419: A forward patrol harbour from which the attacking force will deploy, and to which they will retire after the attack. Ambushes are complex multiphase operations and are therefore usually planned in some detail. First, a suitable killing zone is identified. This is where the ambush will be laid, where enemy units are expected to pass, and gives reasonable cover for the deployment, execution, and extraction phases of

3672-551: A further defeat near the Syrian Gates , the Parthians withdrew from Syria. They returned in 38 BC but were decisively defeated by Ventidius, and Pacorus was killed. In Judaea, Antigonus was ousted with Roman help by Herod in 37 BC. With Roman control of Syria and Judaea restored, Mark Antony led a huge army into Atropatene , but his siege train and its escort were isolated and wiped out, while his Armenian allies deserted. Failing to make progress against Parthian positions,

3876-512: A medical facility. The development of modern military deception doctrine has led to the codification of several rules and maxims. In U.S. doctrine, three of the most important are expressed as Magruder's Principle, the Jones' Dilemma, and Care in the Placement of Deceptive Material (Avoid Windfalls). Named for Confederate general John B. Magruder , the principle asserts that it is easier to convince

4080-507: A mercenary unit, and were slightly superior individually in comparison to the Persian ones, as Procopius claims; however, the Persian horse-archer units as a whole always remained a challenge for the Romans, which suggests the Roman horse-archers were smaller in numbers. By the time of Khosrow I the composite cavalrymen ( aswaran ) appeared, who were skilled in both archery and the use of lance. On

4284-533: A moment, the whole of the Roman East seemed lost to the Parthians or about to fall into their hands. However, the conclusion of the second Roman civil war soon revived Roman strength in Asia. Mark Antony had sent Ventidius to oppose Labienus, who had invaded Anatolia. Soon Labienus was driven back to Syria by Roman forces, and, although reinforced by the Parthians, was defeated, taken prisoner, and killed. After suffering

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4488-535: A nearby avenue of approach to delay enemy reinforcements. When deploying into an ambush site, the NVA first occupied several observation posts, placed to detect the enemy as early as possible and to report on the formation it was using, its strength and firepower, as well as to provide early warning to the unit commander. Usually, one main OP and numerous secondary OPs were established. Runners and radios were used to communicate between

4692-571: A notable deception that occurred during the War of 1812 's Siege of Detroit , British Major General Isaac Brock and Native American chief Tecumseh used a variety of tricks, including letters they allowed to be intercepted which exaggerated the size of their forces, disguising Brock's militia contingent as more fearsome regular army soldiers, and repeatedly marching the same body of Native Americans past U.S. observers to make it appear they were more numerous than they were. Though he had superior troop strength,

4896-474: A number of Hunnic peoples and then by the Hephthalites . With both empires preoccupied by these threats, a largely peaceful period followed, interrupted only by two brief wars, the first in 421–422 after Bahram V persecuted high-ranking Persian officials who had converted to Christianity , and the second in 440 , when Yazdegerd II raided Roman Armenia. The Anastasian War ended the longest period of peace

5100-483: A permanent peace. He invaded Anatolia and sacked Sebasteia, but to take Theodosiopolis, and after a clash near Melitene the army suffered heavy losses while fleeing across the Euphrates under Roman attack and the Persian royal baggage was captured. The Romans exploited Persian disarray as general Justinian invaded deep into Persian territory and raided Atropatene . Khosrau sought peace but abandoned this initiative when Persian confidence revived after Tamkhusro won

5304-541: A portion of his army to the crossing site, while his subordinate Craterus kept the entire army's campfires burning within sight of Porus and feigned several river crossings that Porus was able to observe. With Porus distracted, Alexander successfully led his detachment across the river, then marched south to engage in battle. In the Battle of the Hydaspes , Alexander's army had the element of surprise and quickly defeated Porus' troops, while sustaining relatively few casualties on

5508-518: A pretender claiming to be Maurice's son, and by the revolt against Phocas led by the Roman general Narses. In 603 Khosrau defeated and killed the Roman general Germanus in Mesopotamia and laid siege to Dara. Despite the arrival of Roman reinforcements from Europe, he won another victory in 604, while Dara fell after a nine-month siege. Over the following years the Persians gradually overcame the fortress cities of Mesopotamia by siege, one after another. At

5712-520: A prophet because of his strange dress and conduct. To ensure his good conduct, Arnold held Schuyler's brother as a hostage. Upon reaching the British positions outside Fort Stanwix, Schuyler informed the Mohawk that Arnold's relief column was nearer than it was, and that it was much larger than it actually was. The Mohawk initially disbelieved Schuyler, but assumed he was telling the truth after other American Indian messengers sent by Arnold began to arrive with

5916-618: A raid against the Quraysh . His group consisted of about twenty Muhajirs. This raid was about a month after the previous one. Sa'd, with his soldiers, set up an ambush in the valley of Kharrar on the road to Mecca and waited to raid a Meccan caravan returning from Syria. However, the caravan had already passed and the Muslims returned to Medina without any loot. Arab tribes during Muhammad's era also used ambush tactics. One example retold in Muslim tradition

6120-437: A series of short-term emperors, Shapur I soon resumed his attacks. In the early 250s, Philip was involved in a struggle over the control of Armenia; Shapur conquered Armenia and killed its king, defeated the Romans at the Battle of Barbalissos in 253, then probably took and plundered Antioch . Between 258 and 260, Shapur captured Emperor Valerian after defeating his army at the Battle of Edessa . He advanced into Anatolia but

6324-529: A sign had been posted. Lighting a torch to see the message, the Wei commander read "Pang Juan dies beneath this tree". The lighting of the torch was the signal for Qi to initiate the ambush. Sun Bin's army quickly routed Pang Juan's and Pang Juan committed suicide. Another well-known deceptive measure from ancient China has come to be known as the Empty Fort Strategy . Employed several times in numerous conflicts,

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6528-503: A spy, John Honeyman to gain information about the positions of Britain's Hessian mercenaries. Posing as a Loyalist butcher and weaver, Honeyman traded with British and Hessian troops and acquired useful intelligence. At the same time, he aided Washington's plan by spreading disinformation that convinced the British and Hessians that Continental Army morale was low and an end-of-year attack against British positions unlikely. Honeyman's deceptive information enabled Washington to gain

6732-526: A stratagem to surprise the enemy". When the Roman infantry became entangled in combat with his army, the hidden ambush force attacked the Roman infantry in the rear. The result was slaughter and defeat for the Romans. Nevertheless, the battle also displays the effects of good tactical discipline on the part of the ambushed force. Although most of the legions were lost, about 10,000 Romans cut their way through to safety, maintaining unit cohesion . This ability to maintain discipline and break out or maneuver away from

6936-437: A successful ambush. They took cover in difficult forested terrain, allowing the warriors time and space to mass without detection. They had the element of surprise, and this was also aided by the defection of Arminius from Roman ranks prior to the battle. They sprang the attack when the Romans were most vulnerable; when they had left their fortified camp, and were on the march in a pounding rainstorm. The Germans did not dawdle at

7140-431: A surprise attack that winter he stormed Shahrbaraz's headquarters and attacked his troops in their winter billets. Supported by a Persian army commanded by Shahrbaraz, together with the Avars and Slavs, the three unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople in 626 , while a second Persian army under Shahin suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of Heraclius' brother Theodore. Meanwhile, Heraclius formed an alliance with

7344-519: A tactic error in their retreat led to the Romans retaking the train and putting the Lusitanians to flight. Viriathus later defeated Servilianus with a surprise attack . Germanic war chief Arminius sprung an ambush against the Romans at Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . This particular ambush was to affect the course of Western history. The Germanic forces demonstrated several principles needed for

7548-607: A tactic he referred to as manoeuvre sur les derrières ("maneuvering behind"). During the War of the First Coalition , France attempted an invasion of Britain. During the February 1797 Battle of Fishguard , Colonel William Tate an Irish-American commanding French and Irish troops, landed near Fishguard in Wales . English and Welsh militia and civilians under the command of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor hastily assembled to defend

7752-640: A target into holding on to a pre-existing belief than it is to convince a target of something it does not believe. Examples include the Allies of World War II making use in the Operation Mincemeat deception of the pre-existing German belief that Greece and the Balkans would be their next invasion target after North Africa , when the Allies actually intended to invade Sicily . Named for British scientist Reginald Victor Jones , who played an important role in

7956-438: A targeted adversary decision maker to take an action that is detrimental to the adversary and beneficial to the side employing deception. Deception can be accomplished through either increasing or decreasing an adversary's understanding of the operating environment. Ambiguity increasing deception is intended to sow confusion in the mind of the enemy decision maker by presenting multiple possible friendly courses of action. Because

8160-399: A unit may move into an assembly area to complete organizing and rehearsing prior to a mission. It is a standard deceptive tactic to camouflage the vehicles, equipment and personnel in the assembly area with the intent of confusing the enemy. Military deception is more complex than simple deceptive activities, with a unit deliberately planning and carrying out an elaborate effort that will cause

8364-509: A vanguard unit that would charge the enemy, break up its formation, and then fall back in an attempt to draw the enemy into a position more favorable to the Mongols. Examples of deception occurred during the Crusades . In 1271, Sultan Baybars captured the formidable Krak des Chevaliers by handing the besieged knights a letter, supposedly from their commander, ordering them to surrender. The letter

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8568-406: A vantage point overlooking the ambush site. Reconnaissance elements observing a potential ambush target on the move generally stayed 300–500 meters away. A "leapfrogging" recon technique can be used. Surveillance units were echeloned one behind the other. As the enemy drew close to the first, it fell back behind the last recon team, leaving an advance group in its place. This one in turn fell back as

8772-439: A victory in Armenia, where Roman actions had alienated local inhabitants. In the spring of 578 the war in Mesopotamia resumed with Persian raids on Roman territory. The Roman general Maurice retaliated by raiding Persian Mesopotamia, capturing the stronghold of Aphumon , and sacking Singara. Khosrau again opened peace negotiations but he died early in 579 and his successor Hormizd IV ( r.  578–590 ) preferred to continue

8976-467: A visible position on a viewing platform, playing his Guqin while flanked by only two pages. Because Zhuge Liang's reputation as a military leader was so great, Sima Yi assumed Zhuge Liang had prepared an ambush, so he declined to enter Xicheng. Zhuge Liang's deception saved the town and prevented the few soldiers he had with him from being massacred or taken prisoner. During the Second Punic War ,

9180-483: Is a deceitful action in which one side promises to act in good faith with the intention of breaking that promise to gain an advantage. Examples include one side raising a flag of truce to entice an enemy to come into the open and take them as prisoners of war, then opening fire on the uncovered adversary. Additional examples include misusing protected signs and symbols, such as the red cross, crescent, and crystal , to conceal weapons and ammunition by making them appear to be

9384-507: Is now Punjab . To confront Porus, Alexander needed to cross the Hydaspes River . Porus used the terrain to his advantage and arranged his forces to prevent Alexander from crossing the river at the most likely fording point. Leading up to the battle, Alexander scouted several alternative fords, but Porus moved each time to counter him. Alexander eventually located a suitable crossing point approximately 17 miles north of his base. He then led

9588-622: Is said to have taken place during the First Raid on Banu Thalabah . The Banu Thalabah tribe were already aware of the impending attack; so they lay in wait for the Muslims. When Muhammad ibn Maslama arrived at the site, the Banu Thalabah with 100 men ambushed the Muslims while they were making preparation to sleep and, after a brief resistance, killed them all except for Muhammad ibn Maslama, who feigned death. A Muslim who happened to pass that way found him and assisted him to return to Medina . The raid

9792-454: Is shown by the facts themselves that [Severus'] conquest has been a source of constant wars and great expense to us. For it yields very little and uses up vast sums; and now that we have reached out to peoples who are neighbor of the Medes and the Parthians rather than of ourselves, we are always, one might say, fighting the battles of those peoples." In the long series of wars between the two powers,

9996-641: The Arsacid dynasty , the Parthians fended off several Seleucid attempts to regain their lost territories, and established several eponymous branches in the Caucasus , namely the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia , the Arsacid dynasty of Iberia , and the Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania . Meanwhile, the Romans expelled the Seleucids from their territories in Anatolia in the early 2nd century BC, after defeating Antiochus III

10200-593: The Battle of the Trebia River. Hannibal encamped within striking distance of the Romans with the Trebia River between them, and placed a strong force of cavalry and infantry in concealment, near the battle zone. He had noticed, says Polybius , a "place between the two camps, flat indeed and treeless, but well adapted for an ambuscade, as it was traversed by a water-course with steep banks, densely overgrown with brambles and other thorny plants, and here he proposed to lay

10404-509: The Carthaginian general Hannibal employed deception during the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. In preparing to face a Roman force led by Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro , Hannibal had 40,000 soldiers, as compared to the over 80,000 that had been amassed by Rome. To overcome the Roman advantage in numbers, Hannibal placed his less experienced and disciplined Gauls in the center of his formation, arranged to bulge out towards

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10608-647: The Galapagos chain. On 28 May 1813, lookouts on Georgiana spotted two British ships, Catharine and Rose , off James Island . Resorting to deception, Downes raised the British flag , which tricked the British whalers into thinking they were not under threat. When the Americans were within range they lowered a few boats filled with men, which rowed to Catharine and Rose and captured them without resistance. The British captains revealed to Downes that they had no idea of

10812-590: The Medieval Age , the Renaissance , and the European Colonial Era . Deception was employed during World War I and came into even greater prominence during World War II . In modern times, the militaries of several nations have evolved deception tactics, techniques and procedures into fully fledged doctrine. Many standard military activities can be considered deceptive , but not deception. For example,

11016-452: The Netherlands . Belgian authorities discounted this true information as false because of the ease with which they obtained it. Friendly events about which an adversary can be deceived are described in the mnemonic SALUTE-IS, which stands for Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment, Intent, and Style. The maxim indicates that the more of these categories the friendly side can deceive

11220-519: The Roman-Persian Wars . A year after their victory at Carrhae , the Parthians invaded Syria but were driven back after a Roman ambush near Antigonia . Roman Emperor Julian was mortally wounded in an ambush near Samarra in 363 during the retreat from his Persian campaign . A Byzantine invasion of Persian Armenia was repelled by a small force at Anglon who performed a meticulous ambush by using

11424-558: The Seleucid Empire . During the 3rd century BC, the Parthians migrated from the Central Asian steppe into northern Iran . Although subdued for a time by the Seleucids, in the 2nd century BC they broke away, and established an independent state that steadily expanded at the expense of their former rulers, and through the course of the 2nd and early 1st century BC, they had conquered Persia , Mesopotamia , and Armenia . Ruled by

11628-593: The Western Turkic Khaganate , who took advantage of the dwindling strength of the Persians to ravage their territories in the Caucasus. Late in 627, Heraclius launched a winter offensive into Mesopotamia, where, despite the desertion of the Turkish contingent that had accompanied him, he defeated the Persians at the Battle of Nineveh . Continuing south along the Tigris, he sacked Khosrau's great palace at Dastagird and

11832-511: The limes of the Syrian and Mesopotamian frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Roman and Persian border units were known as limitanei and marzoban s, respectively. The Sasanians, and to a lesser extent the Parthians, practiced mass deportations to new cities as a tool of policy, not just the prisoners-of-war (such as those of the Battle of Edessa ), but also the cities they captured, such as

12036-456: The 1796 Battle of Lodi , he used deception to achieve a successful crossing of the River Po . As a diversion, Napoleon mounted a token crossing attempt against a strong Austrian force under Johann Peter Beaulieu . Meanwhile, the bulk of his force moved upriver and obtained an uncontested bridgehead at Piacenza . Once it had crossed the river, Napoleon's force attacked the enemy's rear guard in

12240-419: The 20th century, a military ambush might involve thousands of soldiers on a large scale, such as at a choke point like a mountain pass . Conversely, it could involve a small irregular band or insurgent group attacking a regular armed-force patrol. Theoretically, a single well-armed, and concealed soldier could ambush other troops in a surprise attack . In recent centuries, a military ambush can involve

12444-631: The 2nd century AD, during which the Romans consistently held the upper hand over Parthia. The Emperor Trajan invaded Armenia and Mesopotamia during 114 and 115 and annexed them as Roman provinces. He captured the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon , before sailing downriver to the Persian Gulf . However, uprisings erupted in 115 AD in the occupied Parthian territories, while a major Jewish revolt broke out in Roman territory, severely stretching Roman military resources. Parthian forces attacked key Roman positions, and

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12648-585: The 6th and 7th centuries left them exhausted and vulnerable in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate , whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the end of the last Roman–Persian war. Benefiting from their weakened condition, the Rashidun armies swiftly conquered the entire Sasanian Empire , and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its territories in

12852-614: The 9th and 6th centuries BC, are credited to the Ancient Greek author Homer . These poems contain details of the Trojan War , presumed by the Greeks to have been fought in approximately the 13th century BC. The Odyssey provides the details of the Trojan Horse , a successfully executed deception. After several years of stalemate, a Greek leader, Odysseus , devised a deception. Over three days,

13056-575: The African infantry positioned on the left and right would wheel inwards and attack the Roman flanks. In combination with the Carthaginian cavalry, the infantry on the flanks would continue moving until they encircled the Romans and could attack their rear. The battle unfolded as Hannibal had envisioned. Only 10,000 Romans escaped, with the rest either killed or captured. The battle came to be seen as evidence of Hannibal's genius for tactical generalship, while it

13260-451: The Allied effort during World War II, the Jones dilemma indicates that the greater the number of intelligence and information gathering and transmitting resources available to the deception target, the more difficult it is to deceive the target. Conversely, the more of the target's intelligence and information systems that are manipulated in a deception plan or denied to the target, the more likely

13464-576: The Allies conveyed to the target to create the perception included the false radio traffic, dummy equipment displays, and deceptive command messages of the fictional First United States Army Group ("See"). According to a story from an ancient Egyptian papyrus , in about 1450 BC, an Egyptian army under Pharaoh Thutmose III and his general Djehuty besieged the Caananite city of Yapu (later Joppa and now Jaffa ). Unable to gain entry, they resorted to deception. Djehuty hid several soldiers in baskets and had

13668-568: The Arabs in later conflicts, though these too were ultimately recovered . When the Roman and Parthian Empires first collided in the 1st century BC, it appeared that Parthia had the potential to push its frontier to the Aegean and the Mediterranean. However, the Romans repulsed the great invasion of Syria and Anatolia by Pacorus and Labienus, and were gradually able to take advantage of the weaknesses of

13872-537: The British defensive works. In July 1812, the British warship HMS Belvidera captured the American brig Nerina , which had sailed for New York City from Newry , Ireland without knowing that war had been declared in June. Nerina's crew was transferred to a British ship, except for the captain, James Stewart, who remained on board with a British prize crew which intended to sail Nerina to Halifax, Nova Scotia so

14076-510: The Caucasus was defeated by Sittas at Satala . Belisarius was defeated by Persian and Lakhmid forces at the Battle of Callinicum in 531, which resulted in his dismissal. In the same year the Romans gained some forts in Armenia, while the Persians had captured two forts in eastern Lazica. Immediately after the Battle of Callinicum, unsuccessful negotiations between Justinian's envoy, Hermogenes, and Kavadh took place. A Persian siege of Martyropolis

14280-645: The Continental Army's depots. The deception fooled British spies, and British commanders decided not to risk an attack during the siege. After the Patriot defeat at the Battle of Long Island in late August 1776, Washington's forces retreated to Brooklyn Heights , with a superior British force surrounding them on three sides and their backs to the East River . The British expected Washington would find his position untenable and surrender. Washington instead arranged for

14484-422: The Danes should inflate their prices. Lured by the prospect of large profits, the Danes bartered with the 80 Akwamu that Asamani had brought to the fort. When the Danes allowed the Akwamu to inspect rifles and prepare to test-fire them, the Akwamu instead used the guns to commence an attack on the Danes. Caught by surprise, the Danes were quickly overpowered and ejected from Fort Christiansborg. The Akwamu occupied

14688-765: The Empire to a territorial rump consisting of Anatolia and a scatter of islands and footholds in the Balkans and Italy. These remaining lands were thoroughly impoverished by frequent attacks, marking the transition from classical urban civilization to a more rural, medieval form of society. However, unlike Persia, the Roman Empire ultimately survived the Arab assault, holding onto its residual territories and decisively repulsing two Arab sieges of its capital in 674–678 and 717–718 . The Roman Empire also lost its territories in Crete and southern Italy to

14892-652: The French were decisively beaten in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham . The loss of Quebec led to defeat in the war and France was forced to cede Canada to the British. As head of the Continental Army , George Washington successfully used deception to equalize the odds in the fight against the larger, better-equipped, and better-trained British army and its mercenary allies. During the Siege of Boston from April 1775 to March 1776,

15096-582: The Great at Thermopylae and Magnesia . Finally, in 64 BC Pompey conquered the remaining Seleucid territories in Syria, extinguishing their state and advancing the Roman eastern frontier to the Euphrates , where it met the territory of the Parthians. Parthian enterprise in the West began in the time of Mithridates I and was revived by Mithridates II , who negotiated unsuccessfully with Lucius Cornelius Sulla for

15300-478: The Great's conquest of Persia , which was thought to be the cause of the subsequent Iranian disarray; this is matched by the notion imitatio Alexandri cherished by the Roman emperors Caracalla, Alexander Severus, and Julian. Roman sources reveal long-standing prejudices with regard to the Eastern powers' customs, religious structures, languages, and forms of government. John F. Haldon underscores that "although

15504-486: The Greeks constructed a hollow wooden horse, which they inscribed as an offering to the goddess Athena in prayer for safe return to their homes. The Greeks then pretended to depart the area around Troy, giving the impression that they had sailed for Greece. Rather than risk offending Athena, the Trojans brought the horse into the city. That night, Greek soldiers concealed inside the horse came out of their hiding place and opened

15708-461: The Iberians who had left their country were given the choice of remaining in Roman territory or returning to their native land. The Persians broke the "Treaty of Eternal Peace" in 540, probably in response to the Roman reconquest of much of the former western empire, which had been facilitated by the cessation of war in the East. Khosrau I invaded and devastated Syria, extorting large sums of money from

15912-529: The League of Cambrai . On 4 September 1513, Henry's forces began to besiege the city of Tournai in what is now Belgium . The site of a thriving tapestry industry and home to many well-known painters, Tournai prolonged the siege by using painted canvas that resembled trenchworks to exaggerate the strength of its defenses. As a result of this deception, the city held out for several days longer than expected and obtained favorable terms when it surrendered. In 1659,

16116-693: The Levant , the Caucasus , Egypt , and the rest of North Africa . Over the following centuries, more of the Eastern Roman Empire came under Muslim rule. According to James Howard-Johnston , "from the third century BC to the early seventh century AD, the rival players [in the East] were grand polities with imperial pretensions, which had been able to establish and secure stable territories transcending regional divides". The Romans and Parthians came into contact through their respective conquests of parts of

16320-508: The Macedonian side. Having conquered Porus' kingdom, Alexander then allowed Porus to rule it as one of Alexander's satraps . In 341 BC, troops under the general Sun Bin of the state of Qi faced battle with the forces of the state of Wei . Knowing that Wei regarded the army of Qi as inferior and cowardly, Sun Bin decided to use Wei's perception to his advantage. When Qi's forces invaded Wei, Sun Bin ordered them to light 100,000 camp fires on

16524-480: The OPs and the main command post. The OPs were located so that enemy movement into the ambush could be observed. They would remain in position throughout the ambush to report routes of reinforcement and withdrawal by the enemy, as well as his manoeuvre options. Frequently the OPs were reinforced to squad size and served as flank security. The command post was situated in a central location, frequently on terrain which afforded it

16728-515: The Ontario town of Sandwich . Finding no activity at Springwells, the British believed the Americans had already crossed the river and marched on Fort Malden. Assuming Fort Malden was vulnerable, the British troops in Sandwich marched south, and in the morning the Americans at Bloody Run crossed to Sandwich unopposed. After landing in Sandwich, the Americans then marched from Sandwich to Windsor and seized

16932-550: The Parthian King Vologases I forcibly installed his brother Tiridates on the Armenian throne. Roman forces overthrew Tiridates and replaced him with a Cappadocian prince, triggering an inconclusive war . This came to an end in 63 AD after the Romans agreed to allow Tiridates and his descendants to rule Armenia on condition that they receive the kingship from the Roman emperor. A fresh series of conflicts began in

17136-525: The Parthian military system, which, according to George Rawlinson , was adapted for national defense but ill-suited for conquest. The Romans, on the other hand, were continually modifying and evolving their " grand strategy " from Trajan 's time onwards, and were by the time of Pacorus able to take the offensive against the Parthians. Like the Sasanians in the late 3rd and 4th centuries, the Parthians generally avoided any sustained defense of Mesopotamia against

17340-637: The Persians: by 527, the Iberian revolt had been crushed, a Roman offensive against Nisibis and Thebetha in that year was unsuccessful, and forces trying to fortify Thannuris and Melabasa were prevented from doing so by Persian attacks. Attempting to remedy the deficiencies revealed by these Persian successes, the new Roman emperor, Justinian I , reorganized the eastern armies . In 528 Belisarius tried unsuccessfully to protect Roman workers in Thannuris, undertaking

17544-687: The Roman army and forced its withdrawal; this was the origin of the Antonine Plague that raged for a generation throughout the Roman Empire. In 195–197, a Roman offensive under the Emperor Septimius Severus led to Rome's acquisition of northern Mesopotamia as far as the areas around Nisibis , Singara and the third sacking of Ctesiphon. A final war against the Parthians was launched by the Emperor Caracalla , who sacked Arbela in 216. After his assassination, his successor, Macrinus ,

17748-422: The Roman forces in the East, numbering 30,000, against the capital of Persian Armenia, Dvin , was defeated by a meticulous ambush by a small Persian force at Anglon . Khosrau besieged Edessa in 544 without success and was eventually bought off by the defenders. The Edessenes paid five centenaria to Khosrau, and the Persians departed after nearly two months. In the wake of the Persian retreat, two Roman envoys,

17952-423: The Roman garrisons at Seleucia , Nisibis and Edessa were expelled by the local inhabitants. Trajan subdued the rebels in Mesopotamia, but having installed the Parthian prince Parthamaspates on the throne as a client ruler, he withdrew his armies and returned to Syria. Trajan died in 117, before he was able to reorganize and consolidate Roman control over the Parthian provinces. Trajan's Parthian War initiated

18156-511: The Roman position collapsed. Over the following decade the Persians were able to conquer Palestine , Egypt, Rhodes and several other islands in the eastern Aegean, as well as to devastate Anatolia. Meanwhile, the Avars and Slavs took advantage of the situation to overrun the Balkans , bringing the Roman Empire to the brink of destruction. During these years, Heraclius strove to rebuild his army, slashing non-military expenditures, devaluing

18360-486: The Roman protectorate. The emperor seized the chance, and in 548–549 combined Roman and Lazic forces with the magister militum of Armenia Dagistheus won a series of victories against Persian armies, although they failed to take the key garrison of Petra (present-day Tsikhisdziri ). In 551, general Bessas who replaced Dagistheus put Abasgia and the rest of Lazica under control, and finally subjected Petra after fierce fighting , demolishing its fortifications. In

18564-514: The Romans and the destruction of three legions. The Germanic victory caused a limit on Roman expansion in the West. Ultimately, it established the Rhine as the boundary of the Roman Empire for the next four hundred years, until the decline of the Roman influence in the West. The Roman Empire made no further concerted attempts to conquer Germania beyond the Rhine. There are many notable examples of ambushes during

18768-419: The Romans there, captured Edessa and ravaged Syria. In 163 a Roman counter-attack under Statius Priscus defeated the Parthians in Armenia and installed a favored candidate on the Armenian throne. The following year Avidius Cassius invaded Mesopotamia, winning battles at Dura-Europos and Seleucia and sacking Ctesiphon in 165. An epidemic which was sweeping Parthia at the time, possibly of smallpox , spread to

18972-528: The Romans withdrew with heavy casualties. Antony was again in Armenia in 33 BC to join with the Median king against Octavian and the Parthians. Other preoccupations obliged him to withdraw, and the whole region came under Parthian control. With tensions between the two powers threatening renewed war, Octavian and Phraataces worked out a compromise in 1 AD. According to the agreement, Parthia undertook to withdraw its forces from Armenia and to recognize

19176-563: The Romans. In 383 or 384 Armenia again became a bone of contention between the Roman and the Sasanian empires, but hostilities did not occur. With both empires preoccupied by barbarian threats from the north, in 384 or 387, a definitive peace treaty was signed by Shapur III and Theodosius I dividing Armenia between the two states. Meanwhile, the northern territories of the Roman Empire were invaded by Germanic, Alanic, and Hunnic peoples, while Persia's northern borders were threatened first by

19380-427: The Romans. In 602 the Roman army campaigning in the Balkans mutinied under the leadership of Phocas , who succeeded in seizing the throne and then killed Maurice and his family. Khosrau II used the murder of his benefactor as a pretext for war and reconquer the Roman province of Mesopotamia. In the early years of the war the Persians enjoyed overwhelming and unprecedented success. They were aided by Khosrau's use of

19584-404: The Romans. Encouraged by this success, the emperor Gordian III advanced down the Euphrates but was defeated near Ctesiphon in the Battle of Misiche in 244. Gordian either died in the battle or was murdered by his own men; Philip became emperor, and paid 500,000 denarii to the Persians in a hastily negotiated peace settlement. With the Roman Empire debilitated by Germanic invasions and

19788-405: The Romans. Following a lull during the 350s while Shapur fought off nomad attacks on Persia's eastern and then northern frontiers, he launched a new campaign in 359 with the aid of the eastern tribes which he had meanwhile defeated, and after a difficult siege again captured Amida (359). In the following year he captured Bezabde and Singara, and repelled the counter-attack of Constantius II. But

19992-478: The Romans. However, the Iranian plateau never fell, as the Roman expeditions had always exhausted their offensive impetus by the time they reached lower Mesopotamia, and their extended line of communications through territory not sufficiently pacified exposed them to revolts and counterattacks. From the 4th century AD onwards, the Sasanians grew in strength and adopted the role of aggressor. They considered much of

20196-449: The Romans. On either side of his line, Hannibal positioned his experienced and disciplined Libyan and Gaetuli infantry. Hannibal intended for the Gauls to give way to the advancing Romans, with the center of his line bending but not breaking. Seeing the Gauls appear to retreat, the Romans would advance into the bowl shape or sack created by the bending of Hannibal's line. Once inside the sack,

20400-580: The Romans: in 524/525 the Iberians rose in revolt against Persia, following the example of the neighboring Christian kingdom of Lazica , and the Romans recruited Huns from the north of the Caucasus to assist them. To start with, the two sides preferred to wage war by proxy, through Arab allies in the south and Huns in the north. Overt Roman–Persian fighting had broken out in the Transcaucasus region and upper Mesopotamia by 526–527. The early years of war favored

20604-403: The Sasanians regarded the Roman Empire as the enemy par excellence. Proxy warfare was employed by both Byzantines and the Sasanians as an alternative to direct confrontation, particularly through Arab kingdoms in the south and nomadic nations in the north. Militarily, the Sasanians continued the Parthians' heavy dependence on cavalry troops: a combination of horse-archers and cataphracts ;

20808-597: The Spanish defenders, directed the erection of a cloth screen. The screen deceived the Moors because it was painted to resemble stone, and no Moorish besiegers ventured close enough to spot the fakery. The wall was repaired over the next several days, and the Moors did not learn of the gap in the Alhama's defenses. Henry VIII of England led troops on the European mainland during the War of

21012-515: The Tigris. Harried by the Persians, Julian was killed in the Battle of Samarra , during a difficult retreat along the Tigris . With the Roman army stuck on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, Julian's successor Jovian made peace, agreeing to major concessions in exchange for safe passage out of Sasanian territory. The Romans surrendered their former possessions east of the Tigris, as well as Nisibis and Singara, and Shapur soon conquered Armenia, abandoned by

21216-540: The Tripolitan authorities in Arabic , claimed the ship had lost its anchors in a storm, and sought permission to tie up next to the captured Philadelphia . Permission was granted and Decatur and his crew overwhelmed the small force guarding Philadelphia , using only swords and pikes to avoid gunshots that would alert authorities on shore of their presence. Unable to sail Philadelphia away, Decatur and his crew burned it, then safely escaped. In July 1812, General William Hull

21420-608: The U.S. commander, Brigadier General William Hull , believed he faced overwhelming numbers of British regular troops and hordes of uncontrollable Indians. Fearing a massacre, in August 1812 Hull surrendered the town and the attached fort. Most of his militia were allowed to return home, while his regular army soldiers were held as prisoners of war. American Lieutenant John Downes was in command of Georgiana as part of Captain David Porter 's naval force, which raided British shipping in

21624-488: The advantage of surprise. Military deception may take place at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of warfare. The five basic tactics include: These basic deception tactics are often used in combination with each other as part of a larger deception plan. Adherents to Protocol I (1977) of the Geneva Conventions agree not to engage in acts of perfidy during the conduct of warfare. Perfidious conduct

21828-510: The adversary about, the more likely the adversary is to believe the deception. Conversely, if there are plans and activities about which the adversary is already aware, attempting to deceive him about them is unlikely to succeed. In Operation Bodyguard, the Germans knew there would be an invasion on the coast of France, that it would happen in 1944, and that it would be based in England. They did not know

22032-400: The adversary considers what information has to be conveyed to the target through what medium for the target to develop the perception of the situation that will cause the enemy to take an action beneficial to the friendly side. In the planning process, "See-Think-Do" is considered in reverse order—what does the friendly side want the enemy to do as a result of the deception, what perceptions will

22236-623: The adversary does not know which is true, his reactions are delayed or paralyzed, which gives the friendly side an advantage. With ambiguity decreasing deception, the friendly side intends to make the adversary certain of the friendly course of action — certain, but wrong. As a result, the adversary will misallocate time, personnel, or resources, which enables the friendly side to obtain an advantage. The Operation Bodyguard deception in World War II can be viewed as an ambiguity increasing deception that over time became ambiguity decreasing. Initially,

22440-568: The aim was to increase confusion among German planners and leaders by presenting the possibilities of Allied invasions at the Pas-de-Calais and Normandy in France, as well as the Balkans , southern France , and Norway . Eventually, the deception increased certainty on the German side by causing them to conclude that Calais was the real invasion site. When the Allies attacked at Normandy, they did so with

22644-427: The ambush patrol. A path along a wooded valley floor would be a typical example. Ambush can be described geometrically as: The terrain for the ambush had to meet strict criteria: One important feature of the ambush was that the target units should 'pile up' after being attacked, thus preventing them any easy means of withdrawal from the kill zone and hindering their use of heavy weapons and supporting fire. Terrain

22848-406: The arrival of troops under Khosrau resulted in a ravaging of Syria, the failure of the Roman siege of Nisibis and the fall of Dara. At a cost of 45,000  solidi , a one-year truce in Mesopotamia (eventually extended to five years) was arranged, but in the Caucasus and on the desert frontiers the war continued. In 575, Khosrau I attempted to combine aggression in Armenia with discussion of

23052-675: The attack until the Americans were already on deck. Roman-Persian Wars Roman–Sasanian wars Byzantine–Sasanian Wars The Roman–Persian Wars , also known as the Roman–Iranian Wars , were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranian empires : the Parthian and the Sasanian. Battles between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 54 BC; wars began under

23256-525: The baskets delivered to the town with the message that the Egyptians were admitting defeat and sending tribute . The people of Yapu accepted the gift and celebrated the end of the siege. Once inside the city, the hidden soldiers emerged from the baskets, opened the city gates, and admitted the main Egyptian force. The Egyptians then conquered the city. The Iliad and The Odyssey , epic poems composed between

23460-539: The best-known example is a fictional one contained in a historical novel from the 1320s AD, Romance of the Three Kingdoms . This work, which contains embellished tales of actual Chinese history from 169 to 280 AD, includes the story of general Zhuge Liang of Shu Han employing the Empty Fort Strategy. As recounted in the novel's description of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions , an actual historical event,

23664-591: The blood spilled in the warfare between the two states brought as little real gain to one side or the other as the few meters of land gained at terrible cost in the trench warfare of the First World War. Both sides attempted to justify their respective military goals in both active and reactive ways. According to the Letter of Tansar and the Muslim writer Al-Tha'alibi , Ardashir I 's and Pacorus I 's invasions, respectively, of Roman territories, were to avenge Alexander

23868-461: The border, but in time the balance was almost always restored. Although initially different in military tactics, the armies of both sides gradually adopted from each other and by the second half of the 6th century, they were similar and evenly matched. The expense of resources during the Roman–Persian Wars ultimately proved catastrophic for both empires. The prolonged and escalating warfare of

24072-578: The capital Ctesiphon and captured the Persian treasury and royal harem. The resulting peace settlement gave the Romans control of the area between the Tigris and the Greater Zab . The Roman victory was the most decisive for many decades: all the territories that had been lost, all the debatable lands, and control of Armenia lay in Roman hands. Many cities east of the Tigris were given to the Romans including Tigranokert , Saird , Martyropolis , Balalesa , Moxos , Daudia , and Arzan. Also, control of Armenia

24276-405: The cities of Syria and Mesopotamia, and systematically looting other cities including Antioch , whose population was deported to Persian territory. The successful campaigns of Belisarius in the west encouraged the Persians to return to war, both taking advantage of Roman preoccupation elsewhere and seeking to check the expansion of Roman territory and resources. In 539 the resumption of hostilities

24480-484: The city did not produce the desired effect, Wolfe employed a deception strategy called "uproar east, attack west" Wolfe ordered Admiral Charles Saunders to move the British fleet on the Saint Lawrence River to a position opposite one of Montcalm's main camps east of Quebec City. This demonstration gave the appearance of preparations for an upcoming attack. Montcalm was deceived, and moved troops to guard against

24684-469: The city gates. The main force of Greek soldiers who had actually remained nearby then entered the city and killed the inhabitants. In 326 BC, the army of Macedon , which was led by Alexander the Great , had advanced through the Middle East to Asia , conquering numerous kingdoms along the way. Alexander planned for battle against the forces of Porus , the king of the region of Pakistan and India that

24888-528: The cliffs near the French camp. from a distance, the women appeared to be British soldiers in red coats and Shakos . Convinced that he was outnumbered, Tate surrendered and his troops were taken prisoner. In October, 1803 the frigate USS  Philadelphia ran aground off the North African port of Tripoli during the First Barbary War and was captured by the Tripolitan forces. In February 1804,

25092-557: The conflicts between Persia and East Rome revolved around issues of strategic control around the eastern frontier, yet there was always a religious-ideological element present". From the time of Constantine on, Roman emperors appointed themselves as the protectors of Christians of Persia. This attitude created intense suspicions of the loyalties of Christians living in Sasanian Iran and often led to Roman–Persian tensions or even military confrontations (e.g. in 421–422 ). A characteristic of

25296-501: The construction of a fort right on the frontier. Damaging raids on Syria by the Lakhmids in 529 encouraged Justinian to strengthen his own Arab allies, helping the Ghassanid leader Al-Harith ibn Jabalah turn a loose coalition into a coherent kingdom. In 530, a major Persian offensive in Mesopotamia was defeated by Roman forces under Belisarius at Dara , while a second Persian thrust in

25500-618: The creation of England's Tudor dynasty . In an event from the early 1480s that was recounted in Washington Irving 's Conquest of Granada , during the Granada War , the Alhama de Granada was besieged by Moors . During the siege, a portion of the fortress' outer wall was destroyed after the earth beneath it was washed away in a violent storm. To conceal the breach, the Conde de Tendilla , leader of

25704-461: The currency and melting down Church plate, with the backing of Patriarch Sergius , to raise the necessary funds to continue the war. In 622, Heraclius left Constantinople, entrusting the city to Sergius and general Bonus as regents of his son. He assembled his forces in Asia Minor and, after conducting exercises to revive their morale, he launched a new counter-offensive, which took on the character of

25908-544: The deceptive information, or by devoting significant effort to interpreting it. In an example of valid information being dismissed as a windfall, early in World War II a plane carrying German officers to Cologne became lost in bad weather and landed in Belgium . Before being arrested by Belgian authorities, the Germans attempted to burn the papers they were carrying, which included copies of the actual invasion plans for Belgium and

26112-722: The deportation of the Antioch 's people to Weh Antiok Khosrow , which led to the decline of the former. These deportations also initiated the spread of Christianity in Persia . The Persians seem to have been reluctant to resort to naval action. There was some minor Sasanian naval action in 620–23 , and the only major Byzantine navy 's action was during the Siege of Constantinople (626) . The Roman–Persian Wars have been characterized as "futile" and too "depressing and tedious to contemplate". Prophetically, Cassius Dio noted their "never-ending cycle of armed confrontations" and observed that "it

26316-548: The element of surprise, and his troops routed the stunned Hessians. After the Battle of Trenton, the British dispatched a large army under General Charles Cornwallis to chase down Washington's smaller force. At the 2 January 1777 Battle of the Assunpink Creek , the Continental troops under Washington successfully repulsed three British attacks on their positions. Darkness ended the British attacks and they planned to resume

26520-460: The end of the 1st century AD, Rome organized the protection of its eastern frontiers through the limes system, which lasted until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century after improvements by Diocletian . Like the Romans, the Sasanians constructed defensive walls opposite the territory of their opponents. According to R. N. Frye, it was under Shapur II that the Persian system was extended, probably in imitation of Diocletian's construction of

26724-556: The end of the last war between them. Although warfare between the Romans and Persians continued over seven centuries, the frontier, aside from shifts in the north, remained largely stable. A game of tug of war ensued: towns, fortifications, and provinces were continually sacked, captured, destroyed, and traded. Neither side had the logistical strength or manpower to maintain such lengthy campaigns far from their borders, and thus neither could advance too far without risking stretching its frontiers too thin. Both sides did make conquests beyond

26928-536: The enemy again closed the gap, and the cycle rotated. This method helped keep the enemy under continuous observation from a variety of vantage points, and allowed the recon groups to cover one another. Surprise attack Deception in warfare dates back to early history. The Art of War , an ancient Chinese military treatise, emphasizes the importance of deception as a way for outnumbered forces to defeat larger adversaries. Examples of deception in warfare can be found in ancient Egypt , Greece , and Rome ,

27132-476: The enormous cost of these victories weakened him, and he was soon deserted by his barbarian allies, leaving him vulnerable to the major offensive in 363 by the Roman Emperor Julian , who advanced down the Euphrates to Ctesiphon with a major army. Despite a tactical victory at the Battle of Ctesiphon before the walls Julian was unable to take the Persian capital or advance any farther and retreated along

27336-581: The ensuing Liberators' civil war and sent a contingent to fight on their side at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. After the Liberators' defeat, the Parthians invaded Roman territory in 40 BC in conjunction with the Roman Quintus Labienus , a former supporter of Brutus and Cassius. They swiftly overran the Roman province of Syria and advanced into Judea , overthrowing the Roman client Hyrcanus II and installing his nephew Antigonus . For

27540-476: The exact date and the exact location. The Allies concentrated their deception on the SALUTE-IS details the Germans did not know about, and did not attempt to deceive them about what they already knew. The doctrine for planning deception has been codified over time. In the U.S. military, this doctrine begins with understanding the deception target's cognitive process. Expressed as "See-Think-Do", this understanding of

27744-400: The exclusive or combined use of improvised explosive devices (IED). This allows attackers to hit enemy convoys or patrols while minimizing the risk of being exposed to return fire. The use of ambush tactics by early people dates as far back as two million years when anthropologists have recently suggested that ambush techniques were used to hunt large game. One example from ancient times is

27948-592: The fall of the city. That year an armistice was reached as a result of an invasion of Armenia by the Huns from the Caucasus . Although the two powers negotiated, it was not until November 506 that a treaty was agreed to. In 505, Anastasius ordered the building of a great fortified city at Dara . At the same time, the dilapidated fortifications were also upgraded at Edessa, Batnae and Amida. Although no further large-scale conflict took place during Anastasius' reign, tensions continued, especially while work proceeded at Dara. This

28152-448: The final phase of the conflict, when what had begun in 611–612 as a raid was soon transformed into a war of conquest, was the pre-eminence of the Cross as a symbol of imperial victory and of the strong religious element in the Roman imperial propaganda; Heraclius himself cast Khosrau as the enemy of God, and authors of the 6th and 7th centuries were fiercely hostile to Persia. The sources for

28356-426: The first Patriot attempt to relieve the Siege of Fort Stanwix , New York was blocked by the British as the result of the Battle of Oriskany . A second attempt, led by Benedict Arnold succeeded in part because of a successful effort to deceive the British besiegers. Arnold dispatched a messenger, Hon Yost Schuyler to the British lines. Schuyler was a Loyalist and regarded by the British army's Mohawk allies as

28560-426: The first night. On the second night, they lit 50,000. On the third, 30,000. Sun Bin's deception caused the Wei forces led by general Pang Juan to believe Qi faced mass desertions. Rushing to attack what they believed to be an inferior army, the Wei forces assaulted Qi's troops at a narrow gorge, not knowing Sun Bin's soldiers had prepared it as an ambush site. When Pang Juan's troops reached the gorge they observed that

28764-480: The following morning. That night, Washington again resorted to the same deceptive tactics he had used in Brooklyn, including muffling the wheels of wagons and gun carriages to reduce noise, and leaving a rear guard to keep campfires burning. The British were again fooled, and Washington was able to move his army into a position from which he defeated the British at the Battle of Princeton on 3 January. In August 1777,

28968-419: The forces of general Sima Yi of Cao Wei arrived at Zhuge Liang's location, the city of Xicheng, while the bulk of Zhuge Liang's army was deployed elsewhere. Zhuge Liang instructed the few troops he had on hand to pretend to be townspeople and told them to perform tasks which would make them visible to Sima Yi, including sweeping the town's streets. Zhuge Liang ordered Xichneg's gates to be opened, then took up

29172-483: The fortress-city proved to be far more difficult than Kavadh expected; the defenders repelled the Persian assaults for three months before they were beaten. In 503, the Romans attempted an ultimately unsuccessful siege of the Persian-held Amida while Kavadh invaded Osroene and laid siege to Edessa with the same results. Finally in 504, the Romans gained control through the renewed investment of Amida, which led to

29376-846: The frontier and to ease restrictions on diplomacy and trade. War broke again shortly after Armenia and Iberia revolted against Sasanian rule in 571, following clashes involving Roman and Persian proxies in Yemen (between the Axumites and the Himyarites ) and the Syrian desert, and after Roman negotiations for an alliance with the Western Turkic Khaganate against Persia. Justin II brought Armenia under his protection, while Roman troops under Justin's cousin Marcian raided Arzanene and invaded Persian Mesopotamia, where they defeated local forces. Marcian's sudden dismissal and

29580-400: The frontier in upper Mesopotamia remained more or less constant. Historians point out that the stability of the frontier over the centuries is remarkable, although Nisibis, Singara, Dara and other cities of upper Mesopotamia changed hands from time to time, and the possession of these frontier cities gave one empire a trade advantage over the other. As Frye states: One has the impression that

29784-461: The history of Parthia and the wars with Rome are scant and scattered. The Parthians followed the Achaemenid tradition and favored oral historiography , which assured the corruption of their history once they had been vanquished. The main sources of this period are thus Roman ( Tacitus , Marius Maximus , and Justin ) and Greek historians ( Herodian , Cassius Dio and Plutarch ). The 13th book of

29988-414: The hour of decision but attacked quickly, using a massive series of short, rapid, vicious charges against the length of the whole Roman line, with charging units sometimes withdrawing to the forest to regroup while others took their place. The Germans also used blocking obstacles, erecting a trench and earthen wall to hinder Roman movement along the route of the killing zone. The result was a mass slaughter of

30192-457: The impression of a more numerous army. In 1258 Möngke Khan invaded Sichuan with 40,000 soldiers, and spread rumors of 100,000 in an effort to intimidate his enemy. When confronting numerically superior forces, the Mongols often sent troops behind their own lines to raise dust with branches tied to their horses' tails, which created the impression that reinforcements were en route . Mongol soldiers had more than one horse each, and to exaggerate

30396-596: The key cities. In 541 he invaded Lazica in the north. Belisarius was quickly recalled by Justinian to the East to deal with the Persian threat, while the Ostrogoths in Italy, who were in touch with the Persian King, launched a counter-attack under Totila . Belisarius took the field and waged an inconclusive campaign against Nisibis in 541. In the same year, Lazica switched its allegiance to Persia and Khosrau led an army to secure

30600-450: The kingdom of Denmark–Norway constructed Fort Christiansborg near what is now Accra in Ghana . Used to control commerce in slaves, as well as raw materials including gold and ivory, the site changed hands several times between Denmark–Norway, Portugal , and Sweden , sometimes by force, sometimes by purchase. In 1692, Nana Asamani , the king of the Akwamu people , planned to capture the fort from Denmark–Norway. Disguising himself as

30804-401: The kingdom. In 542 Khosrau launched another offensive in Mesopotamia and unsuccessfully attempted to capture Sergiopolis . He soon withdrew in the face of an army under Belisarius, en route sacking the city of Callinicum. Attacks on a number of Roman cities were repulsed and the Persian general Mihr-Mihroe was defeated and captured at Dara by John Troglita . An invasion of Armenia in 543 by

31008-418: The land added to the Roman Empire in Parthian and early Sasanian times to rightfully belong to the Persian sphere. Everett Wheeler argues that "the Sassanids, administratively more centralized than the Parthians, formally organized defense of their territory, although they lacked a standing army until Khosrau I ". In general, the Romans regarded the Sasanians as a more serious threat than the Parthians, while

31212-413: The last buffer state, the Arab Lakhmids , was annexed to the Sasanian Empire. Frye notes that in the 3rd century AD such client states played an important role in Roman–Sasanian relations, but both empires gradually replaced them by an organized defense system run by the central government and based on a line of fortifications (the limes ) and the fortified frontier cities, such as Dara . Towards

31416-404: The late Republic, and continued through the Roman (later Eastern Roman (Byzantine) ) and Sasanian Empires. A plethora of vassal kingdoms and allied nomadic nations in the form of buffer states and proxies also played a role. The wars were ended by the early Muslim conquests , which led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and huge territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire, shortly after

31620-467: The latter were heavy armored cavalry provided by the aristocracy. They added a contingent of war elephants obtained from the Indus Valley , but their infantry quality was inferior to that of the Romans. The combined forces of horse archers and heavy cavalry inflicted several defeats on the Roman foot-soldiers, including those led by Crassus in 53 BC , Mark Antony in 36 BC , and Valerian in 260 AD . The Parthian tactics gradually became

31824-405: The negotiations soon broke down. The proposal was initially greeted with enthusiasm by the Roman emperor and his nephew, Justinian , but Justin's quaestor , Proculus, opposed the move, believing that Khosrau's adoption would give him, and by extension Persia, a claim to the Imperial throne. Tensions between the two powers were further heightened by the defection of the Iberian king Gourgen to

32028-492: The newly appointed magister militum, Constantinus, and Sergius proceeded to Ctesiphon to arrange a truce with Khosrau. (The war dragged on under other generals and was to some extent hindered by the Plague of Justinian , because of which Khosrau temporarily withdrew from Roman territory) A five-year truce was agreed to in 545, secured by Roman payments to the Persians. Early in 548, King Gubazes of Lazica , having found Persian protection oppressive, asked Justinian to restore

32232-428: The newly organized Continental Army suffered from numerous equipment and supply shortages. Among the most critical was a lack of gunpowder , which was so acute that in a battle, Washington's troops would be able to fire no more than nine bullets per man. To conceal the lack of gunpowder from the British, Washington's quartermaster soldiers filled gunpowder casks with sand and shipped them from Providence, Rhode Island to

32436-421: The night. These measures fooled British scouts into thinking the Patriot army was still on Brooklyn Heights. A morning fog obscured visibility, which helped the Continentals complete their retreat, and all 9,000 were safely ferried across the river. When the British advanced, they were surprised to find the American positions completely empty. Prior to the Battle of Trenton on Christmas Day 1776, Washington used

32640-406: The other hand, the Persians adopted war engines from the Romans. The Romans had achieved and maintained a high degree of sophistication in siege warfare and had developed a range of siege machines . On the other hand, the Parthians were inept at besieging; their cavalry armies were more suited to the hit-and-run tactics that destroyed Antony's siege train in 36 BC. The situation changed with

32844-464: The other twenty cohorts to rejoin him. Now on the same side of the river as Vercingetorix, Caesar was able to engage the Gallic tribes in battle as he intended. The Mongol Empire frequently used deception to aid its military success. A favored tactic was to exaggerate the size of their army, which would cause their enemies to surrender or flee. When he fought the Naimans in 1204, Chinggis Khan ordered his soldiers to light five campfires each, giving

33048-504: The post for a year before Asamani agreed to sell it back to Denmark–Norway. Asamani kept the keys as a trophy, and they are still in the possession of the Akwamu. During the Seven Years' War in North America (known in the United States as the French and Indian War ), British commander James Wolfe attempted throughout the summer of 1759 to force French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm to come out of his well-defended position in Quebec City . When artillery fire that destroyed most of

33252-453: The rise of the Sasanians, when Rome encountered an enemy equally capable in siege warfare. The Sasanians mainly used mounds, rams, mines, and to a lesser degree siege towers, artillery, and also chemical weapons , such as in Dura-Europos (256) and Petra (550–551) . Use of complex torsion equipment was rare, since traditional Persian expertise in archery reduced their apparent benefits. Elephants were employed (e.g. as siege towers) where

33456-438: The river to Springwells , south of Detroit, in full view of the British. At the same time, the American regiment commanded by Duncan McArthur marched from Detroit to Springwells, also observed by the British. With the British now anticipating an American crossing south of Detroit, a second American force moved north in the dark until they reached Bloody Run, a crossing point a mile and a half north of Fort Detroit and opposite

33660-409: The river. Caesar responded by hiding forty of his sixty cohorts and arranging the remaining twenty to give the appearance of sixty as viewed from the opposite riverbank. The twenty cohorts continued to march along the river, and Vercingetorix's troops continued to mirror their movements. Caesar then led the forty hidden cohorts back to a repairable bridge, had it fixed, led his troops across, and sent for

33864-403: The rough terrain as a force multiplier and concealing in houses. Heraclius ' discovery of a planned ambush by Shahrbaraz in 622 was a decisive factor in his campaign . According to Muslim tradition, Islamic Prophet Muhammad used ambush tactics in his military campaigns. His first such use was during the Caravan raids . In the Kharrar caravan raid, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was ordered to lead

34068-449: The same information. The Mohawk decided to leave, forcing British commander Barry St. Leger to order a retreat. The end of the siege also ended British attempts to control the Mohawk Valley . In the fall of 1780, Continental Army general Nathanael Greene , commander of the Southern Department, carried out a harassment campaign against the British in North and South Carolina . One of Greene's subordinates, Daniel Morgan , commanded

34272-403: The same time they won a string of victories in Armenia and systematically subdued the Roman garrisons in the Caucasus. Phocas' brutal repression sparked a succession crisis that ensued as the general Heraclius sent his nephew Nicetas to attack Egypt , enabling his younger son Heraclius , to claim the throne in 610. Phocas, an unpopular ruler who is invariably described in Byzantine sources as

34476-420: The same year a Persian offensive led by Mihr-Mihroe occupied eastern Lazica. The truce that had been established in 545 was renewed outside Lazica for a further five years on condition that the Romans pay 2,000 lb of gold each year. The Romans failed to completely expel the Sasanians from Lazica; in 554, Mihr-Mihroe launched a new attack , dislodging a newly arrived Byzantine army from Telephis. In Lazica

34680-425: The same year. His successor Numerian was forced by his own army to retreat, being frightened by the belief that Carus had died of a strike of lightning. After a brief period of peace during Diocletian 's early reign, Narseh renewed hostilities with the Romans invading Armenia, and defeated Galerius not far from Carrhae in 296 or 297. However, in 298 Galerius defeated Narseh at the Battle of Satala , sacked

34884-563: The siege of Roman praetor Gaius Vetilius and attracted him to a narrow pass next to the Barbesuda river, where he destroyed his army and killed the praetor. Viriathus's ability to turn chases into ambushes would grant him victories over a number of Roman generals. Another Lusitanian ambush was performed by Curius and Apuleius on Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus , who led a numerically superior army complete with war elephants and Numidian cavalry . The ambush allowed Curius and Apuleius to steal Servilianus's loot train. However,

35088-410: The size of their army, they would compel prisoners or civilians to ride their spare horses within sight of the enemy, or mount dummies on their spare horses. To make their forces appear smaller, the Mongols would ride in single file, minimizing dust and making the hoofprints of their horses more difficult to count. Mongol armies also used the feigned retreat. A typical tactic was to deploy the mangudai ,

35292-459: The south and failed. In 238–240, towards the end of his reign, Ardashir attacked again, taking several cities in Syria and Mesopotamia, including Carrhae , Nisibis and Hatra . The struggle resumed and intensified under Ardashir's successor Shapur I ; he invaded Mesopotamia and captured Hatra , a buffer state which had recently shifted its loyalty but his forces were defeated at a battle near Resaena in 243; Carrhae and Nisibis were retaken by

35496-468: The stalemate. The Persians captured Martyropolis through treachery in 589, but that year the stalemate was shattered when the Persian general Bahram Chobin , having been dismissed and humiliated by Hormizd IV, raised a rebellion. Hormizd was overthrown in a palace coup in 590 and replaced by his son Khosrau II , but Bahram pressed on with his revolt regardless and the defeated Khosrau was soon forced to flee for safety to Roman territory, while Bahram took

35700-414: The standard method of warfare in the Roman empire and cataphractarii and clibanarii units were introduced into the Roman army; as a result, heavily armed cavalry grew in importance in both the Roman and Persian armies after the 3rd century AD and until the end of the wars. The Roman army also gradually incorporated horse-archers ( Equites Sagittarii ), and by the 5th century AD they were no longer

35904-463: The target have to form to take the action, and what information needs to be transmitted to the target through which medium so that the target will develop the desired perception. As an example, the intent for Operation Bodyguard was for Germany to allocate forces away from Normandy ("Do"). The perception the Allies wanted to create in the mind of the deception target (Hitler) was that the Allies were planning to invade at Calais ("Think"). The information

36108-424: The target is to believe the deception. One reason the World War II Operation Bodyguard deception was accepted as true on the German side is that Germany's ability to acquire information about activities in England was limited, enabling the Allies to manipulate the few German intelligence gathering resources that were available. If a deception target obtains deceptive information too easily ("too good to be true"),

36312-489: The target is unlikely to act on it and the deception will fail. This requires deception planners to take care in placing deceptive information so that it will appear to have been acquired in a seemingly natural manner. The deception target is then able to assemble details from multiple sources into a coherent, believable, but untrue story. The best deception plans co-opt the enemy's skepticism through requiring enemy participation, either by expending time and resources in obtaining

36516-411: The terrain was unfavorable for machines. Recent assessments comparing the Sasanians and Parthians have reaffirmed the superiority of Sasanian siegecraft, military engineering , and organization, as well as ability to build defensive works. By the beginning of Sasanian rule, a number of buffer states existed between the empires. These were absorbed by the central state over time, and by the 7th century

36720-713: The third line—Continental Army soldiers commanded by John Eager Howard . As a reserve, Morgan had a small Continental cavalry force commanded by William Washington . Morgan's deception proved decisive. At the Battle of Cowpens on 17 January 1781, the British under Tarleton launched a frontal assault. The militia feigned retreat, and Tarleton's troops charged forward. As planned, they were met by Howard's troops, then surprised by Washington's cavalry charging into their flanks. The British lost over 100 killed, over 200 wounded, and over 500 captured. Morgan's command sustained only 12 killed and 60 wounded. Napoleon Bonaparte made significant use of deception during his campaigns. At

36924-405: The throne as Bahram VI. With support from Maurice, Khosrau raised a rebellion against Bahram, and in 591 the combined forces of his supporters and the Romans defeated Bahram at the Battle of Blarathon and restored Khosrau II to power. In exchange for their help, Khosrau not only returned Dara and Martyropolis but also agreed to cede the western half of Iberia and more than half of Persian Armenia to

37128-486: The town. When discipline began to break down among Tate's troops and their attempted invasion slowed down, Tate asked for surrender terms that would permit his command to leave. Instead of offering terms, Cawdor demanded unconditional surrender. As Tate and his subordinates considered Cawdor's demands overnight, Cawdor backed up his bluff with several deceptive measures. According to local lore, these included having women in Traditional Welsh costumes and Welsh hats line

37332-433: The traditional faction of the Roman Senate . However, they maintained relations with Pompey, and after his defeat and death, a force under Pacorus I assisted the Pompeian general Q. Caecilius Bassus , who was besieged at Apamea Valley by Caesarian forces. With the civil war over, Julius Caesar prepared a campaign against Parthia, but his assassination averted the war. The Parthians supported Brutus and Cassius during

37536-422: The two powers ever enjoyed. War broke out when the Persian King Kavadh I attempted to gain financial support by force from the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I ; the emperor refused to provide it and the Persian king tried to take it by force. In 502 AD, he quickly captured the unprepared city of Theodosiopolis and besieged the fortress-city of Amida through the autumn and winter (502–503). The siege of

37740-575: The war dragged on inconclusively for several years, with neither side able to make any major gains. Khosrau, who now had to deal with the White Huns , renewed the truce in 557, this time without excluding Lazica; negotiations continued for a definite peace treaty. Finally, in 562, the envoys of Justinian and Khosrau – Peter the Patrician and Izedh Gushnap – put together the Fifty-Year Peace Treaty . The Persians agreed to evacuate Lazica and received an annual subsidy of 30,000  nomismata ( solidi ). Both sides agreed not to build new fortifications near

37944-516: The war. In 580, Hormizd IV abolished the Caucasian Iberian monarchy, and turned Iberia into a Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor). During the 580s, the war continued inconclusively with victories on both sides. In 582, Maurice won a battle at Constantia over Adarmahan and Tamkhusro, who was killed, but the Roman general did not follow up his victory; he had to hurry to Constantinople to pursue his imperial ambitions. Another Roman victory at Solachon in 586 likewise failed to break

38148-417: Was agreed for seven years, and it is likely that some payments were made to the Persians. In 505, Anastasius ordered the building of a great fortified city at Dara . The dilapidated fortifications were also upgraded at Edessa, Batnac and Amida. Although no further large-scale conflict took place during Anastasius' reign, tensions continued, especially while work continued at Dara. This construction project

38352-435: Was agreed to as a result of an invasion of Armenia by the Huns from the Caucasus. Negotiations between the two powers took place, but such was their distrust that in 506 the Romans, suspecting treachery, seized the Persian officials. Once released, the Persians preferred to stay in Nisibis. In November 506, a treaty was finally agreed upon, but little is known of what the terms of the treaty were. Procopius states that peace

38556-424: Was also severely affected, with its financial reserves exhausted by the war and the Balkans now largely in the hands of the Slavs. Additionally, Anatolia was devastated by repeated Persian invasions; the Empire's hold on its recently regained territories in the Caucasus, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt was loosened by many years of Persian occupation. Neither empire was given any chance to recover, as within

38760-443: Was among the worst defeats suffered by Ancient Rome. During the Gallic Wars , in 52 BC Roman commander Julius Caesar attempted to engage the forces of tribal leader Vercingetorix in open battle in what is now central France. Vercingetorix kept the River Elave (now Allier ) between Caesar's forces and his own. His troops destroyed or removed the bridges and mirrored the movements of Caesar's troops, preventing Caesar from crossing

38964-422: Was at Fort Detroit as the British fortified a defensive position across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario . Hull decided to move the British to Fort Malden , further away from Detroit , so that he could seize the defenses in Windsor. To implement his plan, Hull resorted to deception, which began when his troops collected all the boats and canoes they could find. On 11 July 1812, Hull sent some boats down

39168-403: Was because the construction of new fortifications in the border zone by either empire had been prohibited by a treaty concluded some decades earlier. Anastasius pursued the project despite Persian objections, and the walls were completed by 507–508. In 504, the Romans finally gained the upper hand with the renewed investment of Amida, leading to the hand-over of the city. That year an armistice

39372-512: Was defeated by Roman forces there; attacks from Odaenathus of Palmyra forced the Persians to withdraw from Roman territory, surrendering Cappadocia and Antioch . In 275 and 282 Aurelian and Probus respectively planned to invade Persia, but they were both murdered before they were able to fulfil their plans. In 283 the emperor Carus launched a successful invasion of Persia, sacking its capital, Ctesiphon; they would probably have extended their conquests if Carus had not died in December of

39576-551: Was defeated by the Parthians near Nisibis . In exchange for peace, he was obliged to pay for the damage caused by Caracalla. Conflict resumed shortly after the overthrow of Parthian rule and Ardashir I 's foundation of the Sasanian Empire. Ardashir (r. 226–241) raided Mesopotamia and Syria in 230 and demanded the cession of all the former territories of the Achaemenid Empire . After fruitless negotiations, Alexander Severus set out against Ardashir in 232. One column of his army marched into Armenia, while two other columns operated to

39780-423: Was fake, but the knights believed it was genuine and capitulated. In 1401, during the Glyndŵr Rising , the Tudors of Wales were seeking a revocation of the price that Henry Percy had placed on their heads. After deciding to capture Percy's Conwy Castle , one member of the Tudor faction posed as a carpenter, gained access, and then admitted his compatriots. The successful deception was in part responsible for

39984-422: Was foreshadowed by a Lakhmid raid led by al-Mundhir IV , which was defeated by the Ghassanids under al-Harith ibn Jabalah. In 540, the Persians broke the "Treaty of Eternal Peace" and Khosrau I invaded Syria, destroying the city of Antioch and deporting its population to Weh Antiok Khosrow in Persia; as he withdrew, he extorted large sums of money from the cities of Syria and Mesopotamia and systematically looted

40188-546: Was given to the Romans. The arrangements of 299 lasted until the mid-330s, when Shapur II began a series of offensives against the Romans. Despite a string of victories in battle, culminating in the overthrow of a Roman army led by Constantius II at Singara (348), his campaigns achieved little lasting effect: three Persian sieges of Nisibis , in that age known as the key to Mesopotamia , were repulsed, and while Shapur succeeded in 359 in successfully laying siege to Amida and taking Singara, both cities were soon regained by

40392-423: Was interrupted by Kavadh I's death and the new Persian king, Khosrau I, re-opened talks in spring 532 and finally signed the Perpetual Peace in September 532, which lasted less than eight years. Both powers agreed to return all occupied territories, and the Romans agreed to make a one-time payment of 110 centenaria (11,000 lb of gold). The Romans recovered the Lazic forts, Iberia remained in Persian hands, and

40596-418: Was prevented from attacking Ctesiphon only by the destruction of the bridges on the Nahrawan Canal . Khosrau was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his son Kavadh II , who at once sued for peace, agreeing to withdraw from all occupied territories. Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem with a majestic ceremony in 629. The devastating impact of this last war, added to the cumulative effects of

40800-428: Was sharpshooters, who provided harassing fire and attempted to pick off British officers. The sharpshooters would then fall back to the second line, which would consist of militiamen. The militia would fire two volleys, then feign a rout and pretend to flee. If the British believed they had caused a panic in the militiamen, they would charge forward. But instead of catching up to the fleeing militia, they would run into

41004-401: Was the worst Roman defeat since the battle of Arausio . The Parthians raided Syria the following year, and mounted a major invasion in 51 BC, but their army was caught in an ambush near Antigonea by the Romans, and they were driven back. The Parthians largely remained neutral during Caesar's Civil War , fought between forces supporting Julius Caesar and forces supporting Pompey and

41208-422: Was to become a key component of the Roman defenses, and also a lasting source of controversy with the Persians, who complained that it violated the treaty of 422, by which both empires had agreed not to establish new fortifications in the frontier zone. Anastasius, however, pursued the project, and the walls were completed by 507/508. In 524–525 AD, Kavadh proposed that Justin I adopt his son, Khosrau , but

41412-399: Was unsuccessful. In modern warfare, an ambush can be employed by ground troops up to platoon size against enemy targets, which may be other ground troops, or possibly vehicles. However, in some situations, especially when deep behind enemy lines, the actual attack will be carried out by a platoon. A company -sized unit will be deployed to support the attack group, setting up and maintaining

41616-416: Was usually selected which would facilitate this and slow down the enemy. Any terrain around the ambush site which was not favourable to the ambushing force, or which offered some protection to the target, was heavily mined and booby trapped or pre-registered for mortars . The NVA/VC ambush formations consisted of: Other elements might also be included if the situation demanded, such as a sniper screen along

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