- Espionage definition on giving information to an enemy how to#
- Espionage definition on giving information to an enemy series#
As in most ancient societies, intelligence often came from the gods and consulting oracles was a way to determine what the gods knew. Thus, internal security received a great deal of intelligence attention, as well. Political assassinations and palace intrigues were commonplace. Military affairs were not the only important subject for intelligence collection. In one case, we know that propaganda operations conducted by only two soldiers were able to spread fear and caused troops to revolt. He recruited certain men to propagandize for him in advance or by spreading rumors of an advancing Assyrian army that scared the enemy into abandoning its positions. Shamshi-Adad was also famous for dispatching propagandists who were known as “men of rumors.” When he decided to conquer Zalmaqum itself, he did so by using fifth-columnists. Their informers were called “ sa lisanim,” or “those willing to give information to the enemy.” Supposedly, they could not be trusted unless they were paid large sums of money - although why this would make them any more trustworthy is unclear and the sources say there was no guarantee that they would be effective or loyal. There was even a tribe, the people of Zalmaqum, for whom spying was a specialty. Diplomats and messengers on both sides were automatically assumed to be spying. The bulk of the military intelligence that Shamsi-Adad’s forces needed was obtained through espionage. We have examples of the sons using deception operations, such as attacking a territory with a group of guerrillas formed by their own men disguised as the opposing force. They seemed to have learned their lessons. Of course, he wanted to teach his sons the same skills. Shamshi-Adad never missed an opportunity to lure an unsuspecting foe into a trap. I hope that the enemy will not maneuver you into an ambush. The enemy likewise constantly tries tricks and endlessly maneuvers against you, just as wrestlers try to trick one another all the time.
One of his letters pretty much summed up the state of military affairs in this theater of operation and did it in remarkably modern terms:Īll of you are constantly trying tricks (stratagems) and maneuvering endlessly to destroy the enemy. Without such intelligence, there could be no effective coordinated efforts between the three kings.
Espionage definition on giving information to an enemy how to#
In these we see Shamsi-Adad’s instruction on how to surprise enemies, how to stage an ambush, and how to set up deception operations - all activities that relied on gaining intelligence quickly and acting on it.
Espionage definition on giving information to an enemy series#
These letters are now available in a series of books from Peeters Publishers. His other son, Ishme-Dagan, was made ruler of the city of Ekallatum.Īccordingly, he sent a stream of letters to his sons with advice on military matters. Once he succeeded, Shamshi-Adad put his son Yasmakh Adad on the throne of Mari while he ruled from a place called Shubat Enlil (more on this location later). In about 1813 BCE a man named Shamshi-Adad successfully schemed to overthrow the dynasty of Zimri-Lim and take control of the region around Mari. Not surprisingly, our story begins with a conspiracy. The rivalry between the dynasties of Mari provides abundant examples of remarkably modern stratagems and intelligence activities. The first thing we discover by reading these letters is that Mari’s relationship with its neighbors was complex and much of its diplomatic activity was conducted clandestinely. The documents are letters in cuneiform that were sent or received by the kings of Mari and their o. French archaeologists uncovered thousands of tablets from its royal archives. The city-state of Mari is in Syria on the east bank of the Euphrates River about 10 miles north of the Iraqi frontier. Two ancient cities in particular, Mari and Shubat Enlil, have provided us with a whole host of spy stories that illuminate how important intelligence was to ancient rulers as well as what techniques they used to collect, analyze, and disseminate the information they needed.
The best we can do is look at what remains and analyze what we have learned from the material that has already been dug up. ISIL seems to spends as much time destroying artifacts as it does killing people. Even locating objects already in museums has become much more difficult than before. Unfortunately, much of the evidence for these operations comes from Iraq and Syria where, because of recent political events and wars, archaeological work is nearly impossible. In fact, the world’s oldest classified document is part of this story. Techniques regarded as completely modern - such as classifying documents - have actually existed for thousands of years. This is one of the many indications that intelligence gathering is as old as civilization itself. As soon as man learned to create documents, he began to classify them.
0 kommentar(er)
