Psychological warfare in Vietnam and Afghanistan (American-Soviet confrontation in information and psychological field)

The present study considers the specifics of a psychological war in local military conflicts. During the information and psychological confrontation in Vietnam and Afghanistan, ideological concepts of the Western and Socialist routes of development were challenged. The success of a military campaign depends on the support of the armed action by the population of its own country and its proper informational and psychological support. The effectiveness of psychological warfare is determined by the compliance of its forms and methods to the realias of the modern military-political situation on the theater of military operations. The information about the potential enemy, the cultural and historical development of the country, as well as ethnopsychological characteristics of its population contributes to the achievement of the set goals. The impact on the irrational sphere of the psyche is the most effective way to control the collective and individual consciousness. Both superpowers were defeated in local conflicts: in Vietnam and Afghanistan, respectively. The military setback did not affect the statehood of the United States of America, but became one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union.