Deception, Destruction, and Domination: History’s Most Devastating War Tactics

The history of military strategy spans millennia. Ancient Chinese general and philosopher, Sun Tzu, who lived from 544 to 496 B.C., wrote the timeless classic, "The Art of War," which is still a foundational text in military tactics. Moving closer to modern times, Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz outlined strategies that are still closely studied and used by Western armies today.

Strategy is defined as “a plan of action designed to achieve a major goal.” In military terms, this goal typically aims for victory over the enemy, or at least to diminish the enemy's power or influence.

Throughout history, skilled generals and leaders have used ambush, surprise attacks, brute force, and various forms of deception to advance their objectives on the battlefield. These maneuvers often led to decisive victories or defeats that left a profound historical impact, whether immediately or over time.

To compile a list of 12 military strategies that changed the course of history, 24/7 Tempo reviewed sources such as Britannica, The Smithsonian Magazine, History, Holocaust Encyclopedia, and the National WWII Museum, using editorial discretion to select particularly famous and/or influential examples. This list is not comprehensive. Terrorist actions like the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and the recent Hamas incursions into Israel, though they qualify as surprise attacks, are not included because they did not involve conventional military forces.

Some of the events described here are widely known, such as the legendary tale of the Trojan Horse, Sherman’s March to the Sea during the American Civil War, and the tragic U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Others, like the Roman defeat at Teutoburg Forest and the near-destruction of the Persian navy at the Straits of Salamis, though less familiar, are equally significant. (Here are the biggest surprise attacks in military history.)

• Where and when: Troy (present-day Turkey), 1184 B.C. (?)

Arguably one of history's most famous instances of military deception is the tale of the Trojan Horse, immortalized in the works of ancient writers like Virgil and Homer. According to legend, after a decade-long siege failed to conquer Troy, the Greek led by Odysseus devised a clever plan. They built a gigantic wooden horse and presented it as a peace offering at the city gates. The bulk of their forces then appeared to leave, but left a contingent of soldiers hidden inside the horse. Once the Trojans brought the inside their walls, the Greek soldiers came out and opened the gates for the returning Greek army. Troy fell quickly as a result.

This event has inspired numerous works of art and literature, serving as a metaphor for the victory of the Greeks – seen as civilized – over the Trojans, portrayed as barbarians. It also stands as an early example of separate city-states banding together for a shared goal. The term "Trojan horse," of course, has come to mean a deal or computer program that appears to be harmless but turns out to be malicious.

• Where and when: Georgia, Nov. 15-Dec. 21, 1864

An example not of ambush or other subterfuge but a strategy of "total war," this march from Atlanta to Savannah by Union forces during the Civil War, led by Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman, swept across the Georgia countryside destroying bridges, tunnels, railroad tracks, cottonfields, factories, military installations, plantations, slave quarters, and more. Historians say that Sherman's motivation was to cripple the Confederacy with a minimum loss of life. His actions economically and psychologically weakened the Southern states, eventually leading to the Confederate surrender. The march has also been studied by historians as a vivid example of psychological warfare, and has influenced more recent military tactics. Some even credit Sherman with having invented modern warfare.

• Where and when: Spain, Poland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Soviet Union, 1936-1941

Instead of a single strategic maneuver, Blitzkrieg, translated as "lightning war," was a German military doctrine during World War II. This approach, echoed much later by the unsuccessful U.S. "shock and awe" strategy at the onset of the Iraq War, aimed to overwhelm the enemy with everything at once. For the Germans, this involved deploying their agile tank units and mechanized forces in coordination with artillery and air assaults. While the term and tactics gained public attention with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, the Germans had earlier used similar methods to aid their Fascist allies in Spain during the 1936 Spanish Civil War. (The proto-Blitzkrieg bombing of a town in the Basque region inspired Picasso's epic painting "Guernica.")

Despite their eventual defeat, the Nazis' Blitzkrieg strategy enabled them to conquer and maintain control of large parts of Europe for at least two years, leaving a profound psychological impact even in regions they didn't occupy. Regarded as a significant development in military tactics, Blitzkrieg is credited with influencing American military doctrine well into modern times.

• Where and when: Straits of Salamis, Greece, Sept. 26 or 27, 480 B.C.

Not only the most important battle of the Greco-Persian Wars, but arguably one of the most important in history, this naval engagement resulted in an unexpected victory by the vastly outnumbered Greek fleet, thanks to the strategies of its commander, Themistocles. He lured the Persians to the island of Salamis, and when they arrived and attempted to blockade the Greeks in the straits between the island and the mainland, Greek ships emerged from hidden coves and attacked. Crowded into the comparatively narrow waterway, where they could not efficiently maneuver, the Persian vessels were easy prey. The battle claimed about 300 of them, while the Greeks lost only 40 of their own ships. It has been said that Western history would have been very different had the Persians won, because they would have pressed on and conquered all of Greece, suppressing the culture that ultimately gave the world so much of our science, philosophy, and systems of government.

• Where and when: Oahu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941

In the 1930s, Japan wanted to expand its empire into China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, fearing intervention by the American navy. To preempt this threat, they launched a devastating surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941 – an event President Roosevelt famously labeled "a date which will live in infamy." Japanese bombers and miniature submarines appeared unexpectedly, sinking four battleships and disabled countless other vessels, damaging or destroying over 300 aircraft, and claiming more that 2,400 lives, including 68 civilians.

The reasons behind the success of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor have never been fully explained, but it can be attributed to a failure of military intelligence and the unwillingness of both military and political leaders to take the threat seriously. Following the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan the next day. Shortly after, Germany and Italy, Japan's allies, declared war on the U.S., leading the nation into one of the longest and deadliest conflicts in modern history.

• Where and when: Somewhere north of Trenton, NJ, Dec. 25-26, 1776

Nobody would have expected George Washington to ferry 2,400 of his troops across a river clogged with ice floes in the middle of a raging snowstorm, and on Christmas night to boot – least of all the 1,500 Hessian mercenaries serving under the British who were garrisoned at Trenton. It was a gamble, but such a desperate measure was called for, as the Continental Army's morale was low after defeats in Long Island and northern New Jersey. The Hessians felt secure in their encampment, certain that Washington was far away, but the crossing was successful, and his troops quickly marched nine miles south to Trenton where they attacked the oblivious Hessians. More than 100 of the mercenaries were killed and almost 1,000 captured. News of the triumph reinvigorated the Continental Army's spirits, attracted new recruits, and reassured citizens of the newly declared United States of America, inspiring the nascent nation to continue battling the British until they achieved victory five years later.

• Where and when: Kalkriese (present-day Bramsche), Germany, 9-11 A.D.

In the early years of the first millennium A.D., a Roman-educated German soldier named Arminius, for reasons still debated, convinced the Romans that a rebellion was brewing in the Germanic lands. The Roman legate, Publius Quinctilius Varus, led a force of about 15,000 elite soldiers into the region to put the rebellion down. While marching along a narrow trail through the forest, they were ambushed by barbarian forces from all sides, leading to their near-total annihilation. Varus, overwhelmed by the disaster, committed suicide. This devastating defeat, one of the worst in Roman history, created lasting effects on central Europe, and a permanent cultural and linguistic barrier between Germanic and Latin civilizations, ultimately setting the stage for the conditions that led to both world wars.

• Where and when: Southwestern Japan, Aug. 6 and 9, 1945

Controversial to this day, the stealth bombing of two cities in southwestern Japan – with horrible weapons that had never before been employed in warfare – was justified in America's corridors of power by the fact that Japan refused to surrender, even after the Germans had put down their arms in May of '45. Between mid-April and mid-July of the year, Japanese forces in the Pacific inflicted a particularly large number of casualties on the Allies, fighting even more fiercely as they saw defeat looming. The Potsdam Declaration, issued by President Truman and other Allied leaders on July 26, demanded that Japan surrender and warned that if it didn't, it could expect "prompt and utter destruction."

The Japanese refused to reply, and within a few days, American B-29 bombers jolted the world by dropping atomic bombs on the two cities. More than 200,000 Japanese citizens were probably killed between the two cities, either immediately or from the effects of radiation. On Aug. 15, Japan's emperor, Hirohito, announced his country's unconditional surrender. Besides ending the war and preventing further loss of life, the bombings set the stage for an escalation of the nuclear age, whose effects are still felt today.

• Where and when: Hailesaltede, near Hastings (in present-day East Sussex, England, Oct. 14, 1066

William, the Duke of Normandy – who later earned the title of William the Conqueror – believed that the throne of England rightfully belonged to him and not to the recently installed Anglo-Saxon English king Harold Godwinson. About two weeks after successfully landing a large force of troops at Pevensey, near Hastings, William faced Harold in battle. The English army occupied high ground, behind an unbroken wall of shields. After William failed at an attempt to breach their defenses, he led his men into a feigned retreat. This tempted some of the English to pursue them, but once they had left their positions, they were vulnerable to William's cavalry, and those who remained in the weakened shield wall were easy prey for his infantry. Harold was killed during the battle, and William, after further smaller battles, was crowned King of England on Christmas Day.

William's victory, according to the website Historic UK, meant that "England would henceforth be ruled by an oppressive foreign aristocracy, which in turn would influence the entire ecclesiastical and political institutions of Christendom." Beyond that, under the Normans, the French language infiltrated English to an astonishing extent. It is estimated that by 1400, one in five English words derived from French, and the influx has given us a rich range of synonyms in which one derives from Anglo-Saxon and one from French – for instance "kingly" and "royal," "lawyer" and "attorney," "weird" and strange," and "belly" and "stomach."

• Where and when: Umbria (present-day Italy), June 21, 217 B.C.

The celebrated Carthaginian general Hannibal, considered one of history's greatest military figures, famously invaded Italy by leading his forces, including 80 "war elephants" from North Africa, over the Alps during the Second Punic War. Descending down the peninsula into Umbria, he met the Roman army around Lake Trasimene (now Lake Trasimeno). His strategy was to harass the Romans with small groups of soldiers, taunting them to follow their attackers down a narrow road between the lake and a dense forest. The Carthaginians then surged out of the forest, in what has been called "the greatest ambush in history," reportedly killing half the Romans and taking the other half prisoner.

Following another defeat by the Carthaginians at Cannae the following year, the Romans appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator for a six-month period in an attempt to avoid further defeats. Fabius pursued a unique strategy of his own, avoiding direct conflict with the enemy and instead harassing them in minor engagements and disrupting their supply lines. This became known as the Fabian Strategy, and the tactic was later employed by numerous military leaders, from George Washington to North Vietnamese generals during the Vietnam War.

• Where and when: Various locations, July 14, 1943- June 6, 1944

In planning the invasion of Nazi-held France from the beaches of Normandy, the U.S., the U.K., and their allies conceived a broad strategy of deception, involving five separate operations, codenamed Operation Bodyguard. The intention was to make the Germans believe that the invasion would come later and in different locations. Meeting in Tehran, Cairo, London, and elsewhere, the Allies made plans to leak false information, hold phony exercises, and even employ parachuting dummies and inflatable tanks to suggest troop build-ups in areas far from Normandy. Though troops landing in Normandy on D-Day faced heavy fighting and a days-long battle, Operation Bodyguard was considered a success, delaying deployment of larger German forces to the area for weeks. The invasion led to Allied victory on the Western Front, an important step towards the defeat of the Nazis almost a year later.

• Where and when: Portions of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, etc., June 5-10, 1967

As tensions escalated between the 19-year-old state of Israel and Egypt and its neighbors over the closing of a shipping channel vital to Israeli interests, Palestinian guerrilla attacks, and other issues, Israel feared escalation of hostilities - so launched a preemptive bomber attack on Egyptian air force bases and other facilities and a simultaneous ground invasion of the Egyptian-occupied Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip. Other Arab nations, primarily Syria and Jordan, joined Egypt in fighting back, and hostilities raged for six days, ultimately claiming almost 20,000 lives, overwhelmingly on the Arab side. Israel emerged victorious, having established itself as a major military force in the region, as well as gaining territory that temporarily quadrupled it in size. This expansion displaced about a third of the Palestinians who'd been living in Gaza and the West Bank, and redrew the map of a portion of the Middle East, setting the stage for ongoing conflicts that continue to have tragic repercussions today.