‘Your homes will be destroyed, your family killed’: the US has dropped millions of war propaganda leaflets – but do they work?

An exhibit of psyops leaflets released in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya finally shows American people the messages that were made in their name By Moustafa Bayoumi For over a century, the United States military has been dropping propaganda leaflets in deliberate psychological operations, or psyops, to achieve success in war. But the key question behind the effort remains unanswered: does it even work? In 1918, the US released more than 3m leaflets behind enemy lines by plane and hydrogen balloon. To their delight, they found the leaflets helped erode morale and unit cohesion among the Germans in the first world war. Or so the story goes. Continue reading...

Moustafa Bayoumi · Sat, May 9, 2026, 7:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

‘Your homes will be destroyed, your family killed’: the US has dropped millions of war propaganda leaflets – but do they work?

An exhibit of psyops leaflets released in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya finally shows American people the messages that were made in their name
By Moustafa Bayoumi

For over a century, the United States military has been dropping propaganda leaflets in deliberate psychological operations, or psyops, to achieve success in war. But the key question behind the effort remains unanswered: does it even work?

In 1918, the US released more than 3m leaflets behind enemy lines by plane and hydrogen balloon. To their delight, they found the leaflets helped erode morale and unit cohesion among the Germans in the first world war. Or so the story goes.

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