Terror Equals Power

For many states with power, acquiring more land is considered a necessary action to take in order to gain even more power. There are many strategies and techniques to gaining more land and power. One technique that is often utilized is the policy of terror, as mentioned in Francis Joannes’s The Age of Empires regarding Assyria, which was typically implemented through militaristic means.

According to Joannes, “[t]he psychological aspect of war was carefully maintained” by means of different types of torture. Also, “prisoners were impaled or flayed alive in the sight of their compatriots” and “towns were burnt together with their inhabitants” (59). By torturing subjects whether public or private, Assyria gives a special message to others by instilling fear. Doing so causes others to cower Assyria. Another way to establish such high rankings would be by humiliating defeated kings. “Defeated kings, if not executed, were brought back to Assyria to take part in the triumphal entry into the capital by the king and his troops, then to be exposed to the public gaze in humiliating conditions” (59). This allowed for the defeated kings to realize what they were up against and that they were no match for Assyria.

Utilizing terror may not be the most ethical way to gain credibility, but it is definitely one of the most useful, in terms of power amongst other states with power.