ABSTRACT
Deception and Surprise Military deception and strategic surprise are both prominent in military history. Although deception is not the only cause of surprise, the two are often intimately related. When deception succeeds, surprise results and, generally, it is a defender who is surprised by a challenger's deception. Deception is designed to create false expectations or, at the very least, uncertainty in a defender's calculations about the likelihood, timing, place, and type of military attack. A challenger may attempt to persuade an opponent that an imminent attack is unlikely, or that military action will be limited rather than general, or that an attack is likely in one rather than another location and, consequently, encourage a defender to disperse its forces to protect multiple objectives. In all these cases, challengers choose to deceive because they greatly improve their military position against a defender.
