We all look to great people to inspire us with their words of wisdom. From Confucius and Plato to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr, the words of inspiring people are timeless even though they span millennia. We can all learn from what the great and the good said and wrote.

So it was rather unnerving when I recently discovered that great words of wisdom can also come from people who are famous for all the wrong reasons, even from those who are invariably regarded as villains. The source of my discomfiture is the work of Gustave Gilbert (1911-77), an American psychologist best known for his written observations of high-ranking Nazi leaders facing the post-World War II trials in Nuremberg in 1945-46. Gilbert was employed by the International Military Tribunal as a translator for the trials and was also appointed as the prison psychologist for the Nazi prisoners.

In 1946, after the completion of the trials, Gilbert returned to the United States, where he published Nuremberg Diary, comprising his observations during interviews and conversations with the prisoners. One of the highest-ranking Nazis featured in the diary was the Luftwaffe commander, Hermann Goering. He was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to be hanged, although he managed to avoid this fate by using a smuggled-in cyanide capsule to commit suicide. In the courtroom of history, Goering has fared little better than in the courtroom at Nuremberg, and his notoriety as a Nazi war criminal lives on. So it’s disconcerting to read Gilbert’s account of his conversations with Goering, whose insightful articulations about the psychology of war are still remarkably pertinent today.

Specifically, Goering explains how easy it is to manipulate a population to support a policy of war, irrespective of the merits or morality of that war. The following extracts from Gilbert’s book are worth quoting in full:

Goering: “Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.”

Gilbert: “There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

We all know how the Iraq War played out and how unfounded the fears of weapons of mass destruction were. However, the manipulative ploys that were used then remain unscathed, as we’re now seeing with Western attempts to demonize China. Indeed, the current American narrative on China is straight from Goering’s playbook

Goering: “Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

For those who struggle to understand how a nation as civilized and cultured as Germany could be whipped into a war mentality, Goering’s words are illuminating. They also provide insight into the strategies that are still used today by military hawks to garner support for war: portray the target country as a growing threat; demonize that country as evil; evoke the image of a just and patriotic war; revile opponents of war as unpatriotic traitors exposing the nation to danger.

All of these strategies have been used with devastating success throughout history. The Romans demonized their greatest rivals, the Carthaginians. During the medieval crusades, Christians and Muslims demonized each other, as did Catholics and Protestants during the European wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries. The British and the French did the same during the 19th-century Napoleonic Wars, with Germany and then the Soviet Union joining the ranks of the most demonized states in the 20th century. In all of these examples, in the classic strategy described by Goering, the more threatening and evil the enemy was portrayed as, the greater was the support for the war leaders.

More recently, the Iraq War (2003-11) was a classic example of Goering’s strategy. The West was convinced by its leaders that Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction were an existential threat that had to be eliminated before it was too late. Saddam was duly demonized, and the concept of a just and preventative war was successfully deployed. American and British hawks wrapped themselves in the flag, while those who opposed the war were portrayed as unpatriotic, weak or naive.

We all know how the Iraq War played out and how unfounded the fears of weapons of mass destruction were. However, the manipulative ploys that were used then remain unscathed, as we’re now seeing with Western attempts to demonize China. Indeed, the current American narrative on China is straight from Goering’s playbook. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray has called China the “biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security”. Former vice-president Mike Pence has declared, “China is the greatest strategic and economic threat facing the United States in the 21st century.” For good measure, he added, “China may not yet be an evil empire — but it is working hard to become one.” In their joint public appearance earlier this year, Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns and the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service chief, Richard Moore, expressed their belief that “The rise of China is the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.”

The persistent portrayal of China as a threat to the US, and even as an evil regime, is invariably wrapped up in faux patriotism. Any dissenting voices by those with more rational, balanced views about China are immediately dismissed as unpatriotic or un-American. Goering’s words come back to haunt us: “It is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along. … The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.” To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and the futile, recurring horror of war, we all need to heed this chilling warning from one of history’s villains.

The author is a British historian and former principal of Sha Tin College, an international secondary school in Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.