Wood Horse or Fake Missile, Martial Tricks Not New In a way, the North Korean missiles-that-may-not-be-missiles-at-all are the modern-day equivalent of King Edward III's exaggerated codpiece. The English king was fighting the Hundred Years' War and was desperate to project an air of might to his French enemies, according to historian Beth Marie Kosir. Legend has it that Edward had the armor covering the royal family jewels "enlarged to astounding proportions because he had heard that strength and military prowess were correlated with a man's endowment." Given the situation, "it would not be surprising that he would try to seek any possible advantage available to him," Kosir wrote in an article titled "Modesty to Majesty: The Development of the Codpiece." He then ordered that the nobility and knights do the same to their armor. Flash forward seven centuries, and it's clear that size still matters - at least when it comes to missiles. Two days after a spectacularly bungled April 13 rocket launch, North Korea staged a lavish military parade featuring a half-dozen KN-08 "missiles" on massive mobile launch vehicles. But analysts who have studied photos of the event say the weapons were fakes - and bad ones, at that. FILE - In this Sunday, April 15, 2012 photo, what appears to be a new missile is displayed during a military parade at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung. Analysts say since the warhead's surface is undulated, this suggests it's a thin metal sheet unable to withstand flight pressure. History is replete with examples of governments and armies using deception to convince someone they're stronger - or weaker - than they really are. This deception has been going on "probably as long as there have been one group of people fighting another," says Frank R. Shirer, chief of historical resources at the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) Close History is replete with examples of governments and armies using deception - the Trojan horse is perhaps the most famous instance. Often, the aim is to convince your enemy that you're stronger - or weaker - than you really are. There have been those who disapproved: In his "Summa Theologica," St. Thomas Aquinas argued that trickery in war was unlawful. "Scripture says, Strict justice must be your ideal," he wrote. But since subterfuge is a kind of deception, it would seem to be an injustice. Therefore subterfuge should not be used, even in a just war. But Sun Tzu, in "The Art of War," famously stated that, "All warfare is based on deception." Moral or not, deception has been going on "probably as long as there have been one group of people fighting another," says Frank R. Shirer, chief of historical resources at the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. A few prominent examples: Eighteenth century Prussia was all about projecting strength, and Frederick William I took it to a personal extreme. As crown prince, Frederick personally commanded a unit of grenadiers with a minimum height requirement of 6 Prussian feet - about 6-foot-2. He paraded his Grand Grenadiers of Potsdam - or Potsdam Giants, as they were sometimes called - for foreign visitors, but they seldom saw real action. "Frederick took good care that his playthings were not often exposed in the front of battle and their chief duties were to drill incessantly, keep their arms and accoutrements in order and to mount guard," Harry Alton Hitchcock wrote in his 1915 work, "The Boy's Book of Famous Regiments." During the Peninsula Campaign in spring 1862, Confederate Gen. John Bankhead Magruder fell back on his theater background to take advantage of Union Gen. George McClellan's famous timidity. Tasked with maintaining the line between Yorktown, Va., and the James River, Magruder had his 11,000-strong force make faux cannon out of logs and mount these so-called "Quaker Guns" on carriages to give the impression of superior firepower.