Before high speed, secure communication technology existed in the form of computers/phones, how could a government confidently engage with someone claiming to represent a foreign nation’s government? I just imagine you’d risk someone with the ability to forge documents and put on a good performance being able to declare war on behalf of an unsuspecting country.
In: Other
Head of state says to host nation that they will dispatch someone at a particular date on whatever ship and send with papers. Imposter needs to:
– intercept this original communiqué to know what is going down
– forge papers with royal/imperial seal (so they need to find something else that has been sealed to copy from)
– abduct the real ambassador so two don’t turn up
– either commandeer the ship the ambassador was on or build their own ship to the same design and name it the same
– arrive at the destination and present themselves and their fake papers according to correct protocol
– fund and build an embassy at the agreed location
– report back to their home country using correct protocol, seal and ciphers
In older times ambassadors or emissaries were usually exchanged face to face along with an exchange of hostages for surety.
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