Propaganda in World War I
Introduction
The world of 1914 was a time of modern technological advances and is considered one of the peaks of civilization. In Europe there was a great tension among countries, Germany had been wanting to gain everyone, France wanted to recover some territory that had lost against Germany, all spoke of each other behind them, and putting the fact that technology had traveled a longWay from the last great war (the Balkan War), to the point that everyone wanted to get something. World War I was the result of the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria Hungary, who was shot a discontent civilian who thought that Bosnia should have been controlled by Serbia instead of Austria. As a result, Austria-Hungary became understandably discontent for this situation and thought that the Serbian government had something to do with it, that it could have something to do, in turn Austria-Hungary sent requests for impossible demands to Serbia and when SerbiaHe refused, they declared the war. On August 4, 1914, Great Britain officially declared war on Germany. Also known as the Great War, it was a conflict between alliances, Germany-Austria-Hungary-Serbia and its corresponding alliances had conflicts against Britain-France and Russia. In general terms, Russia got involved because he protected Serbia and Germany had declared war on Russia because they had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, then Britain entered and declared war on Germany because Belgium had invaded, which was a neutral country, and countries had agreements to protect Belgium and France. During the World War there were many new implementations, there was the use of tanks for the first time, and as logistics and planning;Propaganda was also a very important aspect of World War I.
Developing
Propaganda is a very important part of any war in addition to other essential aspects of war, propaganda plays an important role in convincing your enemy that not fighting is a decent objective and vice versa to be able to convince yours that it is necessaryfight for your beliefs and ideals. During World War I, unlike other wars, propaganda played a very important role because this was the first war that involved not only regular armies in combat but whole nations. The main objective of propaganda was to mobilize hatred towards the enemy, convince the wide population of the justice of the cause and ideals, to obtain new recruits to support the nation and request the cooperation of neutral countries to strengthen the support of theAllies. The nations involved carried out a wide variety of propaganda, aimed at different reasons and audience, there was propaganda that justified the atrocities that were made during the war and even those who asked to exercise patriotism and nationalism. The nature of World War I itself required that the European powers that were in conflict need to convince other nations worldwide to support them, this included nations such as Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, as well as neutral countries,To call resources or even financial support to continue the war.
Propaganda was used as a weapon to influence international opinion;This was a tool used by both parties involved in World War I. Both parties that participated in the First World War invested large sums of money and efforts in propaganda, since many countries were involved, they used propaganda to mold opinions and justify their actions. Great Britain knew that propaganda was very important and took measures to establish a monopoly in communication, disabled German communication cables to prevent messages from broadcasting, as a result, it had the advantage of transmitting messages from Europe to the United States, whichIn turn, they would issue war reports to the world, with the aim of obtaining support and solidarity from other nations.
During World War I, propaganda was mainly used to justify the atrocities committed by both parties that participated in the war, especially the German troops that invaded Belgium in 1914 and committed the greatest atrocity. The power of atrocious propaganda can be seen in the convergence of a series of events that begin with the invasion of Belgium, the execution of Edith Cavell, the sinking of the Lusitania that resulted in the loss of 1200 civil lives. ‘The Bryce report: the committee of alleged German indignations’ was an official report of the British Government, published in 1915. It was very important in terms of legitimizing the number of atrocities that detached themselves from the Belgian invasion by Germany and was used as a form of propaganda for the Germans to become popular as animals and torturers, and it was particularly important, since the documentIt seemed to have an official voice. There were multiple hearings planned for propaganda that promoted or justified atrocities. First, in neutral countries and in particular in the United States, atrocious propaganda arose in response to the popular desire to know what the sacrifice of war was, since much of the atrocious propagandPress in general. Atrocious propaganda mostly affected Germany, represented the majority of German barbarism and mostly placed German propagandists in a difficult situation.
Both the British and the Germans used undercover propaganda forms, not only used the press to influence the audience, but also used a wide variety of media, such as: long books, pamphlets or even cartoons. An example of German undercover propaganda in the United States was the magazine, “The Wall Street ‘that was published in 1915 by unscrupulous financiers, the intention of this failed attempt was to prevent the United States from getting involved in the war, and said it was inAgainst the interests of the United States to join the war and warned the US government and civilians who stayed away from granting financial support to Britain, arguing that they would never receive repayment. The British had also used this propaganda method, established an apartment known as ‘Wellington House’, their purpose was to create propaganda to create influence mainly abroad, aimed at neutral nations and the United States especially. Great Britain’s goal was to carry out his case to the United States government, trying to make it seem as if he did not come from them.
[Image:] Propaganda played an important role in giving certain impressions about the enemy, this was a very delicate aspect of World War I propaganda because you didn’t want to despise the enemy too much because, you wanted it to seem as if you were defeating aformidable opponent but you didn’t want to demonize the enemy to the point that you created terror among yours. There are numerous examples of postcards recovered from the First World War, which were addressed to the Germans;These represented how cruel the Germans were with animals, for example, there are images of Red Cross dogs that apparently were going to eat for dinner. In addition, propaganda reached the point of influencing children to develop certain values and contributions in war. Fig. 2: Postcard used as propaganda against Germans
A very important aspect of war are human resources, therefore, all the parties involved in the war intended to find ways to convince people to join the volunteer service. Most armies in Europe were formed by people who really had no choice to join war. Unlike the German army, the British army was mainly composed of professional volunteers, but it was not enough. They needed to determine ways to promote recruitment in the armed forces, [image:] as well as motivate these staff and let them know that their service was for a great cause and that all their sacrifices would be greatly rewarded, that is where thepropaganda promoted patriotism and nationalism. In Great Britain, the most iconic form of this type of propaganda was the Lord Kitchener recruitment poster, which showed the intimidating face and Lord Kitchener’s finger towards the British population and implored that ‘your country needs you’. This poster caused a feeling of nationalism and patriotism and to some extent served for its purpose of recruiting personnel. Once the propaganda had served its purpose and had hired staff, it was necessary to keep people motivated by what they are fighting. This included both sides, those who were participating in the war, as well as those at home, for this other type of propaganda. Propaganda was promoted that demonstrated the power of each nation, exampling objects that demonstrated power and promoted patriotism. For this, posters were published with images of imposing objects or characters such as;The British bulldog, the German eagle, or the national anthem or shield of France. Fig. 1: famous Lord Kitchener recruitment poster ‘Your country needs you’, produced in September 1914
The most effective type of propaganda that was used in World War I was the ones that exploited the errors made by the enemy. The clearest and harmful example of this was the ‘Zimmerman telegram’. The "Zimmerman telegram" was a message addressed to Mexico and was discovered by British intelligence in 1917. This telegram transmitted the German action plan in the event that the United States joined war in alliance with Great Britain. The telegram presented offers to Mexico, with the intention of granting the territories of Arizona and Texas if they declared war to the United States. The United States under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson already intended to participate in the war, but the publication of this telegram had secured public support and thus the United States joined war in alliance with Great Britain.
Conclusion:
Propaganda presented several aspects of war, the individual aspects of propaganda managed to completely change people’s opinions and much more controversial and much more difficult to prove was their correct employment. The general consensus is that propaganda in World War I only served to refine the opinions that were already present. As mentioned, propaganda during World War I was not like any other, since its intention was to be used at a global scale. He had the main objectives: to convince the population of the just cause of the fighting, recruit personnel and request support and cooperation to maintain war, it was also used to justify many atrocities committed during the war, to reduce the intensity of the barbarism of thereality at that time. The propagating during World War. In conclusion, World War I propaganda established the roots of modern spreading, and remained as an important aspect of war since it used a psychological element that molded the way of thinking of people. The propaganda directed the personal interests of each nation and on many occasions it came to fulfill its purpose, there are documentations that demonstrates the intelligence in employment and results of the propagating of the First World War.
Bibliography:
- David Welch is a professor of modern history and director of the Center for the Study of War, Propaganda and Society at the University of Kent. His books include Germany, Propaganda and Guerra Total, 1914-1918 (2000 and 2014), Modern European History 1871-2000 (2000) and the third Reich: Politics and Propaganda (2002). He is a propaganda co -author and mass persuasion: a historical encyclopedia, 1500 to the present (2003) and editor (with Jo Fox) of Justifying War. Propaganda, Politics and the Modern Era (2012). His latest book, propaganda. Power and Persuasion (2013), accompanied the summer exhibition in the British Library. He is currently writing a propaganda story in World War II
- Propaganda. (2013, October 23). Retrieved on October 21, 2019, from https: // www.bl.UK/World-War -one/Themes/Propaganda.
- Cooke, i., Pivovarchuk, a., Lawson, t., Pivovarchuk, a., Korobko, and., Varzi, c. M., … Francesca Rechia & Lorenzo Tugei. (2014, October 9). Propaganda in World War I: media, impacts and legacies. Retrieved on October 21, 2019, from https: // www.Fair Observer.com/region/north_america/propaganda-in -world-war -one-means-impacts-And-legacies-73296/.
- Propaganda. (2013, October 23). Retrieved on October 21, 2019, from https: // www.bl.UK/World-War -one/Themes/Propaganda.
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