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9 propaganda techniques
Thesis on propaganda
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Propaganda effects of World War I
During the early 1900s a new era of warfare emerged as governments began to employ all economic, technological and psychological resources available to defeat their enemies. This concept of Total War altered the direction of humanity and governments understanding in their allocation of resources. This essay will examine the relationship between propaganda used during World War I, its effect on the masses and the absolutely essential need for the success of such campaigns in obtaining military victory. While leaflet propaganda used during the war will be the main focus, considerations will be given to other forms to illuminate the necessity of understanding and utilizing the tools of this very powerful weapon.
During World War I, propaganda was widespread in most countries. Propaganda took on many forms and the primary function was to reinforce to the citizens of a nation that war was intrinsically heroic, and conversely to destroy the morale of the enemy.
The actual business of physical injury had added the more subtle process of slaughter of morale, a far more difficult, but none the less effective, method of warfare. The Germans have for a long time preached it. They practiced it from the first, 'frightfulness' being merely the German interpretation of the theory of the destruction of morale. Bernhardi lays as much stress upon it as upon perfection of maneuver. The Allies, perhaps keener students of psychology, substituted persuasion for brutality, and developed a system of military propaganda that has never before been equaled.
Historians generally refer to WWI as the first 'total war'. It was the first conflict in which modern industrialized societies mobilized their complete economic, technological and psychological resources in order to wage war. Unlike earlier wars, which involved relatively small numbers of soldiers on the battlefield, it affected many aspects of the lives of civilian populations and demanded enormous sacrifices and support from them. Mobilization of the home front was crucial to achieving military victory. Some of the main aspects of Total War include conscription of men into the armed services, increased government control of the economy and daily lives of citizens and subsequent loss of personal liberty. Control of the labor force, physical safety and security of civilian populations threatene...
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...ing the Great War and the lessons learned will forever affect economic, technological and psychological futures around the world.
Bibliography
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Bernhardi, Friedrich von. How Germany makes war. New York: G. H. Doran company, c1914.
Hummel, William and Huntress, Keith. The Analysis of Propaganda. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1949
Copeland, Dale C. The Origins of Major War. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 2000
Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. New York: Vintage Books, 1965.
Field, Frank. British and French Operations of the First World War. Cambridge (England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
German propaganda spread throughout Germany like wildfire. The glory and enthusiasm of going to war to fight for your country aims and ideals was the mood set. Everyone wanted to be a hero, and if you did not want to fight than you would be thought of as a coward,.. “ because at the time even one’s parents were ready with the word ‘Coward’..” (Remarque p.11). The elders glorified war by writing and talking about it, expressing that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing. The soldiers saw the hideous wounds and dying men and distinguishing the false from the true, realizing that there is nothing of their world left. That is how Paul Baumer felt when he was in the Catholic hospital with his friend and comrade Albert Kropp. Looking around at all the wounded solders he saw what a waste war was. Up until this war, nobody had ever seen such a destructive war, partly due to all the advanced technology, and therefore none of the great world powers knew what they were getting themselves into. “ To shed one’s blood for the fatherland is not difficult it is enveloped in romantic heroism” (McKay/Hill/Bucker 904) as explained by a German soldier who volunteered for the front. The fact that the whole country of Germany was patriotic, energetic, and unified towards the war effort glorified it even that much more. Who would not want to fight for their homeland at that time? “ We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character” (Remarque 21). Once these combatants experienced the real life threats such as poisonous gasses, rapid machine gun fire and a constant flurry of explosive shells, these were propelled into a New World of killing or being killed. They are fighting with animal like instincts and all their proper manners that they are raised with vanish.
In 1914, with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife from Austro-Hungarian Empire caused an enormous war called World War I, that killed and injured about thirty million lives. It also destroyed the economy later on. World War I changed combat tactics in a whole new way, where people would die in a blink of an eye. Commanders and soldiers did not know about the capabilities of their new arsenals. The new industrialized developed weapons devastated the battlefield with blood, mountain of corpses, and small craters. Some of the weapons that were used were machine guns, poison gas, mortars, and tanks. Soldiers described the battlefield as a nightmare. This was the start of a new era arising through warfare. A very dangerous way to bring great change to the world but was not intended. World War I brought great changes to the world but, considering the countless deaths, it was the worst war ever, an inhumane war.
During WW1, the Americans had influenced the war by propaganda. Propaganda is when you spread rumors to influence society. Propaganda was used to affect Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. In Germany propaganda was used to give the soldiers morals and people with false information that was sent by balloons or planes. In America propaganda was used to persuade other Americans to join the war against Germany. In Great Britain, propaganda was meant to convince men into joining the war and for people to save food for the war effort.
The First World War witnessed an appalling number of casualties. Due partly to this fact, some historians, developed the perception that commanders on both sides depended on only one disastrous approach to breaking the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no-man’s land only to be mowed down by enemy machineguns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious because both the German’s and Allies developed and used a variety of tactics during the war. The main reason for battlefield success and eventual victory by the Allies came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; nevertheless, moral played a major role by greatly affecting the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war.
Adams, Michael C. C. The "Best War Ever: America and World War II" Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 1994. Bailey, Ronald H. The Home Front, U.S.A. Time-Life Publishing, Chicago, IL. 1978 Bard, Mitchell G.
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
When World War II broke out in 1939, many countries began using propaganda to strengthen support for the war. Countries battling in the war used propaganda to unite citizens and keep them focused on contributing to the war effort. During the World War II period, Great Britain and their allies; which included the United States and China, were one of the groups in the war that used various techniques and platforms in order to spread propaganda across their countries. One such platform that played a major role in the spread of propaganda was Britain and their allies’ use of posters to increase morale among people.
Propaganda posters were used by most countries involved in WWII to persuade their citizens to support patriotism and nationalism in their country. Most countries also used propaganda to persuade their citizens to support their cause and join their armed forces. The Allied Powers used propaganda to persuade their individual countries that winning the war was the only “road to justice”. Most of the propaganda posters distributed by the Axis Powers were aimed towards winning the war and supporting the beliefs of the Nazis. Most of the propaganda posters from WWII were used to recruit for the war, support the war, or spread the racial views of their country.
Propaganda played an important role before and throughout World War II. It helped accelerate the development of the war and hastened actually fighting. It also played a crucial role in individual countries in increasing production and helping the war effort. Without propaganda, it is doubtless that the war would have taken a different course.
The government has long used propaganda as a key for support from the public or as a means of convincing the public abou¬t certain issues. In both of the World Wars propaganda and censorship both played very important roles. In Great Britain, the most common forms of propaganda that the British government used were: Posters, film, press and literature, all of which portrayed the enemy in a f...
“God save the King,” you could see this phrase plastered on propaganda all around the British empire, not just a simple phrase but a deeper look into the role that religion played in the war and how the war played out. Although often overlooked, religious propaganda transformed the war and impacted how people saw religion. Consequently, religious propaganda can help to understand World War 1 on a deeper level and help to comprehend why people fought for their country. Originally just a normal war fought between countries, the religious propaganda caused soldiers to look at the war in a different way and convinced them to fight for their faith.
“In the year of 1933-45, how far was propaganda the most effective tool at keeping control in Nazi Germany?”
O’Neill, William L. World War II A Student Companion. 1 ed. William H. Chafe. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Grayzel, Susan R. The First World War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.
Before World War I, uninterrupted public support was thought to be critical to all the wartime effort. In 1917, Wilson created the War Aims Committee on Public Information (CPI) to promote World War One Nationally, while advertising America overseas. Under the guidance of a journalist named Creel, the CPI gathered people from different aspects all over the world. The CPI mixed advertising techniques with a refined understanding of human psychology; its efforts represent the first time that a modern government distributed propaganda on such a large scale. It is intriguing that this occurrence, often linked with totalitarianism, emerged in a democratic state. [Pg. 1, sec. 14]