Propaganda in World War I

The First World War was the first war in which mass media and propaganda played a significant role in keeping the people at home informed about what was occurring on the battlefields. [1] This was also the first war in which the government systematically produced propaganda as a way to target the public and alter their opinion. According to Eberhard Demm and Christopher H. Sterling:

Propaganda could be used to arouse hatred of the foe, warn of the consequences of defeat, and idealize one's own war aims in order to mobilize a nation, maintain its morale, and make it fight to the end. It could explain setbacks by blaming scapegoats such as war profiteers, hoarders, defeatists, dissenters, pacifists, left-wing socialists, spies, shirkers, strikers, and sometimes enemy aliens so that the public would not question the war itself or the existing social and political system.[2]
British propaganda stamp

Propaganda worked on a variety of ideological underpinnings such as atrocity propaganda, propaganda dedicated to nationalism and patriotism, and propaganda focused on women.[1][3][4]

Media and censorship

The media was expected to take sides, not to remain neutral, in World War I. When Wilhelm II declared a state of war in Germany on July 31, the commanders of the army corps (German: Stellvertretende Generalkommandos) took control of the administration, including implementing a policy of press censorship, which was carried out under Walter Nicolai.[5]

Censorship regulations were put in place in Berlin, with the War Press Office fully controlled by the Army High Command. Journalists were allowed to report from the front only if they were experienced officers who had "recognized patriotic views". Briefings to the press created a high degree of uniformity in wartime reporting. Contact between journalists and fighting troops was prohibited, and journalists spoke only to high-ranking officers and commanders.[6]

Both sides initially prohibited any photography or filming. The primary visual representation relied on war painting though the Germans used some filmed newsreels that were heavily censored. The French preferred painting over photography, but some parties used photographs to document the aftermath of damage that had been inflicted on cities by artillery. However, photographs of battle scenes were reenactments by necessity.[6]

When World War I started, the United States had become a leader in the art of filmmaking and the new profession of commercial advertising.[7] Such newly-discovered technologies played an instrumental role in the shaping of the American mind and the altering of public opinion into supporting the war. Every country used careful edited newsreels to combine straight news reports and propaganda.[8][9][10]

British Propaganda
Main articles: British propaganda during World War I and Wellington House

American propaganda

The most influential man behind the propaganda in the United States was President Woodrow Wilson. In his famous January 1918 declaration, he outlined the "Fourteen Points," which he said that the United States would fight to defend.[11] Aside from the restoration of freedom in Europe in countries that were suppressed by the power of Germany, Wilson's Fourteen Points called for transparency regarding discussion of diplomatic matters, the free navigation of the seas in peace and in war, and equal trade conditions among all nations.[11] The Fourteen Points became very popular across Europe, and motivated German Socialists especially.[12] It served as a blueprint for world peace to be used for peace negotiations after the war.[7] Wilson's points inspired audiences around the world and greatly strengthened the belief that Britain, France, and America were fighting for noble goals.[7]

Committee on Public Information

In 1917 Wilson created the Committee on Public Information. It reported directly to President Wilson and was essentially a massive generator of propaganda.[7] The Committee on Public Information was responsible for producing films, commissioning posters, publishing numerous books and pamphlets, purchasing advertisements in major newspapers, and recruiting businessmen, preachers and professors to serve as public speakers in charge of altering public opinion at the communal level.[7] The committee, headed by former investigative journalist George Creel, emphasized the message that America's involvement in the war was entirely necessary for achieving the salvation of Europe from the German and enemy forces.[7] In his book titled How we Advertised America, Creel states that the committee was called into existence to make World War I a fight that would be a "verdict for mankind."[13] He called the committee a voice that was created to plead the justice of America's cause before the jury of public opinion.[13] Creel also refers to the committee as a "vast enterprise in salesmanship" and "the world's greatest adventure in advertising."[13] The committee's message resonated deep within every American community and served as an organization that was responsible for carrying the full message of American ideals to every corner of the civilized globe.[13] Creel and his committee used every possible mode to get their message across, including printed word, spoken word, the motion picture, the telegraph, the poster, and the signboard.[13] All forms of communication were put to use to justify the causes that compelled America to take arms.

Creel set out systematically to reach every person in the United States multiple times with patriotic information about how the individual could contribute to the war effort.[14] The CPI also worked with the post office to censor seditious counter propaganda. Creel set up divisions in his new agency to produce and to distribute innumerable copies of pamphlets, newspaper releases, magazine advertisements, films, school campaigns, and the speeches of the Four Minute Men. The CPI created colourful posters that appeared in every store window to catch the attention of passers-by for a few seconds.[15] Cinemas were widely attended, and the CPI trained thousands of volunteer speakers to make patriotic appeals during four-minute breaks, which were needed to change reels. They also spoke at churches, lodges, fraternal organizations, labour unions, and even logging camps. Creel boasted that in 18 months, his 75,000 volunteers had delivered over 7.5 million four-minute orations to over 300 million listeners in a nation of 103 million people. The speakers attended training sessions through local universities and were given pamphlets and speaking tips on a wide variety of topics, such as buying Liberty bonds, registering for the draft, rationing food, recruiting unskilled workers for munitions jobs, and supporting Red Cross programs.[16]

Historians were assigned to write pamphlets and in-depth histories of the causes of the European war.[17][18] Beginning of World War One, both sides of the conflict used propaganda to shape international opinion. Thus, propaganda become a weapon which influence countries.[19]

Self-justification and assigning blame
cover from UK National Archives

As their armies began to clash, the opposing governments engaged in a media battle attempting to avoid blame for causing the war, and casting blame on other countries, through the publication of carefully selected documents, basically consisting of diplomatic exchanges. The Germans were first, and other major participants followed within days.[20]

The German White Book[lower-alpha 1] appeared on 4 August 1914, and was the first such book to come out. It contained 36 documents. In the German White Book, anything that could benefit the Russian position was redacted.[21][lower-alpha 2] Within a week, most other combatant countries had published their own book, each named with a different color name. France held off until 1 December 1914, when they finally published their Yellow Book.[23] Other combatants in the war published similar books: the Blue Book of Britain,[24] the Orange Book of Russia,[24][25] the Yellow Book of France,[26] and the Austro-Hungarian Red Book, the Belgian Grey Book, and the Serbian Blue Book.[27]

Atrocity propaganda
Anti-German atrocity propaganda

Atrocity propaganda exploiting sensational stories of rape, mutilation, and wanton murder of prisoners by the Germans filled the Allied press.[28][29] The Germans and Austro-Hungarian soldiers were depicted as inhumane savages, and their barbarity was emphasized as a way to provide justification for the war. In 1914, prominent forensic scientist, R.A. Reiss was commissioned by the Serbian prime minister to conduct an investigation on war crimes.[29] It was done as a way to depict the multiple acts of violence that had been committed against civilians by the occupying Austro-Hungarian forces in Serbia in 1914. The reports were written in vivid detail and described individual acts of violence against civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war.[29] Some of the actions included the use of forbidden weapons, the demolition of ancient libraries and cathedrals, and the rape and torture of civilians.[29] Graphic illustrations, accompanied by first-hand testimonies that described the crimes as savagely unjust, were compelling reminders to justify the war.[29] Other forms of atrocity propaganda depicted the alternative to war to involve German occupation and domination,[30] which was regarded as unacceptable across the political spectrum. As the Socialist Pioneer of Northampton put it in 1916, there could "be no peace while the frightful menace of world domination by force of German armed might looms about and above us".[30]

Propaganda was used in the war, like any other war, with the truth suffering. Propaganda ensured that the people learned only what their governments wanted them to know. The lengths to which governments would go to, to try to blacken the enemy's name, reached a new level during the war. To ensure that everybody thought as the government wanted, all forms of information were controlled. Newspapers were expected to print what governments wanted readers to read. That would appear to be a form of censorship, but the newspapers of Britain, which were effectively controlled by the media barons of the time, were happy to follow and printed headlines that were designed to stir up emotions, regardless of whether they were accurate or not. The most infamous headlines included "Belgium child's hands cut off by Germans" and "Germans crucify Canadian officer".[4]

Use of patriotism and nationalism
Kitchener poster, by Alfred Leete

Patriotism and nationalism were two of the most important themes of propaganda.[1] In 1914, the British army was made up of not only professional soldiers but also volunteers and so the government relied heavily on propaganda as a tool to justify the war to the public eye.[1] It was used to promote recruitment into the armed forces and to convince civilians that if they joined, their sacrifices would be rewarded.[1] One of the most impressionable images of the war was the "Your Country Needs You" poster, a distinctive recruitment poster of Lord Kitchener (similar to the later Uncle Sam poster) pointing at his British audience to convince it to join the war effort.[1] Another message that was deeply embedded in national sentiment the religious symbolism of St George, who was shown slaying a dragon, which represented the German forces.[1] Images of enthusiastic patriotism seemed to encapsulate the tragedy of the European and imperial populations.[30] Such images were able to conjure up feelings of required patriotism and activism among those who were influenced.[30]

The German Kaiser often appeared in Allied propaganda. His pre-1898 image of a gallant Victorian gentleman was long gone, replaced by a dangerous troublemaker in the pre-1914 era. During the war he became the personified image of German aggression; by 1919 the British press was demanding his execution. He died in exile in 1941, by which time his former enemies had moderated their criticism and instead turned the hatred against Hitler.[31]

Use as weapon
Patriotic, pictorial map of the British Isles (c. 1914)

The major foreign ministries prepared propaganda designed to reach public opinion and elite opinion in other countries, especially the neutral powers. For example the British were especially effective in turning American opinion against Germany before 1917.[32][33] Propaganda thus became an integral part of the diplomatic history of World War I and was designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. Eberhard Demm and Christopher H. Sterling, state:

Propaganda could also win over neutral states by encouraging friendly elements and local warmongers, or, at a minimum, keep neutrals out of the war by fostering non-intervention or pacifist views....It could help retain allies, break up enemy alliances, and prepare exhausted or dissatisfied nations to defect or make a separate piece.[34]

Nonmilitary propaganda into neutral countries war was designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy.[35] Wartime diplomacy focused on five issues: propaganda campaigns to shape news reports and commentary; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements within the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs.

In addition, multiple peace proposals came from neutrals and from both sides although none of them progressed very far. Some were neutral efforts to end the horrors. Others were propaganda ploys to show one side as being reasonable and the other as obstinate.[36]

As soon as the war began, Britain cut Germany's undersea communication cables as a way to ensure that the Allies had a monopoly on the most expedient means of transmitting news from Europe to press outlets in the United States.[37] That as a way to influence reporting of the war around the world and to gain sympathy and support from the other nations.[37] In 1914, a secret British organization, by the name of Wellington House, was set up and called for journalists and newspaper editors to write articles that sympathized with Britain as a way to counter statements that were made by the enemy.[37] Wellington House implemented the action not only through favourable reports in the press of neutral countries but also by publishing its own newspapers, which were circulated around the globe.[37] Wellington House was so secret that much of Parliament was in the dark. Wellington House had a staff of 54 people, which made it the largest British foreign propaganda organization.[38] From the Wellington House came to the publication The War Pictorial, which, by December 1916, reached a circulation of 500,000, covering 11 languages. The War Pictorial was deemed to have such a powerful effect on different masses that it could turn countries like China against Germany.[37]

Women
British propaganda poster that depicts women as bravely seeing their men off to war.

Propaganda and its ideological impacts on women and family life in the era differed by country. British propaganda often promoted the idea that women and their families were threatened by the enemy, particularly the German army.[39] British propaganda played on the fears of the country's citizens by depicting the German army as a ravenous force that horrified the towns and cities it passed through, raped women, and tore families apart.[39] The terror ensued by the gendered propaganda influenced Britain's war policies, and violence against the domestic sphere in wartime became seen as an inexcusable war crime.[39]

In the Ottoman Empire, the United States, and in other countries, women were encouraged to enter the workforce since the number of men kept shrinking during the war.[40] The Ottoman government already had a system that incorporated the participation of women in governmental committees that had established in 1912 and 1913.[40] Thus, when the war began, the government was able to spread patriotic propaganda to women all over the empire through the women's committees.[40] Propaganda encouraged women to enter the workforce, both to support the Empire and to become self-sufficient by state-sanctioned work that was specified for women.[40]

American war propaganda often featured images of women but typically reflected traditional gender norms.[3] While there was increasingly a call to employ women to replace the men who were at war, American propaganda also emphasized sexual morality.[41] Women's clubs often produced attitudes against gambling and prostitution.[41]

See also

References
Notes
  1. German title of the White Book was: "Das Deutsche Weißbuch über den Ausbruch des deutsch-russisch-französischen Krieges" ("The German White Book about the Outbreak of the German-Russian-French War".
  2. The German White Book was translated and published in English the same year.[22]
Citations
  1. Welch, David. "Propaganda for patriotism and nationalism". British Library. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  2. Eberhard Demm and Christopher H. Sterling, "Propaganda" in Spencer C. Tucker and Priscilla Roberts, eds. The Encyclopedia of World War I : A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO 2005) 3:941.
  3. Dumenil, L. (2002-10-01). "American Women and the Great War". OAH Magazine of History. 17 (1): 35–37. doi:10.1093/maghis/17.1.35. ISSN 0882-228X.
  4. Trueman, Chris. "Propaganda and World War One". History Learning Site.
  5. Demm, Eberhard (1993). "Propaganda and Caricature in the First World War". Journal of Contemporary History. 28: 163–192. doi:10.1177/002200949302800109. S2CID 159762267.
  6. Selling War: The Role of Mass Media in Hostile Conflicts From World War I to the 'War on Terror'. University of Chicago Press. p. 29.
  7. Messinger, Gary (January 1, 1992). British Propaganda and the State in the First World War. Manchester University Press. pp. 20–30.
  8. Laurent Véray, "1914–1918, the first media war of the twentieth century: The example of French newsreels." Film History: An International Journal 22.4 (2010): 408-425 online.
  9. Larry Wayne Ward, The motion picture goes to war: The US government film effort during World War I (UMI Research Press, 1985).
  10. Wolfgang Miihl-Benninghaus, "Newsreel Images of the Military and War, 1914-1918" in A Second Life: German Cinema's First Decades ed. by Thomas Elsaesser, (1996) online.
  11. Wilson, Woodrow (January 8, 1918). "President Wilson's Message to Congress". Records of the United States Senate.
  12. John L. Snell, "Wilson's Peace Program and German Socialism, January-March 1918." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 38.2 (1951): 187-214 online.
  13. Creel, George (1920). How We Advertised America: The First Telling of the Amazing Story of the Committee on Public Information that Carried the Gospel of Americanism to Every Corner of the Globe. Harper and Brothers.
  14. Stephen Vaughn, Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information (1980). online
  15. Katherine H. Adams, Progressive Politics and the Training of America’s Persuaders (1999)
  16. Lisa Mastrangelo, "World War I, public intellectuals, and the Four Minute Men: Convergent ideals of public speaking and civic participation." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 12#4 (2009): 607-633.
  17. George T. Blakey, Historians on the Homefront: American Propagandists for the Great War (1970)
  18. Committee on public information, Complete Report of the Committee on Public Information: 1917, 1918, 1919 (1920) online free
  19. "Propaganda as a weapon? Influencing international opinion". The British Library. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  20. Hartwig, Matthias (12 May 2014). "Colour books". In Bernhardt, Rudolf; Bindschedler, Rudolf; Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (eds.). Encyclopedia of Public International Law. 9 International Relations and Legal Cooperation in General Diplomacy and Consular Relations. Amsterdam: North-Holland. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-4832-5699-3. OCLC 769268852. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  21. Kempe, Hans (2008). Der Vertrag von Versailles und seine Folgen: Propagandakrieg gegen Deutschland [The Treaty of Versailles and its Consequences: Propaganda War against Germany]. Vaterländischen Schriften (in German). 7 Kriegschuldlüge 1919 [War Guilt Lies 1919]. Mannheim: Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag e.K. pp. 238–257 (vol. 7 p.19). ISBN 978-3-938622-16-2. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  22. Germany. Auswärtiges Amt (1914). The German White-book: Authorized Translation. Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the War, with Supplements. Liebheit & Thiesen. OCLC 1158533. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  23. Schmitt, Bernadotte E. (1 April 1937). "France and the Outbreak of the World War". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations. 26 (3). Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  24. "German White Book". United Kingdom: The National Archives. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  25. Kempe 2008, vol.7, p.18.
  26. Kempe 2008, vol.7, p.19.
  27. Beer, Max (1915). "Das Regenbogen-Buch": deutsches Wiessbuch, österreichisch-ungarisches Rotbuch, englisches Blaubuch, französisches Gelbbuch, russisches Orangebuch, serbisches Blaubuch und belgisches Graubuch, die europäischen Kriegsverhandlungen [The Rainbow Book: German White Book, Austrian-Hungarian Red Book, English Blue Book, French Yellow Book, Russian Orange Book, Serbian Blue Book and Belgian Grey Book, the European war negotiations]. Bern: F. Wyss. pp. 16–. OCLC 9427935. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  28. Nicoletta F. Gullace, "Sexual violence and family honor: British propaganda and international law during the First World War," American Historical Review (1997) 102#3 714–747.
  29. Fox, Jo. "Atrocity Propaganda". British Library. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  30. Purseigle, Pierre. "Inside the First World War". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  31. Lothar Reinermann, "Fleet Street and the Kaiser: British public opinion and Wilhelm II." German History 26.4 (2008): 469-485.
  32. M. L. Sanders, "Wellington House and British propaganda during the First World War", The Historical Journal (1975) 18#1: 119–146.
  33. Cedric C. Cummins, Indiana Public Opinion and the World War 1914-1917 (1945) pp 22–24.
  34. Demm and Sterling in The Encyclopedia of World War I (2005) 3:941.
  35. Edward Corse, A battle for neutral Europe: British cultural propaganda during the Second World War (London: A&C Black, 2012).
  36. See Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Official Statements of War Aims and Peace Proposals: December 1916 to November 1918, edited by James Brown Scott. (1921) 515 pp.online free
  37. Cooke, Ian. "Propaganda as a weapon? Influencing international opinion". British Library. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  38. Epstein, Jonathan. "German and English Propaganda in World War I". bobrowen.com. NYMAS. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  39. Gullace, Nicoletta F. (June 1997). "Sexual Violence and Family Honor: British Propaganda and International Law during the First World War". The American Historical Review. 102 (3): 714–747. doi:10.2307/2171507. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 2171507.
  40. "Women's Mobilization for War (Ottoman Empire/ Middle East) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
  41. Courtney Q. Shah (2010). ""Against Their Own Weakness": Policing Sexuality and Women in San Antonio, Texas, during World War I". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 19 (3): 458–482. doi:10.1353/sex.2010.0001. ISSN 1535-3605. PMID 21110465. S2CID 12568142.

Further reading
Further information: Home front during World War I § Further reading
  • Cornwall, Mark. The Undermining of Austria-Hungary: The Battle for Hearts and Minds. London: Macmillan, 2000.
  • Cull, Nicholas J., David Culbert, et al. eds. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present (2003) online review
  • Cummins, Cedric C. Indiana Public Opinion and the World War 1914-1917 (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1945).
  • DeBauche, L.M. Reel Patriotism: The Movies and World War I. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997).
  • Goebel, Stefan. "When Propaganda (Studies) Began," Munitions of the Mind (Centre for the History of War, Media and Society. 2016) online
  • Gullace, Nicoletta F. "Allied Propaganda and World War I: Interwar Legacies, Media Studies, and the Politics of War Guilt" History Compass (Sept 2011) 9#9 pp 686-700
  • Gullace, Nicoletta F. "Sexual violence and family honor: British propaganda and international law during the First World War," American Historical Review (1997) 102#3 714–747. online
  • Hamilton, Keith (2007-02-22). "Falsifying the Record: Entente Diplomacy and the Preparation of the Blue and Yellow Books on the War Crisis of 1914". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 18 (1): 89–108. doi:10.1080/09592290601163019. ISSN 0959-2296. OCLC 4650908601. S2CID 154198441.
  • Haste, Cate (1977), Keep the Home Fires Burning: Propaganda in the First World War, London
  • Horne, John; Kramer, Alan (2001), German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial, London
  • Horne, John, ed. A Companion to World War I (2010) chapters 16, 19, 22, 23, 24. online
  • Kaminski, Joseph Jon. "World War I and Propaganda Poster Art: Comparing the United States and German Cases." Epiphany Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies 2 (2014): 64-81. online
  • Knightley, Phillip (2002), The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo, Johns Hopkins UP, ISBN 978-0-8018-6951-8
  • Lasswell, Harold. Propaganda Technique In The World War (1927) online
  • Messinger, Gary S. (1992), British Propaganda and the State in the First World War, New York
  • Mock, James R., and Cedric Larson. Words that won the war: the story of the Committee on Public Information, 1917-1919 (1939) online
  • Paddock, Troy R. E. World War I and Propaganda. (2014)
  • Ponsonby, Arthur (1928), Falsehood in War-Time: Propaganda Lies of the First World War, London: George Allen and Unwin
  • Sanders, M. L. (1975), "Wellington House and British propaganda during the First World War", The Historical Journal, 18 (1): 119–146, doi:10.1017/S0018246X00008700, JSTOR 2638471
  • Sanders, M. L.; Taylor, Philip M. (1982), British Propaganda During the First World War, 1914–18, London
  • Smith, Zachary. Age of Fear: Othering and American Identity during World War I. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.
  • Stanley, P. What Did You do in the War, Daddy? A Visual History of Propaganda Posters New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
  • Thompson, J. Lee. "‘To Tell the People of America the Truth’: Lord Northcliffe in the US, Unofficial British Propaganda, June–November 1917." Journal of Contemporary History 34.2 (1999): 243–262.
  • Thompson, J. Lee. Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914-1919 (2000) in Britain
  • Tunc, T. E. "Less Sugar, More Warships: Food as American Propaganda in the First World War" War in History (2012). 19#2 pp: 193-216.
  • Vaughn, Stephen. Holding fast the inner lines : democracy, nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information (1980) online
  • Welch, David (2003), "Fakes", in Nicholas J. Cull, David H. Culbert and David Welch (ed.), Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present, ABC-CLIO, pp. 123–124, ISBN 978-1-57607-820-4
  • Welch, David. Germany and Propaganda in World War I: Pacifism, Mobilization and Total War London: IB Tauris, 2014.
  • Zeman, Z. A. B. Selling the war: Art and propaganda in World War II (1978) online

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