Source C is produced by the British and applies to countries that Britain ruled such as India and Canada. In bold writing the poster reads, “Once a German – Always a German!” It also shows drawings of cruelty that the Germans have inflicted on many people. The pictures show a German man destroying property, killing a baby with a bayonet, shooting a nurse and abusing a woman. The poster implies to not purchase German goods, as all the men are the same at peace and war. They will always be cruel and harsh whether at war or not.
Source D is an anti-war article from a British newspaper in 1914. The article implies that not all Germans are bad people, as the writer of the article tries to promote friendship between the British and Germans. The text explains how people do not want war and quarrels between nations. The writer claims that, “The flag of International Togetherness is greater than the flag of Britain, of Germany, of Russia, of Austria”. The source is aimed at people of all nations to stop the war. The writer believes that there is no need to loose loved ones in a meaningless war that will achieve nothing.
Both of the sources are useful to show the opinions of different people in Britain. Source C is reliable as it shows the feelings of some British citizens. The source may also be seen as unreliable, as it does not show the German point of view. The source is a primary piece of information and is a mixture of fact and opinion. The picture showing British ships being sunk is factual, as the event did occur at the Battle of the Atlantic, where Germans were trying to cut of imports from the United States, which mainly consisted of food. However, most of the information given is opinion, as not all Germans are murderers and alcoholics.
Source D is useful as it shows the opinion of socialists in Britain, however it is also biased for the Germans, as it makes them look peaceful and like they are all anti-war people. The text is a primary piece of evidence and is mainly opinion. The sentence that reads, “Rulers, diplomats and the military have forced this criminal war upon us all” is opinion as is most of the article. Many people believed that German was the main cause of the outbreak of World War I. The sources have limited information available as source C is biased against the Germans and source D is biased towards the Germans.
Source C is partly fact as many of the events pictured did actually occur. The Germans did commit murders in German concentration camps and they also bombed British Churches and Cathedrals during the Blitz, where they bombed several major British cities such as Coventry and London.
In conclusion, I believe that both sources give different interpretations about attitudes in Britain because they both had different aims. Source C wanted the hatred of Germany to become stronger, whereas source D wanted British citizens to see that Germans were “faithful friends”.
