The source tells us that there was propaganda even in the cinemas, the movie itself was interrupted and a patriotic song was sung. He felt ‘six inches taller’. They cheered for, the French, the Belgians and the Russians. The patriotic songs encouraged emotion, love and he felt it was suddenly necessary to die for their country. We understand how powerful the propaganda was as it changed moods in a matter of seconds. People were quite blinded. ‘I decided there couldn't be any one better fitted for soldiering than me’. The audience almost submitted to the national anthem. The interpretation emphasises how well the government had used this tactic and its effectiveness. The propaganda generated patriotism. In this particular context it was for recruitment; therefore this source is accurate as the context gives us evidence.
From source A and other sources which showed patriotism, we can deduce the feeling of anger is also created. This enemy is always put in front of us; they cheered for the allies, implying that we are a collective force fighting the Germans. So I also believe that it implies the hatred of the enemy, this will strengthen the point I will make in the conclusive section.
This particular source encouraged patriotism, but we cannot just leave it as this, we have to study it more complex. Perhaps, patriotism was used to intend or imply other factors too.
Source G is a patriotic song, sung by wives and children at the home front. The propaganda by the government made women also part of the war effort. As censorship was enforced, many did not remain in contact with the loved ones, therefore songs similar to this were created, to raise spirits. The source itself as a hidden imperative tells the women not to mention hardship to their loved ones.
‘Don’t tell him all your troubles’.
Here we find that patriotism was particularly used two instances, designed to raise spirits, similar to source A. this was obviously important as, the women were also considered to be part of the effort, not just on the battlefield. The caption mentions that it was a popular song in 1916 at the home front. Theses songs would give us an important reflection on to the censored thinking and spirits people had. It clearly reflects the condition of the home front, as well as financial problems.
‘Eldest boy want trousers and rent is overdue’.
Therefore, we can understand how important the government thought the home front would be, through our own knowledge, peoples gardens were used to grow crops and there was limited amount of food, clearly we can see that the government used patriotism to raise spirits at home as well as recruiting soldiers, which played a vital role in securing victory.
Patriotism was important to ensure that morale was high, and that recruiting was constant.
I will now study, the element of moral superiority, to help us identify which was more important.
In addition to patriotism, there is also evidence to show Britain’s belief of morally superiority. Source shows a British newspaper report by Philip Gibbs, The source tells us what happened at the battle of the Somme. The source with its heroic language shows the British as merciful, therefore moral. Although it seems to be biased, my reason for this is that firstly the author is British, he may show the British in a good light, and also censorship was in place at the time.
As we know the government would not permit articles that would ‘jeopardise the success of the operations’.
Although it is created at the time, the reliability of this source seems to be arguable, as I know the author would only be able to publish an article showing the British in a good light, and his main motive would be to make money and secure his position.
Here moral superiority is used to encourage the home front to remain steadfast.
In response to the question, perhaps the hatred of the enemy wasn't the main objective rather an amalgamation of factors, I will go on to explain this further. But a conclusion cannot be made so soon, I will have further study other sources. Although this source only seems to show patriotism we have to study other sources and get a wider impression.
I will now study source C which is an anti-German cartoon.
The source is a cartoon, from punch magazine, from which we have become quite familiar with the magazine for its cartoonist, exaggerated interpretations. The source itself was created and intended fro the middle class. It is a primary source which helps us understand what types of propaganda people were seeing. The content itself clearly creates hatred of the enemy. We see a British soldier, in uniform with a flag standing above a women and child corpses. We see how ruthless approach was used to create hatred, and this was in the British view moral superiority.
Dictionary says for patriotism- ‘willingness to sacrifice for its country’
Therefore with the use of hatred, the source creates patriotism as they showed with the flag and uniform of morality, whilst standing on child corpses; this may mean that there is a combination of the three factors.
The nature of propaganda throughout the war were various types, I don’t necessarily think that they had prioritised hatred of the enemy, moral superiority or patriotism. There is not enough evidence to support this. Hatred of the enemy was strong, and was important, but I emphasise that it was an amalgamation. In source c, the anti German cartoon, hatred of the enemy was done patriotically, as it showed the British soldier in uniform and the flag standing ruthlessly on corpses of women and children
From analysing these sources, I have found that the government used different types of propaganda on different stages throughout the war, perhaps the hatred of the enemy was always there to keep people steadfast, however I feel that there was no real main objective, rather an amalgamation, a tactic generate a collective force against the Germans, whether it was being morally superior or patriotic. Hatred of the enemy could have been possibly prioritised; the patriotism and moral superiority may have created hatred of the enemy, because if you believe that your fight is moral, and you love your country willing to sacrifice for it, you will hate the other side. However, although this is from my own insight, I don’t really think there is sufficient evidence to support this.
But what the main message is is the government use of what ever worked, at the time of decrease in soldiers, there was sudden patriotism for recruitment and the fact that Britain was losing was covered. As historians we can take this to understand how the government used propaganda and not to make the same mistakes again. This is a typical tactic also used in ww2 with the emergency defence policy.
