'Propaganda Was an Essential Weapon In the War Against Germany’ - To What Extent Do You Agree With This Opinion On the Role of Propaganda As Used By the British Government During World War One?

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Michael Robinson 11:13                                                                         GCSE History Coursework

                                                                                                        Assignment 1

Introduction

During the First World War there were many aspects which effected the result of the war.  Apart from the obvious confrontational conflict which took place, these took the form of fighting on the fronts war at sea and conflicts in the air.  However there was also a great weapon which was utilised during the First World War by the British Empire.  Propaganda was generally used in Britain to influence someone’s decision about particular issues related to the war.  This seemingly subtle way of influencing people’s opinions was actually quite an effective way of influencing people’s general views.  

        The aims of propaganda are therefore:

  • influence people what they think, how they think and why the think in this fashion
  • to maintain the support of the people
  • to recruit volunteer soldiers
  • to justify subscription  to the armed forces after 1916 when subscription to the armed forces was made mandatory
  • to convince people that the British will win
  • to convince people that it is right and necessary to fight by generating ideas that the enemy is supremely evil and that getting rid of radicating this enemy is worth the cost of lives in war.
  • to support people in times of suffering and hardship
  • to instil a sense of national pride in the country, the men who were going to fight, the monarchy and the government.
  • Propaganda contained information on crucial things such as food shortages and to cope in these situations with only the basics amenities needed to survive and how to generate your own amenities.

 

Formats of propaganda

Posters

These were very important pieces of propaganda as they had the most people looking at them.  This was because posters could be easily seen from great distances, therefore a wider range of people could view the posters from further away.  This actual was a very effective form of propaganda as single ‘buzz’ words could be placed on the poster and people would instantaneously know what the poster was trying to say to them.  For example the poster to which I will refer to as ‘Go’, as it portrays a father type figure embracing a son like figure by the shoulders and gesturing to the horizon.  The caption then reads ‘It’s your duty lad, Join to-day’.  The text is in large writing and would be easily seen from a great distance away if placed on a billboard.  The emphasis on this piece of propaganda is on the word ‘Go’, it is much larger than the rest of the text and during this time in the 1st World War, people did not have to read the rest of the poster to understand what was being said.  Thus because of many British peoples deep seeded roots about patriotism and the fact that it was their duty to defend their country many people actively paid attention to these posters and the influenced them highly.

Leaflets

These were usually posted through people’s doors or handed to them in the street.  Leaflets provided people with propaganda in a minimised form, which could be more personal and targeted to influence people’s views over certain topics.        Detailed in formation could be placed on the leaflet which could be read on posters from far distances.  These might be leaflets about food shortages, how it would effect the people and what they could do about it.  Fundamentally this type of propaganda was meant to be read, minor details could be put on the leaflets, information which went into more depth about basic topics.  Leaflets were also pinned in shop windows which allowed people to read the information on them as they looked into the window.  Even discarded leaflets were looked at by passers-by that looked at the information, this type of propaganda was, even though it may not seem so read and acknowledged by many people.

Films

        These programs on the idea of propaganda were shown in cinemas usually as the movie or as a preview to a movie.  They were usually targeted to produced support for one type of propaganda in particular, whether it was recruitment or war bonds.  Films were, although not cheap to make, very influential means of putting forth ideals of propaganda.  The visuals of real people gave the watchers a sense of realism and that what they were watching was also something that they could be part of and have some kind of control over, this added to the morale of the British people.  Using films it is easy to portray any image which is needed, hence better control can be achieved over what is being viewed and how the audience is accepting the ideas.  The British government under the Defence Of the Realm Act could restrict the viewing of films which would be detrimental to the war effort. However if the British government could restrict what was viewed then they could promote what was viewed.  Therefore movies promoting support for the war were the only type of films which were legally aloud to broadcast or shown in respect to the war.

        The film about the Battle of the Somme showed a staged battle where the amount of casualties sustained by the British was seemingly kept low, when in the actual battle the casualties where high on both sides, the British and French, and the Germans.   The high casualties in this battle was in part due to the efforts of the tank. This was the first battle in which the notorious tank was used.

        Films were very popular as they were very patriotic, this went well with the British home-grown belief in patriotism.  They often showed highly patriotic films which made the British public proud of their country and gave them an elated morale which in part justified their belief that the war was a good thing to be a part of.

Join now!

Newspapers

Newspapers were the most widely read, source of propaganda in World War 1 Britain.  They gave information on what was happening on the battlefields and fronts of Europe.  Information was not readily available, thus sources of information about the war were scarcely available, newspapers were the choice which most people made to receive their news in the morning.  Posters were also stuck in newspapers to produce propaganda to influence people’s views.  Newspapers were truly the national source of information available.  In the news were articles talking about the latest war event or conquest, however the facts which regarded ...

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