How effective were the methods of propaganda used in the First World War in winning continued support for the war effort?

Answer 1

well it was effective in getting the US to join the war. Propaganda is spreading ideas that support a cause or hurt an opposing cause, and when Americans used propaganda, it pushed the US onto the Allies side and against the Germans

Answer 2

In the recruitment department. Lord Kitchener launched a famous propaganda campaign in the early stages of the war to boost army figures with his iconic finger pointing and saying, "I want you - Join your country's Army!" and in the first month 300, 000 signed up! This is an astonishing amount, and in the end a staggering 2 1/2 million joined - partly thanks to this hard-hitting piece of propaganda.

Answer 3

Government propaganda played a crucial role in winning over the general public in the First World War and gaining support as well as maintaining the high morale of the people too.

Its purpose was for the government to achieve certain main objectives; its most significant attainment was in the wartime recruitment department, using methods of propaganda to encourage and motivate - particularly the younger generation - to become involved and serve their country. Its other main targets were to publish posters and messages to influence the public's attitudes towards the War and hope that the people's responses would help sustain the War effort, resources and campaigning. This allowed the government to control what the people thought whilst creating false impressions of the War being fought (taking truths of the War and hiding them from the public). Therefore this meant the government was influencing all information and ensured what type of details its public could know about including the controlling of newspapers, which were expected to publish what the government wanted them to publish. Through this, the government would be able to gain the public's support if newspapers and other forms of media were producing the same stories and messages in which they were too. After establishing the War Propaganda Bureau the government were again in total control of what the public were allowed to read about. However, this meant that the government was in power to tell more lies and build up hatred against the enemy through effective use of false stories. These were based around atrocities committed by the Germans, causing the public to maintain full hope and maintain faith in the government.

One of the most significant and influential types of propaganda during the War was the use of music propaganda, which was a prominent feature in most homes in the early twentieth century. Of course wartime music carried messages and motifs in which the audience or listener would be motivated or influenced to continue supporting or joining the War effort. In some cases it allowed people who were not participating in the War effort to the standard in which was expected, made commonly blameful. The bureau also played a role to promote a positive attitude towards the government's cause as well as attempting to counter German propaganda. It was considered that the use of our propaganda depraving the Germans could psychologically demotivate and demoralize them quite effectively as a form of weakening the German strengths. Other techniques of government propaganda was to give the civilians a government-approved version of the War in order to assure the public their reasons behind fighting and becoming involved in the War was entirely rightful and righteous. It was important for the government to have such an extensive propaganda campaign to ensure that public support would be maintained; information about the position and conditions of troops to remain secret and to cover the government's mistakes and failures. Propaganda also took the form of posters, paintings, photographs, books, articles, leaflets, pamphlets, newspapers and sometimes letters. The reason for the government to commission so many different types of propaganda material was because of several reasons: the war effort was a national cause and needed to be promoted wherever people looked to become involved; a large proportion of the population did not read newspapers and therefore posters were important in persuading people and like advertising, propaganda targeted specific audiences such as women, young men, rich people and factory owners. From this propaganda played a significant role in the nation's culture and society, having the absolute potential to alter views and manipulate attitudes of the people to a more biased prospective that the government wanted to achieve. In addition methods of propaganda had other effects on the public, arousing emotional anger or passion as a patriot towards the War effort as well as motivating the younger generation to become a part of fighting too. Through this the government wanted to portray the War as something similar to an adventure. This of course almost blackened out the truth and secrets behind the actual War being fought, although it was the government's aims to use propaganda to give the impression that recruitment was something heroic and worthwhile. For example, Sargent's famous painting gave the appearance that War was about making good friends and convinced the younger audiences of the positive aspects to the War. Nevertheless propaganda also promoted censorship which was used to ensure information or acts of sedition did not undermine the War in general. This meant that all forms of publications and communications were thoroughly checked and censored by the government before allowing it to be printed to the public. The consequences of ideas and evidence to support negative attitudes or discourage the War effort would be disastrous towards the government as the nation would lose faith and trust, becoming a total state of disappointment and despair amongst the people. This shows the importance censorship precipitated during the course of the War, particularly towards the end when the War Propaganda Bureau accredited journalists and authors to the scenes of where the War was being fought, its main concerns to prevent and minimise the truths behind the War becoming known to the public. In fear the government continued to promote propaganda and exploited it moreover until the end of the War in hope that the public morale would sustain. For examples of evidence the government thought was completely irrelevant to the wartime propaganda, photographs of dead British soldiers was strictly forbidden as was any documentation suggesting defeats or losses of British men. If this type of information 'slipped' into the hands of the public, it would be considered as treason. However, the public did begin to question the War effort and progress Britain had made towards the end of 1918 and wonder when the War would be over. It was in the government's power to continue producing positive propaganda to maintain the public morale and promote the people's support and, most of all, patience. Censorship was another category questioned although the "official" view that information erased and details removed in letters was to prevent it falling into the enemy's hands, which was generally accepted by the public. Nonetheless if people today put themselves in that position of the public, they would without doubt not know the truths and horrors behind the War until the soldiers began to return. You would scarcely believe the atrocities in which the British had endured but certainly believe the cruelties committed by the Germans. This was the work of government propaganda and it was used widespread throughout the country to serve different purposes and withhold the morale and faithfulness in the nation during the course of the Great War.

Answer 4

This argument has aroused different points and various conflicting disputes as to the government's right to use propanganda under its leadership. It was a difficult time for the government to manage to the War without propaganda and this applied to other countries supporting the Allied forces. It was a crucial stage where considering to use various forms of propaganda would promote nationalism and patriotism amongst the British Empire and serve a wealth of benefits, particularly for the British government at the time. In terms of justification, the government could make the overall decision and determine how powerful their propaganda could be. In other words, the use of propaganda was possible to control however the government "exploited" this and produced an extensive range to help support the War effort. The use of government propaganda served as the "people's minds", having the potential to change and alter attitudes whilst influencing the beliefs of the public.

When Britain became involved in the War, it was a matter of time before government propaganda would start - the horrors and tragic death casualties were examples that could not be exposed to the people of Great Britain for obvious purposes as well as maintaing such faith and trust in the government. The public were wanting information and became suspicious with how the country was being run and demanded answers soon due to misleading rumours and untold truths circulating around the government. The faith and concerns of the War became a greater problem and it was the "duty" of the government to settle or ease the people's minds. It had several objectives if propaganda was carried out sufficiently. Taking immediate role in hiding the truths of the War being fought and defending details that should not be known to the public were actions the government could not ignore. Some historians believe this was unjustified and others believe the government had a lot of constraint and very little choice as to how to "protect" the public. These cases were thought over and argued, with the eventual outcome of using forms of government propaganda. Furthermore, Britain's allies and colonies across the world were using propaganda to also promote and encourage the War; establishing their own prospective of the War and portraying this to the public. It was the same all over.

Not only this Germany was under bounds with propaganda and believed the success would lie with motivating and inspiring the nation to War and promoting this all the time. Their propaganda worked well and soon became quite powerful in terms of recruitment and building hatred against the British. Other purposes were important attributing to the War, for example the second richest industrial nation after USA was Germany and therefore promoting propaganda was essential to continue producing weapons, warfare and material supplied to the front. The German's use of propaganda was beginning to bring the civilians up to speed with the War being fought and to get a prospective of the opposition and their current progress.

In spite of the enemies' propaganda, this was a huge opportunity for the British government to consider the use of propaganda except soon on a much bigger and more convincing scale. The forms of government propaganda had real purpose and wanted to achieve certain targets to promote and highlight good aspects of the War. It had much greater desires and with the people's support propaganda would be successful and "win over" the effort the government requested. Such reasons were crucial to help winning the War and maintaining the public morale was also another issue the government needed to consider throughout the beginning of 1914 to the end of 1918. The consequences could have been unthinkable or even fatal without the use of propaganda and wartime recruitment and the Home front effort would have succeed and flourished as well as the government managed to set up. When the first publications and propaganda were published and spread across the nation, it had a profound impact on societies and culture for the next four main years. The effects were enormous and advantageous to the country. The government had received over 2.5million volunteers after the releases of wartime and recrutiment campaigning propaganda, such as posters of the iconic figure of Lord Kitchener. These publications like posters, newspapers and pamphlets targeted widespread audiences and appealed to them quite significantly, urging them to join the War and fight for your country. The tremendous support was beginning to hit staggering new levels the country had never seen before and the use of propaganda was becoming dependent and essential to the government.

After considering the god factors that had supported the role of the War effort amongst the people of Britain and taking into account the rights and responsibilities the government had during the course of the Great War, I advocate the justified decision the government took in order to secure faith and commitment of the public; in areas of public support, the goodwill and strong faith put into the War and most importantly the roles of participation the people took in the dedication and patriotism over the four main years whilst propaganda was active.

Answer 5

Yes and no because it gave you a false idea, but they still got people to sign up...

Answer 6

they were very effective. But over-exaggeration did grow suspition.