Propaganda

History

In a nutshell propaganda is the use of information to indoctrinate the public attitude towards a cause.

In this case it was war.

But not just to enlist into the military. Rationing, recycling, war bonds and farming were all important causes. All the countries participating in the First World War realised the importance of propaganda in its many forms from posters on walls to movies.

Posters

Posters are an effective method of propaganda, because they can be printed cheaply and placed in large numbers around a city where people pass by.

The most famous poster from World War I, ‘Lord Kitchener Wants You’ portrays Lord Kitchener, Britain’s Secretary of State for War aggressively pointing at the viewer. The words “Britons: Lord Kitchener Wants You. Join Your Country’s Army! God save the King.” Send the message across. This would encourage people to join the army and fight for Britain when conscription was not in place yet.

Other posters encourage civilians to join up and protect the cities during bombing, to ration food during supply shortages (American supply ships travelling to England were often destroyed by German U-boats) and lastly to guilt men into signing up.

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Daniel

Daniel is a history geek who has written about all periods of history during his student days from Tokugawa Japan to the American revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As an illustrator and writer he combines history with a fun and intriguing graphical style. Now he presents a book series for children who have a curiosity about the world around them and its rich past, in the form of his new series 'Simple History'.

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