wwi- propaganda in 20th century

RAE

• defines propaganda as: "The action or effect of making something known in order to attract adepts or buyers”

• definition applied to a generalized concept of propaganda

→ The use of the word propaganda has a pejorative character nowadays: to qualify any message can be equivalent to being considered as a propaganda message. negative, false, or dishonest.

→ In effect, propaganda is associated with control, with an attempt to alter or maintain a certain balance of power in favour of the sender of the message, that is, the propagandist. This pejorative nature of the term began in the aftermath of World War I.

The great war 1914-1918: The war that changed everything

German general Paul von Ludendorff developed the term “total war,” as the one in with all of the resources of society, the entire physical and moral forces of the nation should be mobilized.

→ TOTAL WAR:

Features:

• Legislations that would be intolerable during peacetime were passed by governments. Economic production, nationalising factories, determining production targets, allocating manpower and resources was done by ministers and their departments.

• Govs. mobilized their own civilians for the war effort through forced conscription.

• Among these powers were censorship, the authority to imprison without trial and the power to court-martial and execute civilians.

• It also included control of the press and communication media. Government agencies had the power to prevent the publication of ‘offensive or dangerous material’

→ Phychological warfare:

Pushing your own moral and destroying the one from the enemy through - propaganda

→ Propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half- truths, or lies—to influence public opinion.

For Violet Edwards → "propaganda is the expression of an opinion or an action by individuals or groups, deliberately aimed at influencing opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined purposes, and through psychological manipulations"

• Strictly speaking, war propaganda would be nothing more than the application of the models, forms and techniques of propaganda in general, for war purposes.

Political propaganda was a weapon widely used by the contenders of the Great War.

It wasn't the first time it was used in a conflict. A very close case in time would be that of the War of Cuba with intense campaigns of the American yellow press against Spain, but in that case, it was mostly a commercial strategy

Without a doubt, the use of political propaganda came of age with World War I. From then on it will experience extraordinary development.

The great war in terms of information

• First phase (1914…mid 1915)

Censorship and information control. Reluctance from the press. No more news than the war.

• Second ( End 1915-1916)

Information-propaganda. Programed propaganda campaigns.

Public Agencies/M. of information

• Third (1917-1918)

Propaganda climax. “Atrocity Propaganda” and moral destruction of the enemy.

• During the first year no correspondents could cover the war and if any were found hanging around the front he was arrested, his passport confiscated and then deported.

  However, when the editors of the British newspapers pointed out that the lack of coverage from the front conspired against the recruitment process, a group of correspondents was accredited by the army. Constantly accompanied by the official censors, the mission of these journalists was to "provide colourful stories of heroism" to ensure the supply of volunteer recruits.

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME

• The stage was set for what was the First World War’s most notorious cover-up conspiracy in Britain, between the press on one side and the government and the generals on the other: the battle of the Somme. It began on 1 July 1916 and would last for four-and-a-half months. Three

  million men fought and a million were wounded or killed. On the first day alone, 19,240 British soldiers were killed, and another 38,230 were wounded.

• During the opening hours of the fighting the correspondents stayed in their quarters, as instructed by the chief of intelligence, General Charteris. Regular updates – carefully vetted, of course – were delivered to them on the progress of the fighting. This is what newspaper readers were told:

  — The Daily Chronicle’s reporter, Philip Gibbs wrote: “It is on balance a good day for England and France. It is a day of promise in this war.

  —The Manchester Guardian reproduced the Press Association report, under the headline “Our casualties not heavy”:

  “The first day of the offensive is therefore very satisfactory… It is no longer a question here of attempts to pierce as with a knife. It is rather a slow, continous, and methodical push, sparing in lives.”

Information- propaganda era features

F.press:

• further increase in circulation

• High prices of paper and little human resources

• The vigilant and critic function is abandoned.

• Harsh propaganda in alliance with Govs. (Yellow style)

• Lost of credibility

F.propaganda:

• institutionalization: organized by the government

• commercial techics

• cinema as a weapon

• first experiments with black propaganda

Propaganda types in WWI

1- Homeland: The goal is sustain the rear morale and to avoid them to recieve news about set backs in combat

2- Foreign: Against the enemy moral and focused on friendly countries to force them to enter the war

ATROCITY PROPAGANDA “KADAVERVERWERTUNGSANSTALT“

• The German Corpse Factory or Kadaververwertungsanstalt (literally "Carcass-Utilization Factory) was one of the most notorious anti-German atrocity propaganda stories circulated in World War I.

• According to the story, the Kadaververwertungsanstalt was a special installation supposedly operated by the Germans in which, because fats were so scarce in Germany due to the British naval blockade, German battlefield corpses were rendered down for fat, which was then used to manufacture nitroglycerine.

• After the war John Charteris, the British former Chief of Army Intelligence, allegedly stated in a speech that he had invented the story for propaganda purposes, with the principal aim of getting the Chinese to join the war against Germany.

… but lies have consequences

• During the 1930s the corpse factory lie was used by the Nazis as proof of British lies during the Great War.

• Historians Joachim Neander and Randal Marlin remind us how these false stories "encouraged later disbelief when early reports circulated about the Holocaust under Hitler"

Trench jornalism

Trench newspapers were produced for soldiers stationed at the Western Front, which had become bogged down in a trench war. They differ from the official military newspapers in that they were produced within the ranks or by private citizens. Where no printing press was available, trench papers were typed or handwritten,

Press after the great war 1918

→ end of the press hegemony: cinema

→ low credibility of the media after years of harsh propaganda

Assumption that propaganda is incompatible with democracy. Once war is over all public organisms related with propaganda were dissolved in Great Britain and U.S

However, all countries developed more experiments of modern propaganda (scientific) understood as based upon programmed formulas leading to a concrete outcome.

War and propaganda in the 20th century features british and german

1. Depicting the enemy

   • The rule was not to minimise the power of the enemy ( because you want to show that you are beating a formidable foe)

   • But also, not to demonise the enemy to the extent that you induce terror...

2. Woman in propaganda

   • The national symbols tend to be gendered…. And also, there is a sexual element.

   • Women were responsible for death and life

3. Film propaganda

   • A perfect way to connect with the masses. Tremendously effective.

   • It was the first time a combat was recorded

4. Recruitment propaganda

   • protecting your family

   • moral duty

   • “you” no abstract language