The Importance of Wartime Propaganda - Essay Example

Propaganda and War Introduction The term propaganda refers to the deliberate expression of an opinion with the goal of influencing individual, group of societal actions regarding a particular matter. It involves the use of instruments of mass communication to reach many people and persuade them to a given opinion either for or against an issue. With its existence traced back to the ancient Greece, various individuals, governments and corporate entities have used it to rally the populace to their course. Masters of many wars around the globe have used propaganda extensively to incite their subjects into tacking decisive action against their perceived enemies over the centuries. Recent advent of better and faster communication Medias like radio, television, print media and the internet have served to take it to even higher levels, with the propagandist being able to reach millions within a very short period. The word propaganda in its self has a negative undertone, although it does not necessarily have to be towards a negative undertaking. There are many uses of these persuasion methods to champion for just courses in mobilizing people to take positive actions regarding issues affecting their society. Historically the most pronounced use of propaganda is in the two world wars than it was in isolated case of civil wars that rocked the entire Europe and the Americas in the 16th and early 18th centuries. Aspects of propaganda As demonstrated in the First World War propaganda by Americans, it involves the use several aspects to gain the confidence and support of the masses. Wilson, the then president in 1917 formed a committee on public information purely for rallying domestic support while communicating the intentions abroad. The committee application of its mandate best demonstrates the primary facets of propaganda in wars. These include; the use of emotional appeals, in which case the propagandist focuses on capturing the hearts of his target audience and not their minds at all. As observed by various scientists after the war, draining off emotional agitation into the desired activity is the propagandist best and most effective strategy. A simple publication of a young child suffering together with her pet during the war with Germans for instance was enough to turn all Americans into deep hatred for Germans and generate the enthusiasm needed for sustenance of the war. Positively such an article also could result to increased membership in the universal Red Cross society to help eliminated suffering as well as setting up of orphanages for abandoned pets. Analysts suggest that the failure of Germans propaganda against the Americans was by the simple appeal to common sense in explaining their cause other than using emotional appeals that create infatuation. Another technique that propaganda employs is demonization of the enemy in a great manner that everyone beliefs that they are the aggrieved parties in the whole situation. All their subjects easily hated Germans by simply portraying them as brutal inhumane rulers who flourished on committing atrocities against the rest of the society. The propagandist in this case used the promise of better working and living conditions as soon as the Germans were gotten rid of, a strategy which brought immense support of the American war against the Germans. The third face is the widespread dishonesty that propaganda prevails upon. As analysts observed at the close of the war in 1918, the organisers and decision makers at the helm of the American camp had used many lies and skewed promises that right from the start they knew were not possible, simply to ignite passion among the masses. Many of the stories published bore huge chunks of untruths that they dimmed appropriate for attainment of the desired outcome (Randal 167). Propaganda and World War One The First World War relied explicitly on propaganda to mobilise local citizens to support their respective armies. In Europe for instance, the Britons used various techniques to appeal to the emotions of the people against Germans, as was the case in many parts of the world. In 1914, the first meeting to plan on how to appeal for support took place at the Wellington house under the leadership of Charles F.G Masterman as chair to the British propaganda committee. The primary objective of the committee was influencing opinion on the allied and neutral nations and ostensibly the local citizens against the enemy. The mode of communication was initially by use of pamphlets and press releases before extending to encompass the use of weekly and monthly publications and films sold or freely availed to the masses. Analysts estimated that over 40 million communication materials including were already in circulation across the world by the end of 1917. These materials included images of the army training, pictures of the enemy killing children and raping women openly, torture of civilians and enormous destruction of farmlands by the German army. In 1916, the British propagandist attained a new tool in the use of films such as; “Britain prepared”, the “Battle of the Somme” and the “Battle of Arras”, use of personal propaganda, cable information and telegraphs as louder, harder and direct ways of passing the intended message. During this period, the use of telegraphs was the most effective and fastest mode of communication that the propaganda relied mostly on. By carefully feeding countries around the world with a regular diet of information, they ensured that their stories first received audience around the globe thereby earning a competitive edge in influencing opinion by the fact that the first side of the story seemed to be truth (Andrew 194). In all these propaganda items used by the Britons, the atrocity form of it was the most influential in forming perception and deep commitment to fighting the Germans. The aim of the propaganda was to persuade the varied audience that the war against the Germans was just and that the allies were going to win as the only way of assuring civilization on the face of the earth. Amplifying the German barbarity was the founding blocks upon which this propaganda was build. As the case with every atrocity story, an undisputed factual story forms the background of all propaganda of this sort. For instance, in 1914, the Germans invaded the neutral Belgium state where as expected some civilians resisted the invasion and were shot dead in confrontations that ensued. However, stories about this invasion emphasised on wanton destruction and great violation of human rights through mass burning of villages, farms, raping of women, mass slaughter and pillaging. Such stories even though founded on hearsay were very sensational and very effective in producing the desired effect of creating a sense of revulsion against Germans that strengthened resolve among the allies and helped insight the neutral nations into supporting the fight. By accusing the German army of such atrocities like decapitating children, cutting off women breasts, bayoneting children and hoisting them among others, made many British men join the kings army to avenge for the innocent ones (Kenneth 257). Similarly, Germans with their focus on the Americas prior to 1914 had tried influencing the American Jewry to support them in conquering the British rule. Their appeal was on the Jews of Russian origin that had suffered and moved out of Russia into German. German individuals in United States tried rallying the Americans of Jewish faith to support them by portraying themselves as friendlier than the Russians but regrettably with no success. Back in Germany, the ruling regime used the same trick to make their citizen feel aggrieved and support the invasion agendas it championed. Propaganda and the World War 2 The Second World War witnessed the height of propaganda in wartime situations. The use of propaganda had seen the triumph of Great Britain and its allies over German during the First World War. Although parties agreed to a treaty to end the first word war, there existed discontentment in two opposing respects. Germans on one side felt that their defeat was unjustified; the treaty was oppressive and denying them the right to exercise their freedom, while on the other hand, the United States, Jewry, French and Britain among others, felt that they had lost excessively due to the actions of German and its Italian allies. Consequently, Britain, under the leadership of Churchill, stirred up Poland and forced France to adopt the British declaration of war against German. It also pushed Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia, Holland, Belgium and other states backed by the international Jewry. The decision to fight resulted from repeated threats by the Nazi regime of exterminating Jews based on infatuations of its leader with the perceived horrible things to come from possible world domination by Jews. Further, all these governments were still unhappy because of the atrocities that the Germans had inflicted on their people (Martin 418). Historical accounts indicate that by 1941, reports of the German atrocities under the rule of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party to the European Jewish population had started trickling to allied governments. In 1942, allied governments declared war against the Nazi regime to stop its mass murder and extermination of Jewish populations. Whereas Hitler was the central driving force for events leading to the war and the holocaust, propagandists of the Nazi regime painted a picture of him and the German people as responding to initiatives, injustices, and provocation of others. This propaganda created a sense innocence and indignation among Germans which turned power relations between them and the Jews upside down, with the former taking the place of the innocent while the latter was viewed as the powerful one. The period between 1933 and 1937 saw the translation of anti-Semitic ideologies into a policy of persecution presented as a justified response to the crimes that Jews allegedly committed against Germans. This culminated to launching of war against the international Jewry as the final step in defending Germans. Hitler claimed that the Jews had waged war on Germans prompting the retaliation of the Nazi regime against all Jews in Europe (David 267). The Nazi regime and its propagandists were able to entertain completely different versions of events simultaneously; one rooted on the grandiose idea of master race and world domination, and the other on the self-pitying victim paranoia. Another aspect of propaganda during the world war was the German persuasion of the Arabic North Africans into supporting the extermination of the Jews. Building on the rift that exist between the Jewish and Islamic faiths, German radio broadcasted in Arabic to north African listeners inciting them against the united states who were allies of Jews. Al-Hussein’s speech attacking the Americans after their landing is a striking example of translation of Nazi propaganda into idioms of the Arab world. The address focused on indoctrination of Muslims against the British and the Jews who they claimed had caused them untold suffering in their quest to exploit the abundant wealth in their territories. The message passed suggested that Jews used the United States to extend their world domination ideologies as well as take away resources from the Muslim community. This kind of argument broadcast in Arabic through German radio broadcast obtained support for the Nazi regime from many Arab quarters through reminding them of their struggles in Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and the Arabian Peninsula because of the Soviet Union rule. The Nazi promoted themselves as the enemy of the Muslim enemy promising that should they win the war against the British and allied nations, the Arabs would be free from colonialism, millions of Muslims freed, and many more saved. On the other hand, the propaganda foresaw great suffering and domination by Jews in the event that Nazi and the Germans were to lose to the British. This sort of persuasion led the Muslims to pledge their support for the Nazi regime’s efforts to exterminate the international Jewry as well as conquer the entire world (Jeffrey 291). Discussion The issue of propaganda in achieving the needed support for actions is up to date used in diverse fields away from politics, including such disciplines like science, religion and business among others. The First World War propaganda was useful in gaining the support of citizens and other neutral nations to join armies that were fighting each other. As indicated above, elements of creating a feeling of victimization and depiction of the opposing camps as the aggressors alongside amplification of the atrocities committed greatly won the emotions of the citizens (Kenneth 71). Consequently, armies grew bigger and stronger in the British allied camp, which fought against what they considered the brutal barbarism of the Germans. In this case, there were great efforts in collecting information, which Britain and its allies amplified through propaganda and subsequently communicated across all the friendly territories and colonies. Likewise, the German rulers poisoned their subjects into the belief that they were ended for domination and that they needed to conquer the entire world in order be assured of steady supply of resource and civilization. The Second World War relied on propaganda and information from the events that ensued in First World War as well as on new propaganda that resulted from exaggeration of the earlier events and infatuations. The Nazi regime under the leadership of the famous Adolf Hitler is perhaps the most vivid example of how individual and party ambitions can be twisted into genuinely agreed theories by the masses. Hitler and his regime successfully created a victim mentality among the Germans and the need for creation of a superior race that would dominate the entire world. Because of this, the population supporting the Nazi regime viewed committing attacks and invasions on other nations as well as orchestrating the holocaust against the Jews and other minority groups in German as a justified call. The indoctrination of the Arabic race across north Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Muslim world by perceived supporters of the Nazi regime shows how the exploitation of propaganda in gathering support on even unjustifiable quests reached great height during the second world war (Jeffrey 37). In conclusion, the extensive use of propaganda in the First World War is the most visible base of its wartime exploitation at the time. The Second World War in the opinion of the researcher presents the pinnacle of the importance of wartime propaganda. All the nations involved in the Second World War relied heavily in the creation of victim mentality in their citizens and allies both in the build up of the war and its implementation and sustenance. Much of the propaganda created then and documented in books or passed through generations remains as the truth to date, whereas different scholars and scientists through proper scrutiny of the happenings unmasked some of it. Therefore, the Second World War marks the pinnacle of the importance of propaganda in wartime periods before 1945. Work cited David, Reynolds. In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print. Jeffrey, Herf. The Jewish enemy: Nazi propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Print. ___. Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World: With a New Preface. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. Print. Kenneth, R. M. Short Film & radio propaganda in World War II. Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 1983. Print. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. History of World War II. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2004. Print. Martin, Gilbert. The Second World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry Holt, 2004. Print. Andrew, Roberts. The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War. New York: HarperCollins, 2011. Print. Randal, Marlin. Propaganda and the ethics of persuasion. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002. Print. Read More