Countries use fake over-exaggerated posters to promote war

During the advent of World War I, the European countries as well as Canada and the US, utilized propaganda as a way to convince people to join or support the war effort and to make the enemy look evil as possible. Many of the propaganda was mostly posters as radio and television have yet to become popular among the public until later in the war. Thus, mass manufacturing of posters and items was needed to influence people’s opinions. Propaganda was even printed on everyday items such as coins, banknotes, and stamps. In the UK, a total of 40 million posters and items were produced within a 10-month timespan in 1917. It was the first war where planes were used to drop leaflets and it was also the first of what some historians call a ‘total war’ where every civilian including women and children had to be involved in the war effort in some way so that their armies can keep on fighting. Many armies in Europe used to mandatory conscription to recruit army men but in the UK, many of the army men that joined were mostly professionals and volunteers until May 1916. The British government created a covert propaganda department called the Wellington House where journalists and newspaper editors were hired to write sympathetic articles to Britain and to counter statements made by the enemies. The House created its own newspaper and printed around 500,000 copies per issue and covered at around 11 languages. 

Common characteristics

National symbols and patriotism

A common characteristic of propaganda at the time was the use of nationalism and patriotism to convey emotion. Themes include a call to arms, investing in war loans, or encourage industrial activity. These themes were used to convey courage and hatred. Propaganda often used different national identities such a using real people being mythologized as national heroes, religious symbolism, nationalistic slogans, or using folklore and animals. Examples include the bulldog for Britain, the eagle for Germany, and the cockerel for France. Propaganda posters would use guilt in a way to shame men for not going to war. For example, the famous “Your Country Needs You!” in Britain uses army general Lord Kitchener pointing at the viewer to intimidate and make the viewer feel ashamed of himself for not participating in the war. Another example is “Daddy, what did YOU do during the Great War” which utilizes children to blackmail their fathers and elders to join the war.

Famous Lord Kitchener recruitment poster, 'Your country needs you', produced in September 1914.

Poster commissioned by The British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, and designed by Savile Lumley. It was published in 1915, by which time the war was already being referred to as ‘The Great War’.

This postcard uses the Union Flag and the icon of the Bulldog to show Britain, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa standing united against a common threat, 1915.

Women

Women were depicted as being under threat from the enemy and that men needed to go out in order to protect them. As a result, some propaganda portrayed women as being victims of rape and murder by the enemy country to not only show the brutality of the enemy but to also show that men needed to protect them. Equally, women were also recruited to join the war as nurses or assistants to help injured soldiers. Women were a symbol of home guardians, gentle yet vulnerable, and a reminder of the person who would wait for their husband when he returns. Along with those symbols, another depiction of women in propaganda was the use of Lady Liberty, a symbol that nearly every country has. Lady Liberty is seen as a symbol of the country’s wealth, morality, justice, determination, virtue, and innocence. France for instance used Lady Liberty as a symbol to draw parallels with the French Revolution in order to convey nationalism.

Illustration from ‘Canada in Khaki’, a journal published to celebrate Canadians’ actions on the Front and raise money for the Canadian War Memorial Fund.

'Women of Britain say -

Atrocities and depicting the Enemy

As the war waged on in Europe, multiple atrocities and crimes were committed by both sides including murder, looting, destroying homes, etc. Thus, many countries used these atrocities in propaganda to create anger among the country’s civilians and to justify that war was necessary to fight the enemy. Atrocity propaganda varied as they appeared in posters, books, newspapers, film etc. The British government even released a ‘report’ detailing the atrocities committed by the Germans despite the fact that some of the allegations presented were mostly false and were used to create the illusion of legitimacy. Germany and Austria tried to do the same by pointing out the hypocrisy of Great Britain by using the British colonies in India and Africa as examples and used Germany’s social welfare to legitimize Germany’s superiority. However, this tactic failed as it only helped prove the Allies’ point that Germany committed atrocities. The nations would depict their enemies using stereotypes and it would provide a way for the public to divert their attention away from any social or political issues at home. Germany would depict Britain as an octopus trying to conquer the world with its tentacles and Britain and France would depict Germany as a ‘hun’ murdering and mutilating children. These depictions would provided the nations a moral offensive against societies with militaristic values.

German propaganda pamphlet attacking ‘the English beast’ by depicting England as an octopus controlling the globe with its tentacles.

German propaganda depicting Britain as an octopus conquering the world

‘The German changes clothes but he is always the same German! Remember!’: Italian poster, 1918, advising Italians never to forget the German atrocities.

Italian propaganda depicting German atrocities

A ‘report’ by the British government detailing the German atrocities. Allegations were mostly fake

 

The United States

When the United States was choosed to declare war on Germany and join the war, the Committee on Public Information(CPI) was formed after an executive order by US President Woodrow Wilson. A journalist named George Creel would be the chairman and members of the CPI include the Secretaries of the State, War and Navy. The CPI was divided into two sections, domestic and foreign, and both would play a key role in propaganda in the US. The foreign part was larger and influential as it was responsible for exporting propaganda overseas. At its peak, around 150,000 people worked in the CPI and established offices in 33 countries. Two interesting ideas that US propaganda innovated was the Speaking Division and the Four Minute Men. The Speaking Division would hire national or foreign personalities to tour around the country to promote the war effort, and it usually attracted large audiences. The Four Minute Men is where volunteers would speak for four minutes during an intermission in a movie theatre and discuss promoting the war. This was an interesting idea for the time and it was very successful. These ideas would shape the public opinion in America. Like Europe, the US would use posters to promote the war and included many similar themes such as the portrayal of women as guardians, Lady Liberty, war bonds, negative depictions of Germany, etc. For the US, Uncle Sam became the mascot and is known for his “Uncle Sam Wants You” posters. The CPI would later use film and cartoons as propaganda later on with the war. Censorship in the press was common during the war as the CPI created a division to kill any rumors about false facts and the Sedition and Espionage Act created fear among the press as they worried that they might get persecuted for saying the truth. American propaganda posters have become its own separate art and would later be displayed in museums. Illustrators and designers like James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson would be praised for their ability to convey messages with strong emotions

 

 

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Good ol’ Uncle Sam

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A 4 Minute Men poster

Summary

In this lecture, we start to see the rise of propaganda by several European countries along with Canada and the US thanks to the advent of World War 1. Because of the destruction WWI caused, it would inspire the Dada movement where artists would create strange art as the artists felt that the destruction made the world no longer made sense anymore. As the war never reached the US, there was also a rise of African-American art with jazz music becoming popular and a surge in art by black artists in what many call the Harlem Renaissance. Radio and magazines start to become more popular as people can now hear the news instead of reading them. Meanwhile in Russia, the poor conditions resulted in the Czar monarch to be overthrown and the rise of the Communist Bolsheviks. This rise created Russian Suprematism and Constructivism which resulted in new designers creating interesting designs. Surrealism also starts to become popular during this era. The beginning of WWI is one of my favorite eras about art because we start to see how design can not only communicate others but also change people’s perspectives. Propaganda is a major factor in how people started to percieve things and it would be the major start of how people consume the media. And this importance continues on today in our political landscape and so by studying the propaganda of WWI, I want to learn more about why our media consumption is so important. And the new designs from Russian suprematism is very interesting and it shows how to create an appealing image with only using few colours.

Sources

https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/commercial-advertising-as-propaganda

Propaganda in World War I: Means, Impacts and Legacies

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/propaganda_at_home_usa

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/posters-sold-world-war-i-american-public-180952179/

Images

https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/themes/propaganda

http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/museum/digital-collection/view/oclc/51629816

https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1914-1920/2-homefront/1-propaganda/