World War 1, beginning in 1914, resulted in millions of fatalities and casualties; a fragment of those being Australians. Australians were recruited to join the Triple Entente with use of various methods from the governments. Wartime governments used a range of strategies to strengthen the war effort; two of those being, censorship and propaganda. Censorship is, “the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.” (Censorship, n.d.) Personal letters from the front were not excluded from censorship. Propaganda was also utilised to a great extent by various wartime governments as a push to reinforce the war. Propaganda is a collection of information …show more content…
As the number of casualties and fatalities increased there became a shortage of men wanting to enlist, the government required new strategies to solve the dilemma, what they came up with was the use of propaganda. Propaganda was designed to guilt or inspire the future enlistments with the use of posters, newspapers, cartoons and flyers. "Be honest with yourself. Be certain that your so-called reason is not a selfish excuse," (World War 1 Propaganda Posters, n.d.) is text from a propaganda poster used in World War 1. In this text, it is aiming to make the viewer feel guilty and question their choice in their participation in the war. The posters were also used to amplify, “the original reasons for Australians wanting to be involved in the war.” (Skwirk, n.d.) Propaganda became a valuable resource, to the wartime governments, in the triumph of World War …show more content…
Censorship, “was closely aligned to propaganda campaigns”. (Emelbourne, n.d.) A censor was to delete any sensitive or confidential part of a soldier’s letter, they were not excluded from censorship. The soldiers were instructed to write of a happy manner and were not allowed to share information of any bad news or losses. The had only been allowed to reveal information on their gains and successes. All information on mistakes made had to be covered up and not revealed to civilians back home as “’that might cause a disaffection or alarm” (WW1, n.d.). Morale Censorship was imperative to deceive the civilians and wartime governments recruitment