How Do We Use Propaganda During Ww1

Media control is commonly associated with Dictatorships, but the reality is that it is equally prevalent within democratic countries. Democracies and dictatorships both utilize propaganda throughout the first World Wars, the Cold War, and modern-day examples. However, the different connotations associated with their use make out one side to seem worse than the other. The distinction between using it as a tool for manipulation versus liberation is what sets them apart.

Propaganda was a powerful form of media influence during World War One and World War Two. Throughout World War One, the use of posters to encourage enrollment and purchasing victory bonds was widely used. An example of this includes a Canadian poster which says “If you cannot

Where WW1 media was for gaining incentive towards the war, WW2 commonly used it to spread disinformation and fear. Winston Churchill said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies” (Benett) in defense of the use of propaganda leading up to D-day. America most showed the army within their media throughout the two world wars along with workforce propaganda. In comparison, Dictatorship’s main goal within propaganda was to tightly regulate the mass media and keep the public narrative matching their party goals to maintain power. In Germany the government cut off basic civil rights such as freedom of press, expression, and assembly to prevent any form of backlash. Dictators have learned that “with a higher level of repression, a (leaders) marginal supporter is more disposed towards support and, therefore, is more heavily manipulated” (Gitmez and Sonin) which makes propaganda more successful. Nazi Germany used book burning, banning of music, control of art, etc. to repress its citizens and cause them to be more easily persuaded by propaganda. During World War One many citizens lost faith in the war as Germany could not financially

Instead of focusing on support of the war, propaganda was being based on spreading the fear of communism which began a “Red Scare” within America. It was the widespread fear of communists which caused a witch-hunt, leading to investigation of those within the USA government and all throughout America. Eventually this form of disinformation fell apart as citizens realized that the spread of communism was more contained than they were being told. America’s opposite power throughout the Cold war became the USSR after Germany’s defeat in WW2. The space and arms races are what largely influenced anti-American sentiments and the fight between the two superpowers through media. The USSR used fearmongering tactics in their propaganda to incite support for their space program and superiority within the space race. Tensions were high throughout this time and any error was deflected from the countries themselves, when the US Space Shuttle Charger exploded the press was blamed for “goading NASA into a premature launch” (Martin) instead of an error within America themselves. Dictatorships tended to spread support of their leaders instead of support of the war and community like democracy. The Cold war was a high stress period which fueled head on head conflict through invention and economic gains instead of