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World War 1 Propaganda Research Paper

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Propaganda is subjective information used to further a particular agenda, especially political views during wartime. They usually take the form of posters, but can also be cartoons, pamphlets, or websites. Historically, propaganda has been around for ages, used to sway an audience towards a belief or set of beliefs. Propaganda during World War I had several main themes: to recruit soldiers, to finance the war, and to spark nationalism. Without propaganda being fed to the masses, WWI would not have occurred on the same level as it did with the use of propaganda.

The first way in which propaganda was used in the First World War was to get men to join the military in their respective countries. One recruitment poster features a father sitting in a chair with his daughter on his lap and his son by his feet. At the bottom, it says “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?” The girl appears to be asking the question to her father, who is staring off into space. This, to me, suggests he did not serve in the war and feels regret for not doing so. This piece of propaganda appeals to the desire to leave behind a legacy. Traditionally, men were the protectors of their families, and to not fight for his country leaves a feeling of shame. The creators of this poster wanted to guilt men into feeling as though they had to serve in order to be the man society expects them to be. …show more content…
According to Ian Kershaw’s To Hell and Back, over 250,000 men not already conscripted to war, aged either under seventeen years old or over fifty years old, voluntarily reported for military duty. In Britain, where no draft was in place, approximately 750,000 men volunteered to fight at the beginning of the war alone. With propaganda posters plastered everywhere, it was difficult to escape the social pressure to join the

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