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What is propaganda and how was it used in World War One?

Part of HistoryWorld War OneYear 3Year 4

What is propaganda?

A collage of World War One era recruitment posters

Propaganda is used to try to make people think a certain way.

Stories about bad things the Germans had done were told to make people want Britain to beat them in the war.
Germany told similar stories about Britain.
The Government needed lots of soldiers. They designed posters to make men want to join the army.

A collage of World War One era recruitment posters

How were posters used?

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This famous poster used the face of Lord Kitchener to persuade men to join the army. Kitchener died when his ship hit a German mine.
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Posters brought together people from different jobs and backgrounds. As well as soldiers, this poster shows a blacksmith, a munitions worker, and gentleman and a nurse.
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Dramatic depictions of events were used to motivate people to join the army. 1,000 civilians died after the Lusitania, a passenger ship, was attacked by a German submarine in 1915.
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Posters tried to persuade men to join friends and family who had already volunteered by making them feel like they were missing out.
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The fear and the anger that people felt against air raids was used to recruit men for the armed services.
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Posters urged women to help the war effort. The Women's Land Army worked on farms to grow crops for people to eat.
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Women were encouraged to put pressure on their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers to join the army.
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Before rationing was introduced, posters encouraged people to cut down on resources that were becoming harder to come by, like bread.

What did newspapers report?

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Image caption,
People in Britain wanted to know what was happening
But the Government knew spies might read the papers. A law was passed to stop newspapers from printing information which could help the enemy or make British people feel unhappy about the war.
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Most journalists were strongly patriotic
They wrote stories in a way that made the British and their allies look successful. If the Army or Navy had done well in battle, the story would be on the front page with a bold headline.
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Newspapers carried a list of officers and men killed in battle
Local papers would list those in their area who were dead or missing. It all made very sad reading since so many soldiers and sailors were young men.

How did reporting change?

A French cameraman films a wounded Scottish soldier at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 — Image caption,
A French cameraman films a wounded Scottish soldier at the Somme in 1916.

In August 1916, a famous British film was shown in cinemas about The Battle of the Somme.
It was the first time people at home could see soldiers in the trenches, guns firing and wounded men.
Filming and reporting from the Front let people find out what was really happening in the war.
Although it was sad, people were glad that they could finally see it.

A French cameraman films a wounded Scottish soldier at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 — Image caption,
A French cameraman films a wounded Scottish soldier at the Somme in 1916.

British soldiers going over the top from the film Battle of the Somme in 1916

Activities

Activity 1: Explore these posters

Posters were very carefully designed with words and images which had a special effect on the viewer.

There are three famous posters below.

Click on the posters to find out how they were used for propaganda.

Activity 2: Quiz - World War One Propaganda

Activity 3: History Explorer game

Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about World War One.

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