Discuss the View That the First World War 'Politcs of Hate Was Mass Politics
- Submitted by: LLEQ
- Views: 1257
- Category: Arts
- Date Submitted: 04/06/2011 08:45 AM
- Pages: 5
- Report this Essay
The politics of hate was mass politics.
From the moment the First World War began, it was different from pervious wars. Wars which had taking place in the years before hand usually comprised of a king versus king, with professional armies. However the Great War was not professional, the majority of its armies were made up of lay men volunteers. This called for a mass publishing phenomenon in order to replenish the armies and to create enthusiasm amongst the lay people to recruit to the army. This ‘mass publishing’ became commonly known as propaganda. An example of propaganda is advertisements or posters stating that if your family had an able bodied man who didn’t go to war , then your family was personally pre-longing the war and was a burden to the their community and country. An obvious distortion of the facts, made up of exaggeration and lies. Also at the very beginning of the war all parties involved began publishing their own accounts of how the conflict had been caused. They did this because the issue of responsibility for the war was a major element in the propaganda battle, as neutral opinion had to be won over. For example in the early days of the Great War countries such as Bulgaria and Romania had not yet committed themselves to be allies, a search that was preoccupying the chancellors of both sides at this point and well into 1916. State propaganda during wartime however is only part of the story. As Jay Winter states “the propaganda efforts of both sides stretched from atrocity stories to barbaric caricatures to children’s tales to outright lies”. In a New York article on toys they explore the fact that the sale of toy guns and soldiers had increased from 3-5million and had become best sellers, as a result of the war. Young boys in particular found great delight in acting out their desires for the war. However, propaganda was in every home during the war, as much visual as verbal and children were very much exposed to this. And it was...
From the moment the First World War began, it was different from pervious wars. Wars which had taking place in the years before hand usually comprised of a king versus king, with professional armies. However the Great War was not professional, the majority of its armies were made up of lay men volunteers. This called for a mass publishing phenomenon in order to replenish the armies and to create enthusiasm amongst the lay people to recruit to the army. This ‘mass publishing’ became commonly known as propaganda. An example of propaganda is advertisements or posters stating that if your family had an able bodied man who didn’t go to war , then your family was personally pre-longing the war and was a burden to the their community and country. An obvious distortion of the facts, made up of exaggeration and lies. Also at the very beginning of the war all parties involved began publishing their own accounts of how the conflict had been caused. They did this because the issue of responsibility for the war was a major element in the propaganda battle, as neutral opinion had to be won over. For example in the early days of the Great War countries such as Bulgaria and Romania had not yet committed themselves to be allies, a search that was preoccupying the chancellors of both sides at this point and well into 1916. State propaganda during wartime however is only part of the story. As Jay Winter states “the propaganda efforts of both sides stretched from atrocity stories to barbaric caricatures to children’s tales to outright lies”. In a New York article on toys they explore the fact that the sale of toy guns and soldiers had increased from 3-5million and had become best sellers, as a result of the war. Young boys in particular found great delight in acting out their desires for the war. However, propaganda was in every home during the war, as much visual as verbal and children were very much exposed to this. And it was...