The First World War

During this lecture we were told several times that one of the main points, to take from it, was that moods can be changed easily by the use of visuals/music/etc. This relates back to my blog about the Russian propaganda posters, as I explained that views/opinions could be altered so to gain support and to oppose enemies. This was also true, as during the lecture many World War posters were shown to us showing different countries portrayals of events/opinions. Looking mainly at the British; Russian and German posters, it was apparant that this form of propaganda took different shapes in each of the countries. From my opinion, I found the British posters to be dull, relying mainly on text and basically just giving orders; the Russian posters being dramatic/colourful and patriotic and the German posters showing off powerful figures to be almost religious (as well as being colourful). My favourite posters were the Russian posters (probably due to my knowledge of Russian history) and my least favourite were the British ones (as I disliked the way they are set out and instead of trying to be persuasive, they just blatantly say what is expected).

Propaganda is the art of persuasion - persuading others that your 'side of the story' is correct. Propaganda might take the form of persuading others that your military might is too great to be challenged; that your political might within a nation is too great or popular to challenge etc.

However, the British government discovered that Germany had a Propaganda Agency after the outbreak of WWI. David Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time) was given the task of setting up a British War Propaganda Bureau, so to keep up with the other countries, and have the same abilities. The WPB invited twenty-five leading British authors to discuss ways of promoting Britain's best interests during the war. Famous authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and H. G. Wells attended and agreed to keep it a secret. It was only until 1935 that the WPB became known to the general public. Books, pamphlets, photographs and war paintings were produced as propaganda, as well as films/music etc, so to gain support and keep Britain running smoothly during the times of war. One interesting point was that only specific photographers were allowed to take photo's of the Western Front, with anyone else being sent to the Firing Squad!! Many British artists had difficulty creating paintings/pictures of the War, as they were required to only involve dead Germans instead of any British soldiers and were asked to show the friendship between Britain and the U.S/etc. However, many artists refused to do this as they wanted to display the real effects of the war, such as resulting gas effects on soldiers/death/etc. Therefore, the public only saw posters/paintings showing British triumph as well as posters asking men to go to war/about food/coal rationing and others. Recruiting posters issued during the first two years of the First World War included Alfred Leete's famous design of Lord Kitchener, war savings, charities and the role of women.

Propaganda within Nazi Germany was taken to a new and frequently perverse level. Adolf Hitler was very aware of the value of good propaganda and he appointed Joseph Goebbels as head of propaganda. Goebbels 2 main tasks were to ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging to the Nazi Party and to ensure that the views of the Nazis were put across in the most persuasive manner possible. Obviously, this propaganda centered around putting down the Nazi's opponents (Britain/France/Russia/USA and of course, the Jews). The Nazis controlled film production, censorship, what books could be read, providing cheap radios at low prices so Hitler could be heard, as well as rallies/parades and posters.

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it." Goebbels

This quote from Goebbels clearly shows that the Nazi's found propaganda to be a vital part of completing their goals and becoming successful in their aims, as well as depicting the public as conforming to any set idea as long it is repeatedly displayed to them (i.e. as in the use of posters/etc). Propaganda for the masses had to be simple, and appeal to the emotions. To maintain its simplicity, it had to put over just a few main points, which then had to be repeated many times so to make the public aware of it, but unaware that they were reading the same things over and over. This was done by altering text and images to create a different look. For the Germans cartoons and images were vital to showing their like/dislike of something (such as showing Hitler providing grain to showing the Jews asking for money, one poster even showing that Germany had defeated Britain and the Bolsheviks were next in line!).

My last blog shows in detail my thoughts on the Russian posters used by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, but this also applies for World War I. Posters showed their leaders and soldiers to be patriotic and strong (similar to those of the Germans but not as biased - having one man fighting off 2 men at once). The colours that were used were always bold and usually invloved the colour red, showing them as the Reds (Bolsheviks wanted communism). Therefore their posters were more dramatic and dark, to a certain extent, not giving away too much but still asking for support in a subtle way.

These three countries were the main basis of the lecture and we witnessed many images and posters that were used throughout the Great War, but other countries had their ownkinds of posters such as France. The French focused on trying to encourage enscription into the army while pleading the justice of the French cause. These posters seem to be printed mainly on brown paper which makes them quite bland, but the bright colours used to focus the eyes mainly on the images involved. However, there is quite a lot of text used on many of them which would put people off looking at them for long. American posters were on the same lines as the British (as in asking for help and support) but used happier images and showed characters helping others, keeping them more supportive and straying away from war images (focusing on the behind-the-scenes views - transport/communication/etc.). These posters are quite clever but still don't make me feel as though they would have had a big impact when compared to Russian and German posters.

Altogether, I enjoyed this lecture as instead fo being told lots of facts it was left to our own thoughts and opinions of the posters and analysing a few of them. This was helpful as I was still thinking about the Russian revolution posters and so gave me a deeper insight into what the posters meant and how they could be used to alter moods and emotions.