propaganda in WW1

[sam g]

was propaganda in WW1 effective

[trilobite]

Ask your average Scum... sorry, 'Sun' reporter, who will still write about 'Fritz' and 'sausage-munching Bosch'.

[Sludge]

The Allies used a particularly effective strategy to demonise Germans by the use of atrocity stories. The atrocity story implies that war is only brutal when practiced by the enemy. Atrocity stories often relied on dubious material. A couple of particularly successful  atrocity stories which were circulated during the war were about a tub full of eyeballs and the story of the seven-year old boy who confronted German soldiers with a wooden gun. Atrocity stories were popular because the audience was able to feel self-righteous indignation toward the enemy, and, at some level, identify with the perpetrators of the crimes. A basic principle in propaganda is to be found in the statement that "a young woman, ravished by the enemy yields secret satisfaction to a host of vicarious ravishers on the other side"

[Sproutstick]

....and it's still going on in today unfortunately!

[Sproutstick]

Sorry - the 'in' that appears in the previous sentence was a mistake!  DAMN!  I HATE it when that happens!!!!

[El D]

propaganda is always effective - because people are stupid.

[smudge]

My dear Grandad was only in his early twenties when killed in action in WW1 & buried in Ypres. He left behind a young wife & sons. That is a fact & not propaganda.

[Sludge]

Buried in Ypres. Which cemetery, I wonder?

[smudge]

sludge - why do you ask? I'm only wondering because I want to visit his war grave next spring.

[sam g]

my great great grandad is buried in ypres as well i went to see the grave and it was really upsetting just thinking that all those thousands of men died for us is just an overwhelming thought. we owe everything we have to them. any way thanks for the answers 

[smudge]

Yes it does make you wonder what they all died for sometimes doesn't it sam? -x-

[Peter Pedant]

Yes it was effective - more so on the British and American side - because they were the ones to stay the course until victory

Lloyd George was asked what his most pressing task was in WW1 and said mobilisation of public opinion to maintain the War.

Considering the millions of losses LG had his work cut out.

There was German propaganda of course and one of the most permicious was the stab in the back theory \- the Germans did not lose the war they were stabbed in the back.