Total war during WWI required mobilizing entire populations and resources for the war effort through the national economy and state expansion. Governments used propaganda techniques like appealing to emotions to maintain public support for the war and counter increasing opposition. The U.S. Committee on Public Information asserted that their propaganda was educational and presented facts to generate support, while others saw propaganda as manipulating masses without their full awareness.

1. Total War, Propaganda and the
Cultural Consequences of WWI

2. Total War
• Mobilizing resources, production &
populations for war effort
– War economy
– War expanding the size of the state
– Mobilizing women to work

3. Total War
• Mobilizing populations
– How to keep people to continue supporting war
effort?
– Increasing opposition to WWI
• What is propaganda?
– Persuasive technique that attempts to mold
opinion & behavior to support a cause
– Appeal to emotion rather than reason
– State propaganda

4. Propaganda & Democracy?
“In no degree was the Committee an agency of censorship, a
machinery of concealment or repression. Its emphasis throughout
was on the open and the positive. At no point did it seek or exercise
authorities under those war laws that limited the freedom of
speech and press. In all things, from first to last, without halt or
change, it was a plain publicity proposition, a vast enterprise in
salesmanship, the world's greatest adventures in advertising...We
did not call it propaganda, for that word, in German hands, had
come to be associated with deceit and corruption. Our effort was
educational and informative throughout, for we had such
confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was
needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of the facts.”
- George Creel, Head of the U.S. government’s
Committee on Public Information during WWI

5. Propaganda & Democracy?
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized
habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in
democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen
mechanism of society constitute an invisible government
which is the true ruling power of our country. We are
governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas
suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a
logical result of the way in which our democratic society is
organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in
this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly
functioning society.”
- Edward Bernays, "Propaganda" (1928)

10. Poster is asking public to
give books for German
soldiers to read

11. Questions about posters:
• Who is the intended audience?
• What is the main messages of the poster?
• Do the messages attempt to manipulate with
emotion, reason or both?
• Do you think the poster was a successful piece
of propaganda?
• How do the two posters in the set
compare/contrast with one another?

12. “Through work to victory!
Through victory to peace!”

14. “Never again!”

16. “Protect your children! Protect your women!
Protect yourself! Join the army today!

20. Modern propaganda
• What is propaganda today? How is it similar
and/or different to WWI propaganda
techniques?

21. U.S. PSYOP leaflet disseminated in
Iraq. It shows a caricature of Al-Qaeda
in Iraq leader al-Zarqawi caught in a
rat trap. The caption reads "This is
your future, Zarqawi“ (2005)

22. Is this propaganda? Why or why not?

23. U.S. Office of National Drug
Control Policy, 2000
British Petroleum
advertisement, 2010
Is this propaganda? Why or why not?

24. Ronald Reagan campaign poster (1980) Barak Obama campaign poster (2008)
Is this propaganda? Why or why not?

25. Review: some social and cultural
consequences of WWI
• Immense documentation of war
• New ways of memorializing war
• Total War
– Increased role of state in the economy
– Propaganda
• Impact on women & gender roles