Recruitment and Propaganda

Aims: Identify the methods used to encourage men to enlist. Study examples of anti-German propaganda.

Government Propaganda Propaganda is a message that tries to get you to think or act in a particular way. During the First World War the government used propaganda to encourage the British people to support the war effort in various ways. Can you think of examples of propaganda that you have seen so far?

Recruitment Propaganda was used to encourage men to join the army throughout the war. Employers put ‘pressure’ on their workers to enlist. Women gave white feathers – a symbol of cowardice to young men not in uniform. The Pals’ Battalions encouraged young men from the same workplace or town to enlist together. However many young men joined up with their pals ultimately died together in the trenches.

In 1914 Heart of Midlothian were top of the Scottish League. On the 26th November 1914 every member of the team joined the army. Seven died and never returned to Scotland. The photograph is some of the Accrington Pals from the East Lancashire Regiment. 720 men took part in the Battle of the Somme and 584 were killed, wounded or missing.

A Government Poster, 1915 How useful is this source as evidence of recruitment methods during World War One? Date Detail Authorship Limitation Purpose

Anti-German Propaganda A wave of anti-German stories and posters appeared in the British press. This whipped up anti-German feeling and encouraged many young men to join up. Shops with German names were looted. All German citizens living in Britain were arrested as aliens and imprisoned for the duration of the war, in case they were spies. The Royal Family which was of German descent changed its name from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor because of growing anti-German feeling.

Group Task: Study carefully the following propaganda posters from the First World War. Explain how each one would have encouraged anti-German feeling in Britain.

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3. How useful are propaganda posters to historians when they are researching the past?

Censorship During the war the government also used CENSORSHIP to control information. Soldiers’ letters from the Western Front were censored so that they did not give away their exact positions or possible battle plans – if mail fell into enemy hands this would cause problems. The government also controlled what the newspapers printed about battles. If people thought the war was going well this would help to keep up public morale.