Session 2: Propaganda

Introduction

This session was written by Vincent Trott.

In this session, you will explore three case studies of First World War propaganda in Britain, Germany and the USA. It begins with a brief overview of the topic, explaining how the term can be defined in the classroom, before discussing the broad purposes and functions of propaganda in wartime. The emphasis here will be on primary source skills, with a focus on how individual examples of propaganda, and especially visual sources, can be analysed.

Figure 1 ‘Save the Wheat and Help the Fleet: Eat Less Bread’. British propaganda poster (1917)

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This is a poster showing a loaf of bread over an image of a ship, with the caption ‘Save the Wheat and Help the Fleet’.

Figure 1 ‘Save the Wheat and Help the Fleet: Eat Less Bread’. British propaganda poster (1917)

If you have opted to sign up for JSTOR to use six free articles a month then this will help you access some recent publications on this subject (for details see Session 5 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ). There are also suggestions for other sources that are freely available online.