WWI Propaganda Lab
JAHS World History
Learning Target:
Key Terms
During World War I, nations on both sides of the
conflict used propaganda posters to spread their
messages to a mass population.
-Propaganda is biased information designed to shape public opinion and behavior.
-These propaganda
posters were intended to build support for the war effort.
-Some posters sought to encourage young people to enlist in the armed forces.
-Some urged people to help in other ways.
-This poster urged Americans and Russian-speaking
immigrants to help pay for lifesaving ambulances in Russia.
-Some posters urged people to cooperate with rationing.
-This Canadian poster shows a couple with bags of hoarded flour and sugar watching nervously as a policeman walks by their window.
-Notice the statement from the Canada Food
Board on the wall that explains the punishments for hoarding food.
-Many nations issued posters to urge people to
buy war bonds to help pay for the war effort.
-This Italian poster invokes fear of barbarians invading over the mountains.
-Some propaganda posters played on people’s worst
fears about enemy invasions and atrocities.
-This British poster urges men to join the armed forces
before the enemy reaches their door.
-This American poster portrays the German kaiser as the devil sitting atop a pile of skulls with a bloody sword at his feet. The phrase “Über Alles,” which means “above everything,” came from the first line of Germany’s national anthem: “Germany, Germany, above everything, above everything in the world.”
-It played on fears about Germany’s ambitions.
-Propaganda posters frequently contained information that was based on facts but was twisted somehow to support a particular ideology.
-This French poster accuses Germany of being little more than a war machine when it states,
-“War is the national industry of Prussia.”
-This poster was a reaction against a statement by the ultra-nationalist, racist Pan-Germanic League.
-The statement said, “The German people should rise as masters over the inferior peoples of Europe.”
-Although the Pan-Germanic League was influential over the German government, it did not speak for all Germans.
-Nevertheless, this poster depicts Germany as an
octopus taking over Europe, wrapping its tentacles
around England, stretching into France and reaching as far east as the Ottoman Empire.
-A quote at the bottom from French General Pétain reads, “Attacked, we are defending ourselves in the name of liberty and to save our existence.”
-The end result was a message that appealed to the emotions, rather than the logic of the viewer.
-World War I posters, such as this German poster, used a variety of techniques to appeal to the viewer’s emotions.
-Others featured slogans using words or sayings to
represent larger concepts.
-In this American poster, viewers are reminded about the American Revolution.
-Some even used myths to evoke the memories and feelings of the past.
-The praying knight on this German poster refers back to the German medieval
tradition.
Propaganda was an effective tool. When the world
plunged into war again just two decades later, governments on both sides used propaganda to
change the way that people thought.
Propaganda Preview
How well can you decode a propaganda poster from World War I?
You are going to see a series of five posters from different nations involved in the war. With a partner, you will:
Propaganda Preview
What symbols do you see in this poster?
To which emotions does this poster appeal?
Is this a poster from the Central Powers or the Allies?
Answer:
This poster comes from Germany, one of the Central Powers. It shows a gigantic Russian man standing on the burning ruins of a German city. This plays on the German people’s fears of the growing power of the Bolshevik party in Russia.
Propaganda Preview
What symbols do you see in this poster?
To which emotions does this poster appeal?
Is this a poster from the Central Powers or the Allies?
Answer:
This poster comes from Great Britain, one of the Allies. It commemorates the death of Nurse Edith Cavell, a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium, who tended the wounded.
Propaganda Preview
What symbols do you see in this poster?
To which emotions does this poster appeal?
Is this a poster from the Central Powers or the Allies?
Answer:
This comes from French-speaking Canada, one of the Allies. In this poster, a rooster (symbol of France) is attacking an eagle (symbol of Germany). This poster plays on French Canadians’ close cultural ties with France.
Propaganda Preview
What symbols do you see in this poster?
To which emotions does this poster appeal?
Is this a poster from the Central Powers or the Allies?
Answer:
This poster comes from Germany, a Central Power. It shows Great Britain as a spider capturing all of western Europe and the United States in its web, while the German eagle looks on. This poster played on fears of the German people about the alliances made by their opponents.
Propaganda Preview
What symbols do you see in this poster?
To which emotions does this poster appeal?
Is this a poster from the Central Powers or the Allies?
Answer:
This poster comes from Great Britain, one of the Allies. This poster shows German soldiers wielding bayonets and bursting into a family’s home. This poster plays on fears of enemy invasion in order to urge men to join the army.
Assignment: