World War II Propaganda Analysis

The purpose of the essay is to discuss the role played by propaganda in influencing the public opinion on both sides of the First World War. Propaganda is believed to be information that is often biased or misleading and used to promote a political course or point of view by certain group of people. Both the Central Powers and the Allied states used propaganda to win public support by influencing the way the public perceive the enemy. Both sides of the conflict used different methods to disseminate propaganda for war. Both sides of the conflict used propaganda to influence the public opinion during the Great War.

This paper focuses on the failure of diplomatic decisions made by Japan that is national in nature most particularly when they chose to fight in the midst of an embargo made by the American government. The attack of Japan against Pearl Harbor is a result of an erratic, egoistic and irrational behavior blinding the Japanese Military Personnel and Officials of the destructive outcome of the World War 2 and a lack of diplomatic strategies that misled the communication between USA and

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans were fearful of further Japanese attacks on the West Coast and also of Japanese Americans. In response to this fear, President Roosevelt passed an executive order relocating all people of Japanese descent from the West Coast inland. Similar to the fear of the American people, the witch hunts in the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller led people to believe that girls in the town were being bewitched. Mass hysteria caused multiple arrests for accusations and even death for the so called “witches”. The theme of fear in both the Crucible and the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII caused people to be easily persuaded with the use of pathos and logos.

In a more modern context ‘The notion of ‘total war’ is commonly used within military history to describe a totality of effort, meaning the full mobilization of civil, economic and military sectors for war.’ This, however, is only one of several depictions of ‘total war’. It can be argued that ‘total war’ only is an ideology, and furthermore that it always existed only as a theory. ‘Both Ernst Jünger and Erich Ludendorff did not accepts the totality of the Great War, dissatisfied with the outcome of the war and Germany’s loss, they argued that their country had not committed fully, and both felt that

This is why they invaded Kuwait so that Iraq was in control of 70% of the world’s

Response to Senator McCarthy’s “Enemies From Within Speech” With anti-communism being the dominant political issue during the Cold War, hysteria and paranoia spread throughout the minds of Americans. The “Enemies From Within Speech” delivered at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1950 by Senator Joseph McCarthy focused on worsening that national fear. Senator McCarthy used ethos, metaphor, and hyperbole to create the notion of disloyalty within the federal government. In order to persuade the American public in a convincing way, Senator McCarthy appeals to their ethics.

As a result of publishing this piece, it brought hate to Paine and yet praise to him. The simple fifty page pamphlet attempted to drive many Americans unwilling to break from Great Britain and to rebel and become part of the independence. By doing so, he declared that Britain was overtaking the American’s lives, the English form of government had an unscrupulous King. Despite this happening, George Washington believed that after reading “Common Sense” to the soldiers, they were refreshed and developed the desire to fight the war unconditionally till a winner was brought upon the two sides. George Washington declared that “Common Sense” drove the war into their favor, and thus quoted, “I find Common Sense is working a powerful change in the minds of men” (Bigelow 102- 103).

Due to unfortunate circumstances, one of the assassins had the opportunity to shoot the Archduke since the driver had turned on the wrong road. Due to these nationalistic feelings between certain countries, World War I occurred since the collective consciousness among a nation’s people deeply impacted the rest of the world with its rebellion against a country. World War I was inevitable to occur since these people had seriously rebelled against a more powerful country and remained obstinate to continue their fight until they had achieved their desires. Eventually, other countries joined the conflict to side with either Austria-Hungary or the

In the scenario of World War II, Germany was the oppressor and the resisters were fighting against the Germans. Resisters often did anything they could do without getting caught to either help the allies or hurt Germany. While the big army’s were fighting the larger battles, the resistances were fighting a more strategic war. The Yugoslavian, Russian, and French Resistances impacted Hitler’s army and the outcome of the war. The major resistances that had the largest impact were outside of Germany.

Propagandists would also resort to twisting and even entirely obstructing the truth so that the public would see enlistment in a more favorable light. Posters would show images that helped to spread false or exaggerated accounts of certain events, such as the French poster that depicted the ruination of a countryside that was then blamed on the Germans. These corrupted representations of war aided in reminding the public the reasons why these battles were being fought in the first place (Cooke). More extreme cases of such distribution of misinformation are far more modern. With the incredible exponential growth and advancement of technology came far more complex and complete forms of censorship.

Showing real images that featured the outcomes of war would have caused Americans to become disheartened thus decreasing American morale. To insure victory, the government enforced the use of censorship throughout the nation. In one propaganda poster, the caption reads “Let’s Censor Our Conversation About the War” (“Censored”). The propaganda poster revealed the extent of which the government kept a eye and ear to all American citizens as an attempt to preserve American loyalty. The government was able to use its political power to its full extent by withholding valuable pieces of information, which revealed the extent of its influence.

There were many controversial topics throughout the world during the 20th century such as WWI, WWII, the Civil Rights movement, women’s rights, and the Vietnam War. Although this was a difficult time for most people (especially since the stock market crashed in 1929) there were a few influential people (Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks) that stood out from the rest in leading the fight for equality. What caused the uproar in the east that eventually lead to the beginning of “The Great War”? One of the reasons that so much of Europe was engulfed by the war is because of all the treaties that were in place.

There have been many wars. The American Revolution, French Revolution, Civil War, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, and World War I. This was originally the “War to end all wars,” but what about World War II? Though World War I was bad, World War II was way worse. You may ask why, and the answer to that is simple.

Although a tragic experience for most the bombing of Pearl Harbor was very important. The Bombing eliminated America’s isolationist ways. After the attack, America got this sense of patriotism that gave people the desire to fight japan. Others were so upset that they started making prejudices against Japanese-Americans.

Media, and its inherent manipulation, is the face of today’s propaganda. Instead of radio broadcasts, there are wartime journalists that travel to places like Syria and Iraq to document war. In a sense, there is more honesty in journalism, but media still controls and manipulates people’s opinions, and is therefore just another iteration of World War II propaganda. Propaganda has been used throughout centuries and millennia to turn social opinions. It has changed the outcome of battles, wars, and life itself.