Atrocity Propaganda Analysis

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Atrocity stories:
Atrocity propaganda often fabricated the truth in order to create a new image of the enemy. One British general commented that the use of propaganda was “to make armies go on killing one another and it is necessary to invent lies about the enemy” . During World War 1, atrocity propaganda was used in Britain to establish hatred of the enemy, to justify their actions to the population, to encourage enlistment, and to strengthen support as well as patriotism to their country . Atrocity stories were often in response to the public’s desire to know what the sacrifice of war was for. Therefore, majority of atrocity stories were published by the press in order to meet the public’s desire. The other audience of these atrocity stories
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After the sinking of Lusitania, a German artist created medals to justify the killing of 1119 lives. These medals were found by British agents and used to evoke the barbarity of Germany. The Zimmerman telegram was an “international diplomatic communication” that was issued by Germany in 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the US was to enter into a war alliance with Britain. The US President during that time, Woodrow Wilson was outraged by the contents of letter and hence gained public support of animosity against Germany. This was encouraging for Britain who wanted America’s involvement in the war with the ally’s.
The impact of Britain’s international propaganda is America’s involvement in the War, in February 1917 they entered the war after Britain’s effective propaganda and Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. After the war USA felt that they were deceived into the war and consequently resulting in isolationist policies in the 1930s. Britain’s international propaganda also impacted Lenin and Hitler, who were impressed by the effectiveness of propaganda in WW1 and used it to gain support of their