Germany had begun to create it’s own propaganda machinery for some time before the initial outbreak of was on August 1st 1914. Very early into the First World War, journalist Matthias Erzberger had published the Zentralstelle fr Auslandsdienst, which was concerned in showcasing propaganda throughout neutral nations. Wolff Telegraph Bureau was also heavily used to promote international propaganda for Germany. The Germans had to rely on their wireless Nauen station in order to continue constant pro-Germany newsfeeds to the rest of the world after Britain cut their undersea telegraph cables. A propaganda technique used by Germany was that of using mobile cinemas, which were transportable film machines and were able to be broadcast on the German front line providing entertainment to their troops. With this, posters and cards also contributed majorly throughout the war, Germany and Britain’s differences in style clearly representing each culture. As while the British propaganda posters relied on artistic flourish, the German poster relied more heavily on fact. Germany over the years of the war began to excel in the incorporation of national mythology to the war. Propaganda-wise this was a major advantage over the British nation as while Britain had a very strong literary tradition, it seemingly missed the vast mythology of which Germany gained. Perfectly suited for militaristic life, German mythology played a very important role in the propaganda for the First World War. Military for Germany was large in the beginning of the war and thus there was –compared to many other nations- far less emphasis placed upon it’s need for propaganda. The media in Germany was heavily examined by the government meaning that most of what the German population saw was positive, this also meant that German defeats were scarcely revealed to the public.
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World War I was the most colossal, murderous, mismanaged butchery that has ever taken place on earth. Any writer who said otherwise lied, So the writers either wrote propaganda, shut up, or fought.
Ernest Hemingway; American novelist/journalist