Activity 6, The Press and the Military
Background to the American Entry into World War I
World War I began in August 1914, with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire on one side, and France and Russia on the other. To avoid fighting a two front war against France in the west and Russia in the east, Germany decided to make a lightening strike west through neutral Belgium in hopes of quickly knocking France out of the war. As soon as the German attack began, Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgium's neutrality.
For the first three years of the war, the United States remained neutral. The war was considered by many to be the first "total war," which mobilized large numbers of citizens of the belligerent nations.
Two major events pushed the United States to declare war upon Germany. The first was the unrestricted submarine warfare in which Germany engaged. The sinking of the Lusitania--a passenger ship with Americans on board--by German submarines was particularly repulsive. Articles and photographs of the sinking ship appeared in many American newspapers, and these accounts inflamed public opinion against Germany. Another cause was the "Zimmermann" telegram, in which the German Foreign minister offered Mexico the return of Texas, California and the American Southwest if Mexico allied itself with Germany. The United States entered the war in April 1917. The war ended in November 1918 with an allied victory and the defeat of Germany and Austria. On both side, casualties were enormous.
The Press in World War I
During World War I, the press served as propaganda tools for their respective governments. Propaganda was intended: to buttress support for the war within their own country; to dishearten the public of the opposing nations; and to gain support from neutral nations.
Allied countries portrayed the leader of Germany, the Kaiser, as a beast in human form. When the Germans swept through Belgium in 1914, they caused the deaths of about 5,000. Allied newspapers regularly reported on these atrocities. A committee of British historians and lawyers examined them during the war, and concluded that the Germans were guilty of systematic murder, lust and pillage. Newspapers depicted them as uncivilized, torturers, rapists, and barbarians. In one incident, the report claimed that eight German soldiers had bayoneted a two-year-old child. In another incident, the London Times reported in August 1914 that German soldiers chopped off the arms of a child who clung to his mother's skirts. In 1915, the French government provided a photograph of the armless baby. A French newspaper published an illustration showing the German soldiers eating the baby's hands. None of the specific charges made during the war were authenticated after the war. They were intended as propaganda and they inflamed the public in Britain and France. And these stories made their way to the United States as well.
By contrast, the German propaganda was rigid, unimaginative and largely defensive. It had little impact upon allied public opinion. In any case, relatively little of the German propaganda was circulated in the United States. On August 5, 1914, the British cut the German Atlantic cable, and all stories written in Germany or Austro-Hungary were rerouted through London. Allied censorship shaped available news coverage in America. In addition, British propagandists encouraged American participation in the war on the allied side. Some American newspapers and magazines supported the allied cause from the beginning; others opposed American entry into the war.
When the United States entered the war in 1917, the nation was deeply divided. President Woodrow Wilson had just won re-election partly because of the slogan, "He kept us out of war." Wilson established the Committee on Public Information which spread pro-war propaganda throughout the nation.
Government censorship went immediately into effect. The Departments of State, War and Navy developed a set of regulations even before Congress formally declared war on Germany and Austro-Hungary. These regulations restricted publication of information about the location of troops or weapons, planned tactics, the location of missing troops or ships still subject to possible rescue, and news about operational weaknesses that could be used by the enemy.
Subsequently, Congress passed the Espionage Act, which banned attempts to cause insubordination in the armed forces or to conspire to achieve these results. As a result of this act, many German-language and Socialist newspapers were banned from the mails. When the act was challenged in court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes framed the "clear and present danger" test that balanced the government's effort to wage war and a dissenter's right to free speech.
In 1918, Congress passed the Sedition Act which forbade writing or publishing "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language about the form of government of the United States or the Constitution, military or naval forces, flag, or the uniform." This act was mainly used to harass unpopular radical and pro-German publications. Many sweeping generalities of the Sedition Act were later repealed.
Before American entry into the war, U.S. journalists reported the war from both the allied and German and Austrian sides. However, information in the war zones was tightly controlled by the military. After the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France, about 80 accredited American correspondents roamed freely behind the front, and they advanced with the troops. All reports went through a military censor. In general news of engagements, casualties and troop movements were restricted to what was released in official communiques.
During the war, film making became an important source of information for Americans. It allowed Americans to experience the war vicariously. Films replicated dog fights; pictured war in the trenches. These films were widely viewed in growing numbers of movie houses that sprouted up around cities and towns. After the U.S. entered the war, films were mainly used for propaganda. Films were intended to encourage recruitment and to portray an enemy worth fighting. Hence, Germans were portrayed as Prussian monsters bent on rape, and pillage, executing civilians, flogging women, starving children and burning villages. Alternately, Americans and allies appeared as heroic comrades, who were urged on to battle by atrocious behavior of their enemy.
These restrictions on the press were criticized during the two decades between the end of World War I and the beginning of the World War II. After the war, it became evident that many of the claims blaming Germany for the responsibility for the war and many of the purported German atrocities were false. Considerable criticism of the U.S. government's manipulation of information and public opinion during the war ensued, and the term "propaganda" entered into popular usage meaning deceitful communication.
Student Questions
What role did the press play in World War I?
How did the press serve as a propaganda arm for the government and the military?
What role did communication technology play in World War I?
How did the government and the military enforce censorship and other restrictions on the press?
What might have happened if the press had published accurate accounts of the carnage that
occurred during World War I?
Return to Activity 6.
Go to the Contents page for International Conflict and the Media.
Go to the Bibliography.