They did not fight for causes. They fought because fighting was their business. No fight, no pay! Something new came when the Americans formed a citizen army to win their independence and when the French threw off the yoke of the Bourbons.
The French raised a national army to beat back the Austrians and Prussians who were seeking to choke off the new French state. These Frenchmen were fighting for France, for the country they loved. Like the Americans, they were fighting for their country. About the same time, the Industrial Revolution was introducing a vital change in the methods of warfare. Larger and larger production became possible because of machinery. New mechanized forms of weapons came into use. One result of this change is that modern war calls for large armies in the field.
Where 1 per cent of the population was once considered a large number to call to the colors, 10 per cent can now be mobilized. And populations are much bigger than they used to be.
But modern war means not only big armies in the field. It also means even bigger civilian armies back of them, on the home front. For every man in the field, we are told, there must be a half -dozen workers in the factories and fields at home.
So the masses of men directly engaged in modern war effort are staggering. Real and perceived discrimination against ethnic Germans in east European nations which had gained territory at Germany's expense following World War I , such as Czechoslovakia and Poland, was the subject of Nazi propaganda. This propaganda sought to elicit political loyalty and so-called race consciousness among the ethnic German populations.
It also sought to mislead foreign governments—including the European Great Powers—that Nazi Germany was making understandable and fair demands for concessions and annexations. This was particularly the case after the catastrophic German defeat at Stalingrad in February These themes may have been instrumental in inducing Nazi and non-Nazi Germans as well as local collaborators to fight on until the very end.
Films in particular played an important role in disseminating racial antisemitism, the superiority of German military power, and the intrinsic evil of the enemies as defined by Nazi ideology. Nazi films portrayed Jews as "subhuman" creatures infiltrating Aryan society. For example, The Eternal Jew , directed by Fritz Hippler, portrayed Jews as wandering cultural parasites, consumed by sex and money. Two other Riefenstahl works, Festival of the Nations and Festival of Beauty , depicted the Berlin Olympic Games and promoted national pride in the successes of the Nazi regime at the Olympics.
After the Germans began World War II with the invasion of Poland in September , the Nazi regime employed propaganda to impress upon German civilians and soldiers that the Jews were not only subhuman, but also dangerous enemies of the German Reich. The regime aimed to elicit support, or at least acquiescence, for policies aimed at removing Jews permanently from areas of German settlement.
During the implementation of the " Final Solution ," the mass murder of European Jews, SS officials at killing centers compelled the victims of the Holocaust to maintain the deception necessary to deport the Jews from Germany and occupied Europe as smoothly as possible. Concentration camp and killing center officials compelled prisoners, many of whom would soon die in the gas chambers, to send postcards home stating that they were being treated well and living in good conditions.
OWI photographers documented aspects of homefront life and culture such as women in the workforce, and dealt with a wide array of morale issues such as the question of using Japanese Americans as soldiers, and "subversive activities" like the Los Angeles zoot suit riots. Highly Visible Messages Other propaganda came in the form of posters, movies, and even cartoons.
Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present in schools, factories, and store windows, posters helped to mobilize Americans to war. Nearby a hand holds a wrench with the inscription "production" -- the key to winning the war.
Movies and Cartoons While most propaganda aimed to boost patriotism, some took on racist overtones. Even cartoon characters got into the act. The war, movies and cartoons did their part to keep Americans focused on the war effort, even as they were being entertained.
The Allied forces fought long and hard against the Nazis in the air and on the ground, but also with the powerful tool of propaganda. Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ring in South America.
Her work helped lay the foundation for modern codebreaking today. Once U. Citizens were invited to purchase war bonds and take on factory jobs to support production needs for the military.
As men were sent to battlefields, women were asked to branch out and take on jobs as riveters, welders and electricians.
To preserve resources for the war effort, posters championed carpooling to save on gas, warned against wasting food and urged people to collect scrap metal to recycle into military materials.
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