The Early History Of Psychological Warfare Essay

Everywhere people looked there was propaganda.“There were posters on every lamp post that read things such as “help the troops, buy war bonds”. In this article, what glorifies war was the propaganda that was portrayed through Hollywood movies. The movies consisted of “propaganda themes” that aimed at influencing the American people. “The propaganda consisted of six main themes: The Nature of the Enemy, The Nature of the Allies, The Need to Work, The Need to Fight, The Need to Sacrifice, and The Americans-What we are fighting for”. These themes were created to target the American people in some way. For instance, in the theme, “The nature of the Enemy”, “The goal of this was to make Americans hate the enemy so much that they were willing to do anything to help the United States defeat them”. This was also to build interest in people. In the film “Education for Death: the making of the Nazi” by Walt Disney, it showed how Nazis had absolute control over Germans lives and how the children in schools were being brainwashed by the Nazis, making them believe Germans are a superior race. This made it appealing to people to get involved because this type of propaganda made people feel bad for the

To narrow down the scope of these psychological effects, I have chosen to focus on the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was, in my opinion, the first war that really allowed Americans to become aware of the psychological effects of war. While for many of us the Vietnam War has long been forgotten, our soldiers risked their lives in the jungles of South East Asia for a cause that made no sense politically, militarily and economically. They continue to relive the horrors of this war through flashbacks, nightmares and other symptoms.

In Cross’s opinion, she believes people are bamboozled by propaganda because they fail to recognize when they experience it (248). The thirteen propaganda methods Cross describes in this essay include the following: Name-Calling, Glittering Generalities, Plain-Folks Appeal, Arguementum Ad Populum (Stroking),

War propaganda is a tactic often used throughout history in order to increase nationalism and involve citizens in war efforts. World War Two was no different when it came to the use of this propaganda. The United States specifically used all sorts of propaganda against the Axis powers. In particular, the United States targeted Japan with loads of racially charged wartime propaganda, and Japan did the same thing back at the United States. Two countries with vastly different customs and looks were quickly able to make propaganda that made the other side look like awful people to their own citizens. John Dower outlines this sort of propaganda in his novel War Without Mercy. In this novel, Dower goes over how propaganda is made effectively and

Such propaganda included posters asking people to “Wake up America! Civilisation calls every man, woman and child!” A British poster that emphasises the involvement of the total population in the war effort shows different kinds of people engaging in war responsibilities – men at battle, women in the workforce making uniforms, men making weapons – and it asks “Are YOU in this?” This kind of all-embracing propaganda had the aim to brainwash whole nations. The combination of the public’s thirst for information about the war and various governments’ urgent need to mobilise entire civilian populations for the war effort led to a moulding of the public’s thinking through the printed word. In Germany, for example, the military had the right to censor the press and any information that could distress the people was suppressed, while unfavourable news about a situation on the front was passed over silence, delayed or toned down. This was the same in Britain and France. The First World War was total because propaganda and censored news were used as weapons that could reach whole populations and intervene into everyday lives. Even though not all people were physically involved in battle, even children could look at a newspaper or propaganda poster and feel the impact of war through words that evoke fear, sadness, anger or give the urge to join the army.

Although the soldiers are expected to be emotionless and tough their mind still produces ideas to get themselves out of the war, but they never actually carry out any of the acts thought of. The temptation was always there, “They imagined the muzzle against flesh. So easy: squeeze the trigger and blow away a toe. They imagined the quick, sweet pain, then the evacuation to Japan, then a hospital with warm beds and cute geisha nurses” (O’Brien 459). The soldiers would have an easier time at war if they did not have to balance their imagination and emotions.

In his understanding of war, Bloch taunted the idea that war is an instrument for justice. If anything, it was an instrument for creating destructiveness through military development. And, considering the damage of the two world wars alone, military improvements in the first part of the twentieth century brought more horror rather than achieved victory. Although military innovations began decades prior to World War I, its emergence was the first actual opportunity to test improved technology. High explosive shells, Chlorine gas, machine guns increased lethality. Those facing new types of horror were the actual soldiers whose experience of war left many of them lethargically uncooperative once war ended. Bloch anticipated that the present incessant growth of armaments must either call forth a war, ruinous both for conqueror and for conquered and ending

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

Double-think has a huge impact on propaganda, thus being able to convince the minds of citizens two believe the following, “War is

against South Vietnam and the U.S. forces situated there. It was not only a psychological

Citizens have been misled to think alike to change the way of society and the world. A more familiar example to many would be the influence artifice had in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union back in World War Two and other wars before that. Unfortunate citizens have been exposed to the power of artifice by tyrants to keep the war effort going. Propaganda was used in almost every nation undergoing war. The United States have also taken part in this to help resist despicable nations from rising. The effects afterwards were shown to be drastic. It’s obvious to see the effects the second world war has done to society. Hate groups grow like tumors in the general public, families have been torn apart, and nations can not be seen the same way as before. The use of artifice has changed the way we live our lives today, it just goes to show that it can be proven to be a very vital skill to wield. Some would hope that this was only a thing of the past and that it would not be a part of our lives. Unfortunately, this skill did not disappear over the years, but instead it has only begun to blossom into our present

It must be emphasized that the ultimate object of propaganda in war is the destruction of enemy morale, and its corollary, the strengthening of friendly morale. “It consists of the dissemination of ideas, designed to react in different ways upon their various recipients. The enemy must be made to feel that his cause is hopeless from the start, has no chance of ultimate success, and is based upon delusive ideals.” It is usually impossible to convince the responsible organizations of the hostile nation, such as the government or the army, though it may be advantageous to hinder them in their decisions. But it is comparatively easy to influence the rank and file, civilian as well as military, and to produce an atmosphere of hopelessness fatal to success.

Wartime relations can cause a country to get down as we saw in the United States during Vietnam to a point where a large portion of the public doesn’t support the war. One of the ways countries, like the United States, curb this is by creating propaganda. In World War II, the United States used the propaganda to get the public behind the war effort and to unite the country. This propaganda included posters to advertise,

The fact that wars give rise to intensive propaganda campaigns has made many people suppose that propaganda is something new. The truth is, it is not. The battle with persuasion for power and men’s minds is as old as human history (Casey, 1994d)

Mental Models – It must be supervised in light of the fact that they do maintain a strategic distance from new powerful