Psychological Propaganda

The War of Ideas on Ideas During the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID2340137
AuthorsLyneyve Finch (University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume26
Issue3
Pages367-386
Publication date2000-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArmed Forces & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0095327x0002600302
OpenAlexW2040661222
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Explaining why propaganda has become such an important feature of modem warfare is the main task of this article. It explores a shift, dating from the late nineteenth century, when wars fought by mercenary armies were replaced by total warfare, fought by entire populations, and explains why this shift made propaganda a crucial component of modem warfare. The necessity of enlisting the entire civilian population, along with the quest to have that population react to what Walter Lippmann called the 'pseudo-environment' of a propaganda war, is similarly outlined. By exploring the origins of psychological warfare up to, and including, the Second World War, the article provides the background for contemporary wars, in which propaganda dominates war reporting. The psychological significance of reporting and attributing blame for atrocities is also explained, and suggests connections to contemporary war reporting, which prioritizes, not war tactics and loss of military equipment and life, but reports of outrages against civilians

Blame · Civilian population · Criminology · Modern warfare · Political science · Population · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Demography · History · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · Law · Military History and Strategy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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