World view

Truth: the first casualty of World War I

by Prof. Dr. Türkkaya ATAÖV

Truth is the first casualty of war! This is true for all wars, and it is exactly what happened in World War I as well. This war was the first global armed conflagration of deceitfulness, nourished by fiction, developed by ignorance, and sustained by prejudice. While smearing whole nations in the opposite camp, it sent millions of young persons to their death and laid the seeds of another world war even crueller than the first.

It was during the First World War that propaganda was recognized as a vehicle of control over the public mind. Propaganda was apotheosized as an effective weapon in warfare. The British Government was more successful in this endeavour than the others. It brought out so-called ‘Blue Books’ and other brainwashing publications in various rainbow colours, not to reveal the truth, but to persuade its own public and world opinion that the enemies of the Entente Powers were immoral, criminal and captive. Consequently, they themselves, who eventually emerged as the victors, represented the just, the good and the free.

A major aim was to persuade the neutrals, foremost among them the United States, to enter the war and help to defeat Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The public was persuaded to believe that the handouts revealed the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In the event, nineteen countries declared war on Germany and its allies (including the Turks), and ten broke off relations with the opponents of the British. Propaganda induced much of the world to form a very adverse opinion of the Germans and the Turks.    

Organising the show

These two belligerents, against whom the British and their allies fought in several fronts, were the main targets. The lies manufactured to degrade them were outrageous and disgusting. Governments, missionaries and individuals frequently put together fables and offered them to the news media. Warmakers, especially the British leadership, which developed the art of propaganda, presumed that cover-ups, distortions, fabrications, mistranslations, omissions and outright lies would weaken the enemy, make friendly support more powerful and allure the neutrals to the desired cause, no matter how confusing it might have become in the process.

The falsifiers did not care at all if their enemies, including their whole peoples, were irresponsibly and systematically degraded. While these were dragged to the level of indisputable criminals, the propaganda drive led to more and more conscriptions. One inevitable result of the whole scheme was that not all conscripts came back home alive.

D. L. George, who eventually became Prime Minister (1916-22), was the first politician to suggest, in his then capacity as Cabinet member, the idea of an official propaganda campaign. His pressure resulted in the establishment of the Wellington House network. It was, however, H.H. Asquith, Premier until 1916, who actually called on C. F.G. Masterman, a well-known publicist, to set up a propaganda bureau. The latter’s War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House worked in secrecy, free even of parliamentary scrutiny. With an initial staff of 54, it became, within a short time, the most sizable and effective organisation involved in the formulation, editing, printing and dissemination of propaganda. Soon, a new section dealing with the Muslim countries was created. It eventually reached a swollen staff of 300.

Multi-media campaign

Wellington House was the largest but not the only propaganda establishment. Rivalry developed among various government departments and groups, trying to outbid the other.

The principal means of propaganda was the pamphlet, written by well-known authors in high literary quality or academic in tone. Masterman’s first report in mid-1915 showed that 2.5 million copies of propaganda material, printed in seventeen languages, had already been circulated. In his second report, in early 1916, the figure had reached seven million copies. Two ‘Blue Books’, one aiming at the Germans and the other at the Turks, were sizable compilations that slandered, smudged and vilified the leading enemies.

To serve this general purpose, selected functionaries were made responsible for dailies, periodicals, official guests, the elite or the general public.  Personnel sent to foreign capitals were under strict orders not to disclose their connections with the British Government. The Foreign Office tried to impress and persuade the American news media and the decision-makers in that country above all. Four châteaux were financed for the use of the foreign journalists. Wellington House or Reuters, the leading British news agency at the time, opened up offices in several European cities to place articles in the papers there. Some foreign papers were directly financed from the Treasury. Artists were commissioned to draw pictures for propaganda purposes. Blueprints were composed on the basis of rumours as well as sketches of the fronts. Ninety British artists, including then the famous Muirhead Bone, drew war paintings. Masterman also set up a Cinema Committee to reach directly the eyes and ears of the average member of the public.

Smoke-screen

Much of the published material was sent to the United States, which the British wanted to push into active belligerency, and to India, where the Muslims especially were sympathetic towards the Turks, but which happened to be the “most precious jewel” in the British crown. Wellington House saw to it that their material appeared in foreign media and was read in public places - even in barber shops. The curtain that hid all these activities was so thick and all-embracing that it led to criticisms that the government was doing nothing as propaganda. In fact, just the reverse was true.

The British presented its case in an entirely one-sided manner. It did not allow the views of its adversaries to be heard. To this end, the British concealed some facts and distorted others. The main motive was to present the British side as virtuous, and the enemy as barbarous. This was supposed to be a requirement of patriotism. Even legally speaking, moreover, the Defence of the Realm Act (1914) forbade the printing of information directly or indirectly useful to the enemy. All doors were closed to German and Turkish views, and even to balanced and truthful information that in a way honoured the enemy. The whole idea, instead, was to arouse public opinion in a chosen direction.

This strategy became a vital weapon in the war. The dramatic increase in casualties prompted the British Government to insist on this kind of distortion even more. Deliberate official imbalance, and even lying, was unsurpassed in the whole history of the world. The reverse side of the medallion was the tremendous injustice done to the Germans and the Turks. 

The atrocity line

It was also a denial of truth, at least the whole truth. The government never allowed the virtues of the enemy to be mentioned. The other side of the coin was not disclosed. The propaganda covered up retreats, magnified successes, and above all disseminated news about “atrocities” - a concept calculated to pump hatred into the minds of the people. The distorted record in relation to Germany was later corrected. The truth about the Turks during the First World War, and about their relations with the Armenians, still needs to be presented in a balanced manner. The required fair-mindedness is still lacking in the policies and the practices of a number of governments and their peoples.

A summary of what these distorted images were, in respect to the Germans and Turks, and why they were unreliable, must be left for a future article.

( DIPLOMAT  -  February 2006  -  Ankara )