Aviation and propaganda in France during the First World War

Abstract

This article explores the impact of aviation as the subject of propaganda during the First World War. Aviation was not a tool of overall importance for the war as a whole, but it was overrepresented in the media. Three distinct types of newspaper, aiming respectively at the home front, the trenches and occupied populations, are examined here in order to set out a comparative window on French public opinion during wartime. The study breaks down the myths built up by the military and the press and underlines the way discourse varied according to the target public, as well as the difficulties of constructing a propaganda that would raise enthusiasm for war in areas directly affected by hostilities, whether the trenches or the occupied zones. The impact of this propaganda allows us further to evaluate not only the important degree of communication between different French groups, but also between propagandists and journalists.