War and the Communications Revolution

Abstract

The twentieth century saw the arrival of a fundamentally different kind of warfare: 'Total War'. The new warfare brought battle closer to the lives of ordinary citizens than ever before, whether in the form of women being recruited into factories or in the form of civilian bombing. The twentieth century also saw the arrival of the modern mass media. In one remarkable year, the principal means of mass communication press, radio, and film came into their own and the communications revolution made a quantum leap. It was the convergence of total war and the mass media that gave modern war propaganda its significance and impact in the twentieth century. At first the impact of the new media in the conduct of war propaganda was comparatively small. Certainly, in the Boer War (1899-1902), the popular press became increasingly jingoistic while the masses also enjoyed their war through music hall songs.