British Propaganda Research Articles

The Nature of British Propaganda in Their African Colonies during World War II

Abstract This article examines the changing nature of colonial government propaganda in Kenya during World War II. It contends that colonial wartime discourse was not constant and static, but eclectic, always changing to reflect the major issues of the war. When the war began, the propaganda focused on announcing the war in a way that could help mobilize the support of the British colonial African subjects, and, as the war progressed and changed, so did the colonial propaganda for the Africans to sustain that support. By examining the changing patterns of colonial wartime propaganda in Kenya, this article contributes to our understanding of the major issues in the colonial propaganda during the war, how and why the issues kept changing, and how the colonial powers tried to keep up the pace with these changes in their propaganda in order to maintain the support of their African colonial subjects during the war. An examination of the changing nature of colonial propaganda also provides some context for understanding why many Africans became disappointed with colonial powers after the war and started fighting against colonialism in Africa. Finally, based largely on archival materials, the article also helps supplement the existing literature on colonial propaganda in Africa during World War II.

„Rumanian Booklet” Cum a încercat BBC să își facă reclamă în România la sfârșitul celui de-Al Doilea Război Mondial

This paper is structured in three parts. In the first one, the institutional route of a BBC editorial project for the Romanian audience is exposed. The project is a brochure from 1944-1945 presenting in Romanian the activity of the British corporation during the Second World War. In the next section, the paper attempts to describe the self-perception of the British radio establishment as it emerges from the draft brochure. The image that the BBC wanted to convey was that of a highly credible media institution that, even during wartime, observed very closely the journalistic principles. In the third part of the paper, the author tries to place the BBC’s activity in the general context of British propaganda during the Second World War. The paper is based on documents held at the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham, Reading, UK.

Артур Понсонби и отмена пропаганды

The relevance of propaganda research is beyond doubt in connection with current events, but the importance of work on critical analysis of propaganda in post-war time seems even more significant. In this regard, the book “Falsehood in War-time” (1929) by the British politician, writer, and social activist Arthur Ponsonby is of great interest. He extensively catalogs types of lies and constructs a phenomenology of lies during World War I. The article analyzes the influence of the political views of the book’s author on the critical stance toward propaganda. Ponsonby, a pacifist, consistently advocated for Britain’s non-intervention policy from the war’s onset. Special attention is paid to the harm caused by propaganda – from the defilement of the human soul in the interpretation of Ponsonby to the emergence of psychiatric disorders such as paranoia and schizophrenia, as noted by Jacques Ellul. It is emphasized that the excessive propaganda can negatively impact the quality of human capital from a public administration perspective. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the criticism of Ponsonby’s ideas, particularly in modern times. Critics have labeled him a lot with various terms – “pacifist”, “Germanophile”, “Kaiser supporter”, etc., accusing his work of perpetuating “historiographical legends” about British propaganda. However, in reality, rather than exposing lies, Ponsonby’s work often created them based on contradictory interpretations and fabrications. The article compares the book “Falsehood in War-time” with other key works of those years – “Propaganda Technique in the World War” by Harold Lasswell and “Propaganda” by Edward Bernays. It also juxtaposes Arthur Ponsonby’s strategies for abolishing propaganda with those of Noam Chomsky, one of the most famous followers of the critical trend in propaganda research. It is concluded that propaganda should be pragmatic, considering its implications in the post-war period and have some kind of an exit strategy.

British Projection in Spain During the World Wars

During the First and the Second World War, the international powers mobilised propaganda machinery that was employed to control the public opinion on allied, enemy, and neutral countries, such as Spain. Great Britain made important efforts to organise its propaganda activities through campaigns promoted by diverse organisations, channels, and thematic axes. The objective of this article is to analyse the British propaganda deployed in Spain during the First and the Second World War, studying the continuity patterns and outstanding particularities of the propaganda machinery, the channels employed, and the messages transmitted.

Resisting Narratives: An African Soldier in Sri Lanka’s Anticolonial Struggle

After three hundred years of militant, anti-colonial resistance, in 1803, the last independent monarchy in Sri Lanka waged its final successful campaign against the British. Though it would take another twelve years for the British to capture the Kandyan king, British failures in the battle of 1803 served as a turning point in England’s approach to colonialism in Sri Lanka. By mobilizing what Sujit Sivasundaram calls “counter-revolutionary” tactics in the Indian Ocean, the British not only spread its empire but also erased a long history of indigenous resistance. For a number of reasons, the histories of Sri Lankan and Kandyan anti-colonialism have received relatively little scholarly attention. The battle of 1803 opens a window into Lanka’s notions of itself as a globally-engaged kingdom. This essay investigates the history of the battle through the lens of one African soldier – a man named Joseph Fernando – who purportedly worked as the Kandyan king’s “chief executioner.” Through close reading of documents pertaining to the events of 1803, the essay contends that while Fernando himself is likely British propaganda, he nevertheless speaks to the island’s indigenous cosmopolitanism.

A ‘not uncongenial task’: British propaganda veterans and propaganda’s post-First World War reputation

ABSTRACT Shortly after the Armistice which ended the First World War, most of the propaganda organizations established by the British authorities closed down, apparently because of distaste for an occupation considered a necessary wartime evil. Within a decade, propaganda’s reputation was damaged by several critiques of wartime activities and continued to worsen thereafter. This article provides an overview of British wartime propaganda activity, and, drawing on wartime and postwar observations from writers, artists, speakers and administrators, considers how propaganda veterans discussed propaganda, and how this affects understanding of its historical reputation. Many eminent propagandists proved happy to discuss their activities in later reminiscences. Such recollections, ranging from enthusiastic claims to their own or others’ credit, republication of propaganda content, self-validation alongside wider critiques of the organizations, euphemistic or evasive discussion of propaganda activity, and renunciations or denunciations, suggest propaganda was not a universally despised relic of the war, but a contribution to wartime service willingly undertaken and often recalled without embarrassment or disdain. Propaganda did not have a terminally negative reputation after the First World War.

Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove

Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove

Book Review: Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove

Book Review: <i>Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War</i> by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove

‘Conducting his own Campaigns’: Evelyn Waugh and Propaganda

Abstract This essay examines Evelyn Waugh as practitioner and critic in the field of wartime propaganda. In 1941, Waugh produced a fictitious account of a British Commando raid on German territory in North Africa for publication in Britain and the United States, an episode which reveals his skill as a propagandist, but also prompts scrutiny of his contacts with British propaganda agencies and agents and of the effect of propaganda on his writings. Waugh’s interwar fiction exhibits a sophisticated understanding of the evolving and growing power of modern propaganda, but the novels also anticipate the public relations and psychological warfare campaigns of the Second World War, specifically those carried out by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), a secret service established in 1941 to produce and coordinate propaganda to enemy and occupied Europe. Waugh’s proximity to the PWE is suggested by a dense network of social and professional connections, and is further indicated by a series of references to the PWE and its work which I have uncovered in his fiction. Allusions to covert propaganda in Put Out More Flags and the Sword of Honour trilogy betray Waugh’s understanding of the PWE’s operations, but also provide a critique of the corrosive and unforeseen effects of information warfare waged by the secret state and offer a productive means of re-examining his much-noted anxieties regarding modernity and mid-century political change.

‘To accustom Turkish minds to a state of belligerency’: The Delicate Balance of British Propaganda in Turkey during the Second World War

ABSTRACT Neutral Turkey was a ripe propaganda battleground for the belligerent powers in the Second World War. For Britain, there were risks involved in undertaking too much and too little propaganda activity. This provoked debate and tension between the British organizations regarding objectives and what activity would be most effective. The Foreign Office, the Ministry of Information, the Special Operations Executive, the British Council and the BBC all had different ideas. The changing military situation and practical difficulties also made the co-ordination of messaging and dissemination challenging. This article will explore how all of these British organizations worked together, what methods and messages they deployed, analyse examples of their propaganda, and briefly assess how successful they were in achieving their aims.

Building the BBC-branded NGO: Overseas Development, the World Service, and the Marshall Plan of the Mind, c.1965-99.

Overseas broadcasting has been an integral part of the BBC's remit since the creation of its Empire Service in 1932. Throughout its history, the BBC has consistently argued that its services for overseas listeners should not be classified as a form of British propaganda, but instead understood as a fundamentally benevolent undertaking, providing objective, impartial, and trustworthy news and information to hundreds of millions of listeners worldwide. In the post-imperial era, the World Service increasingly depicted itself as not just a 'global public service broadcaster', but also as a kind of humanitarian endeavour, an 'Oxfam of the Mind' which made a significant contribution to Britain's wider efforts in the field of overseas development. This article critically evaluates this vision of the BBC World Service as a post-imperial 'gift to the world'. It outlines how, in the early 1990s, the World Service created the first BBC-branded overseas development NGO, the Marshall Plan of the Mind (MPM), which used both UK government and external philanthropic funding to help promote British commercial and diplomatic interests in post-communist Eastern Europe. MPM is then contextualized in relation to the World Service's longer (and largely overlooked) history of overseas development work and its relationship with the NGO sector, both before and after the end of the Cold War. By exploring how and why the World Service inserted itself into the NGO sphere, this work contributes to ongoing historical debates regarding the BBC's relationship with the state and the role(s) that global development NGOs have played in shaping Britain's post-imperial 'place in the world'.

When William Came: A Prophetic Propaganda War

When William Came by Saki (H. H. Munro) is a unique novel in the genre of invasion literature. Starting after a fictional war between Britain and Germany, it depicts no scenes of invasion. Recently, there have been studies from the perspective of how Munro and other authors in the genre viewed Germany and Britain. Some studies also refer to Munro’s deliberate lack of depiction of the war. However, it seems that no studies have looked into the reasons why the war is not depicted. This paper argues that the story is not about showing British military unpreparedness but about how psychological weapons work. It could even be said that depictions of war would distract from the focus on propaganda and its effect on people. Considering this work as being about a British and German propaganda war opens up a new perspective that is different from previous studies. When William Came is a work that points out Britain’s unpreparedness for psychological war by imagining and detailing possible propaganda strategies. It has been said that the novel’s ending is unsatisfactory, as it only ends up showing the potential for youth resistance. However, if it is understood that this novel, from beginning to end, is about a propaganda battle, a war that is fought under the surface, then the final chapter can also be understood as a thrilling one.

‘The country is full of wishful thinkers’: Britain’s Information Research Department and its post-war propaganda operations in Japan, 1948–70

ABSTRACT This article examines British propaganda efforts in post-war Japan, focusing on the scope of activities and limitations of the Foreign Office’s Information Research Department (IRD). Although the IRD built a wide network of recipients for its anti-communist material in Japan, it soon faced difficulties in conducting operations when the British embassy officials started to question its influence in Japanese society – since they believed it was a culture so unique that pro forma IRD materials were unsuitable. Assessing the tensions between London and Tokyo contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the seemingly monolithic propaganda policies of the IRD.

The propaganda of universal fascism: peace, empire and international co-operation in British Union of Fascists' publicity from 1932 to 1939

PurposeThis article presents a historical investigation into the foreign policy messages of the British Union of Fascists' (BUF) publicity and propaganda from its foundation in 1932 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, along with a discussion of the methods and institutional arrangements used to propagate its ideas of peace, empire and transnational co-operation.Design/methodology/approachThe historical investigation is based upon scrutiny of original BUF documents relating to the period 1932–1939 from various archives. After cataloguing of the relevant publicity and propaganda materials in time sequence and thematically, analysis was organised using a historical institutionalism approach.FindingsThe article explains the different phases of the BUF's message development and how publications, meetings and media were used to project its ideas. It also discussed the impact of support from Viscount Rothermere's newspapers and financial support from Benito Mussolini. Consideration of publicity materials alongside files from BUF headquarters enabled identification and investigation into the communicative actors who did the publicity work, including Director of Publicity, John Beckett.Social implicationsThe article reflects upon how the British Union of Fascists' publicity and propaganda relates to modern manifestations of the communication of authoritarian and nationalistic political propositions and the historical continuities that endure therein.Originality/valueThe project makes an original contribution to the history of British political propaganda and public relations through an inquiry based upon scrutiny of historical documents in UK archives relating to BUF publicity related to foreign policy.

“If Necessary for Years, If Necessary Alone”: History, Memory, and Fiction in Contemporary Representations of Dunkirk

A seemingly impossible task, the evacuation of the majority of the British Expeditionary Force (more than 300,000 men) from the shores of Dunkirk, besieged by the German forces, represented a symbol of hope in a moment in which the British Empire was suffering crushing defeats in Europe as well as in Asia. The myth of the ‘finest hour’ of the British people, both spontaneously generated from below and directed from above by the government, has been a central topic of the British propaganda during and after the war, and it still possesses a strongly evocative power over new generations of artists. In recent years, several movies (Atonement, 2007, Dunkirk, 2017, Darkest Hour, 2017) have represented the evacuation of Dunkirk, oscillating between propagandistic rhetoric and a problematization of the memory of the war. By analyzing these films, this article shows how post-war generations have appropriated the cultural memory of Dunkirk as a way of restaging an ideal of Britishness and at the same time as a controversial attempt to update it by highlighting the divisions of class and ideology among British society and the army.

The Evolution of the Image of the Ottoman Empire on the Cartoons of the British Magazine «Punch» of the First World War Period

This article discusses the development in the British society of the image of the Ottoman Empire, perceived as a ’’German ally“ during the First World War. English cartoons from the satirical magazine “Punch” were taken as historical sources. The peculiarity of this magazine was that during the period under study it was popular among representatives of the elite, intelligentsia, workers and some of the farmers due to the publication of various drawings and cartoons in it. The main goal of the authors of the article is to consider the development of the image of the Ottoman Empire, presented on graphic materials as an “ally of Germany”, using political caricatures as an example, and to reveal its features in British propaganda. The study allows us to conclude that the image of the Ottoman Empire was presented in satirical form, as it was aimed at discrediting the ”ally of Germany“. British artists sought to convey to the mass audience that the Ottoman Porta was embroiled in armed conflict and was used by Germany as a "puppet". On the example of the most striking English cartoons of the satirical magazine “Punch”, it can be noted that many stories about the “ally of Germany” reflected in their content the military-political dependence of the Ottoman Empire on the German one.

Sharq al-Adna

Abstract Sharq al-Adna, or the Near East Arab Broadcasting Station, was a covert, British radio station that broadcasted in Arabic from 1941 to 1956, at first from Palestine before moving to Cyprus in 1948, where it posed as a commercial station but, in reality, was controlled by British Special Intelligence Services until the military commandeered it at the time of Suez. In the intervening fifteen years, its mainly Arab staff, loosely supervised by a small number of British personnel, broadcasted a mixture of music, drama, discussion, educational and religious programs, albeit with a subtle British slant to its news. In this article, which is based on archival sources, including the memoirs of some of those involved and some material originally published in Arabic, the author assesses the station’s contribution to British propaganda efforts in the Middle East and to the development of Arab broadcasting.

Meeting the Enemy

When British soldiers and civilians entered the Allied-occupied Rhineland after the First World War, they were often surprised to discover that the individual Germans they encountered had little in common with the image of the enemy promulgated by British propaganda during the war. While face-to-face encounters with an often disconcertingly friendly civilian population inevitably forced the British to re-evaluate their wartime visions of the enemy, certain negative stereotypes of the German enemy nevertheless persisted in the context of the occupation. Several British commentators even found it necessary to fall back on these stereotypes when trying to explain the friendly attitude of the local population. To some, German friendliness only served to demonstrate the servile disposition of the Germans towards any form of authority; to others, it confirmed the existence of a supposed division in Germany between a liberal, peace-loving and civilized south and west and the “real” enemy, an autocratic, militarist and expansionist Prussia. Moreover, the British self-image in the Rhineland was frequently constructed in opposition to a real or imagined German enemy. The attitude and behaviour of the occupiers was regularly presented as characteristically “British” and measured not only against how the Germans had treated the populations of occupied regions of France and Belgium during the war, but also against how the stereotypical “Hun” would have behaved in the case of a German victory.

Animation and the War Saving Certificate: British Propaganda Films Produced for the Home Front during the First World War

Animation and the War Saving Certificate: British Propaganda Films Produced for the Home Front during the First World War

The British Weekly: a case study of British propaganda to the Soviet Union during World War II

The research investigates a publishing history of the Britansky Souyznik (British Ally) weekly (further - British Weekly) in Russian language, which was published in the Soviet Union by the UK Ministry of Information in the Second World War years and to 1950. This newspaper published reports from fronts where British troops fought against Nazi Germany and its allies, articles on British-Soviet military cooperation, materials about British science, industry, agriculture, and transport, reports on people’s life in the UK, historical background of British Commonwealth countries, cultural and literature reviews. British Weekly circulation in the USSR was 50,000 copies. The main method used for the research was the study of the newspaper’s materials, as well as the propaganda concepts of its editorial board and their influence on the audience. The researched materials are from archives of the Soviet Foreign Ministry as well as of the UK Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive (1940-1945), declassified by the British Government only in 2002, on the basis of which an independent analysis is conducted. The British Weekly played a bright role in the formation of techniques and methods of British foreign policy propaganda to Soviet public opinion in 1942-1945. Results of the research indicates that the British government launched foreign policy propaganda to the USSR immediately after breaking-out of World War II and used the experience of the British Weekly for psychological warfare in the Cold War years.