How did leaders in totalitarian nations, such as Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union, use propaganda to gain support from their citizens during World War II? Also describe how propaganda was used in the United States during the war. Compare and contrast the use of propaganda in both Allied and Axis nations.

Respuesta :

"Propaganda is usually defined as biased information intended to promote a particular political cause or view. In that sense Japanese propaganda was no different from other nations' propaganda, but it had some defining elements, such as nationalism. Japanese wartime propaganda was, as with Nazi Germany's propaganda, a reaction against perceived foreign cultural domination. In Japan's case, propaganda attacked Western, and particularly Anglo-Saxon, culture. The believers in this propaganda saw themselves as offering a different, distinctly Japanese, way of life from Western Imperialism. Propaganda portrayed the West, and especially the Anglo-Saxon world, as decadent and weak. Japanese nationalistic propaganda made it difficult for the diverse nations of Asia to feel that they belonged in the new world order Japan was offering. (Japanese propaganda also promoted general Pan-Arianism, but this was never implemented as thoroughly as the nationalistic elements.) Because of this, Japanese propaganda was less appealing to non-Japanese than American propaganda, with its message of universal democracy open (in theory) to everybody."At first, the government was reluctant to engage in propaganda campaigns, but pressure from the media, the business sector and advertisers who wanted direction persuaded the government to take an active role. Even so, the government insisted that its actions were not propaganda, but a means of providing information. These efforts were slowly and haphazardly formed into a more unified propaganda effort, although never to the level of World War I.

Answer:

Propaganda is a form of communication that aims to influence the attitude of a community regarding some cause or position, presenting only one side or aspect of an argument. Propaganda is usually repeated and disseminated in a wide variety of media in order to obtain the desired result in the attitude of the audience.

During Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler sought to modify the pejorative sense that the term propaganda had acquired in the years after World War I. In this sense, his first propagandistic action was to imbue the German people with a positive concept of propaganda. Joseph Goebbels was in charge of promoting or publicizing government notices, using what is now known as social marketing, extolling feelings of pride, promoting hatreds and sometimes lying and convincing things away from reality. He also had other techniques and methods such as making the German public wait for the news in times of victory to create a strong suspense and make the joy more lasting when they receive the good news.

The ideological propaganda during World War II and the evaluation of its effects, confirmed the effectiveness of the mechanisms of persuasion, making the ideological war a primordial component in subsequent armed conflicts.

In the Cold War, the interests of the United States and the Soviet Union prevented a direct confrontation between the two powers. Therefore, the development of that period was specifically marked by the symbolic and rhetorical combat promoted by the leaders of each of the blocks in question. In this way, the propaganda would charge a special value.

In the case of the Americans, the Voice of America, an example of white propaganda, operated as the government's official radio station. Thanks to the control of this means of communication, the executive could issue his speech in a way that reached the bulk of the population. Later, the abuse of this channel would be considered by some critics as a violation of popular sovereignty. The use of gray propaganda would take place outside the territory, especially in the USSR and Eastern Europe, where news and entertainment programs inserted American ideology through two radio stations controlled by the CIA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

As for the Soviets, they put in place strategies similar to those of the Americans. The Communist ideologues also made use of an official station that broadcast their official discourses, Radio Moscow. In turn, they used gray propaganda in US territory through radio stations Radio Peace and Freedom. But the Soviets, in the framework of their statist system, also used the school as a means to display their anti-American propaganda. It was intended to create a bad image in children about the American way of life and make believe that the USSR was a power with many more resources and wealth.