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in 1970 Motown legend Edwin Starr taught us that war is good for

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absolutely nothing. Thank You Edwin for sharing that with us. [ man speaks to microphone]

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the class before then and specifically in Europe in 1914 people had a very

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different take on conflict. they believed that war was awesome. yeah why were the

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Europeans of the early 20th century so psyched about shooting each other ?well

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it wasn't that they were particularly bloodthirsty. in the lead-up to World War

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one every country involved in the conflict worked hard to convince its

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citizens that its cause was the best one. for example the French casts themselves [politicians and world leaders pictured]

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as the saviors of Europe, as the glorious Knights who would protect the continent

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from Germany. not to mention the fact that Alsace and Lorraine belonged to

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France and by golly if it took killing Germans to get that territory back while

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then Germans would be killed. anywho -- back to European misconceptions about

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war. these folks were under the erroneous impression that World War one would be

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over in a matter of weeks. they were sure the bullets would stop flying by

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Christmas at the latest. now it didn't take too many months of fighting before [vintage political cartoon pictured]

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the people of Europe came to conclusion that the war was actually going to last

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a while .a wartime government started to wonder how the heck they were gonna pay

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for the soldiers weapons and supplies they needed to keep on fighting. these

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same governments also had to find a way to keep morale up at home, so that folks

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didn't get fed up with battle and start hankering after a white flag of

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surrender. enter propaganda. untrue or biased information that's used to bring [ citizens frown]

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people around to a particular point of view. well during World War one

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governments used radio programs newspaper pamphlets and posters to

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recruit soldiers raise money conserve our redirect resources rally citizens

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and strengthen ties with allies and would be allies. well how did

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propagandists cross all the items off this to-do list? [list shown]

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they lied of course! for example the British liked to claim that the Germans

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committed numerous atrocities as they marched across Belgium. these atrocities

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were so bad according to the British that they set up a special commission to

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investigate matters and ultimately publish a repor.t well the German

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government denied the Commission's very negative findings, but [newspaper article from the time shown]

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denials didn't matter because the British happened to published the report

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shortly after a German u-boat torpedoed the Lusitania. hundreds of men women and

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children drowned. combined one incendiary report with one tragic sinking and you

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get anti German emotions up the wazoo. of course it was later revealed that many

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of the stories in the commission's report were total baloney ,but by then

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the propaganda had done its job. so yes Europeans were ready for a fight [men in line]

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in August of 1914 because their governments told them the fight would be

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noble and just. of course that was before anyone knew that mustard gas was a

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killer and trench warfare was no day at the zoo. [line of blink men pictured]

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