War propaganda

From August 1914 the belligerents published coloured books of documents meant to prove that the enemy had forced the war on them; Germany issued its White Book as early as 4 August. In Britain the secret bureau at Wellington House, run by Charles Masterman, recruited well-known writers and by February 1916 had sent about 7 million pamphlets abroad, aimed above all at the United States. The Bryce Report on atrocities in Belgium, published in May 1915 and based on about 1,200 depositions, was one of its most effective tools.

In time propaganda became a task of governments. Britain set up John Buchan's Department of Information in February 1917 and Lord Beaverbrook's Ministry of Information in March 1918; in the USA George Creel's Committee on Public Information worked from 1917. Propaganda used film, posters and cartoons, and leaflets were dropped over the enemy's trenches. Many atrocity stories later turned out to be exaggerated or invented.