Essential Question: How did both allied and central powers utilize posters to increase support for war efforts during WWI?
In this lesson, students will be analyzing posters from both sides of WWI to gain a better understanding of the Great War. Students will look at sources individually, utilizing close reading, contextualization, and sourcing skills to gain a better sense of the historical content of each poster and determine how these posters appealed to the public. In addition, students will analyze posters in groups, looking for patterns between the posters in order to gain a sense of the trends utilized by poster makers to increase support for the war efforts.
Background Information: World War I was a conflict from 1914-1918 that involved many nations throughout the entire world. Known as “The Great War” during the time, the conflict introduced new horrors and realities of war due to technological advancements in equipment the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain and the Commonwealth, Russia, and the United States) fought the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Ottoman Empire). This war was significantly different than previous conflicts in human history, providing new challenges to nations in their efforts to garner support for the war effort by their entire populations. Below is a short video introducing the primary causes for the start of World War I.
Activity #1: War Bonds
One way in which “The Great War” differed from past wars was the extent to which civilians were involved in the WWI. Analyze the four primary source documents below and answer the guiding questions.
Question 1: In what ways were civilians asked to help in this conflict according to these posters?
Question 2: How would this help aid the war effort according to the posters? How might this aid from civilians changed the tide of the war in reality?
Activity #2: Total War
A term coined by World War I historians to characterize this changing nature of war was the idea of “Total War”. Analyze the four posters below, and answer the follow on questions.
Question 3: What might the term “total war” mean using evidence from these posters?
Question 4: How were roles changing for specific groups in society as a consequence of “The Great War?” Why might that be? Give examples from the posters.
Activity #3: Patriotic Symbols
Many countries used symbols to help rally support for the war. Look at these posters below, and answer the follow on questions.
Question 5: Why might have war supporters used posters to help garner support for their cause?
Question 6: Are symbols like the ones used in WWI still used today to help rally people to a cause? Give an example.
Activity #4: Portrayal of the “Other”
In addition to gaining support for the war, both the allies and the central powers looked to depict the enemies of their nations in negative ways, as displayed below. Analyze these posters, and answer the questions below.
Question 7: How did poster makers utilize imagery to depict other nations?
Question 8: Why might such a tactic have been so effective during wartime?
Conclusion
WWI was a war that changed not only the political landscape of Europe and the entire world, but also the way in which war was perceived and fought. In order to address this changing way in which warfare was conducted, nations had to appeal to their countries in innovative and different ways than in the past. A nation could no longer rely on a section of their population to win their country’s wars; instead, a reliance on the entire populace became necessary for all powers if they hoped to win the “Great War”. With this extreme reliance came a drastic social changes for all parts of world.
Concluding Activity: Utilizing techniques poster makers used during WWI, make your own WWI era poster. Ensure you have an image and text within the poster that display a point of view that would appeal to a certain segment of a population. You may choose to make a poster for any power involved in “The Great War”.