Essay On Civil War Propaganda

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Propaganda always seems to be a major contribution in wars. Propaganda is the deliberate spreading of rumors and information to harm a person or group. Propaganda had many benefits in the psychological aspects of war and campaigning, however, propaganda is arguably morally and ethically wrong. Propaganda can damage the reputation of anyone who it is used against. Mostly governments use propaganda, however it has moved to advertisement agencies all over. “These mass communication messages have changed to messages that are used in these campaigns and influence how Americans feel about those consecutive wars” (Tiuchs, page 1)
The Civil War was a game changer for propaganda. The Civil War is said to be the bloodiest battle in American History. Both the Unions and Confederates had many casualties in their endeavors. The Civil War was from 1838 to 1845. Cartoons and journalism became available to the public for the first time. This meant the public was exposed to a completely different aspect of the war, that some may not have known existed. For the first time, the images were able to be depicted as seen in the Civil War. Both the Union and the Confederates used propaganda in their war defenses. The Union used propaganda to try to recruit more volunteers. The posters were made for trying to get the volunteers to feel empowered in their war endeavors. They were made to make the volunteers think they would have major self accomplishments from this. During the Civil War, propaganda was mostly used to get people to sign up for battle. They didn’t have enough people so this was their biggest way of advertising. Most posters were racist, however during this time that was acceptable. “In both respects, political caricature has the ...

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...ually necessary in everyday life. The things that are actually necessary seem superfluous. Propaganda today seems so unnecessary compared to how it used to be. While propaganda was deceitful and deceptive and solely government opinion based, it had a purpose. Now, the only purpose is to make money for those who think they have a great idea, when in reality, there is already a better version of what they made already out there and selling. “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” (Peter Drucker). The uselessness of propaganda today is a major change from the effective war efforts it displayed years ago. Propaganda was much more useful during major wars than it is in everyday life. It seems necessary in the selling of products, but in reality it is not necessary at all and in fact, an inconvenience all the way around.

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