Propaganda for War: How the United States Was Conditioned to Fight the Great War of 1914-1918

by Stewart Halsey Ross

"THE VERDICT OF THE VERSAILLES TREATY that Germany and her allies were responsible for the War, in view of the evidence now available, is historically unsound. It should therefore be revised." These are the words of Sidney Bradshaw Fay, noted revisionist historian, on the concluding page of his magisterial Origins of the World War, published in 1928. We now know more about the Great War than merely its origins. We now know that Great Britain's first act of war on August 4, 1914 was to cut the two trans-Atlantic cables that connected Berlin to New York City. We now know that America's professed neutrality in the early years of the conflict was a hoax. We now know that the Cunard passenger liner RMS Lusitania doubled as a munitions ship, and purposefully steamed into harm's way in May 1915. We now know that the alleged atrocities by the German army in Belgium were all lies. We now know that the British organized a massive, covert propaganda apparatus with the goal of dragging America into the war on the side of the Allies. And we now also know that America's involvement in 1917 as a belligerent in Europe was a tragic misstep by anglophile Woodrow Wilson, that had profound implications not only for the United States but for Europe as well, ensuring an even more catastrophic reprise in 1939. Wilson himself declared, "We all know that this was a commercial war," in September 1919. In April 1937, on the 20th anniversary of America's entry into the war, a Gallup Poll found that 70 percent of respondents thought "it was a mistake for the United States to have entered the Great War." Dr. George Gallup himself declared that "this conviction has been the great master principle of the post-war period in the United States." The lesson is forgotten, propaganda for war repeats, and history repeats. The majorities supporting an invasion of Iraq in 2003 turned two years later to 60 percent opposition to the war... a lesson learned too late again.

Genres: World War I, Nonfiction, History

356 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[Kharpo7 · Rating 1 out of 5]

One example of the worst of revisionist history. This book is nothing but an attack on the US and the British. The sources are misquoted frequently (trust me I read many of the sources)

the author contradicts himself several times.

He does nothing but attack the US and it's allies which would be OK if he supplied some examples of his arguments. He does not.

One specific example. He says that George Creel was an opportunist and played fast and loose with the truth by attacking his opponents in the papers and not supplying any evidence for his attacks. After this damning attack by the author however Ross supplies NO evidence for this assertion.

Incredibly biased and unscholarly work

[Steven Jaeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and thorough. It's a frustrating topic to read about because obviously there is nothing that can be done about it now, it's all history, but the effects of it persist to this day. Much of that propaganda was infused into the history books as fact because people didn't want their lies exposed, and the prejudices that the propaganda created have also remained. There are other books that could also be added to this since this really also looks at a single aspect of the subject of propaganda during WWI. I would definitely recommend to others if they are willing to go that deep in their analysis of history. It is also for informing on what is happening around us today.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so impressive, it essentially bears the distinction of being termed heroic. It is a paragon of the historian's discipline, impeccable scholarship and attention to detail, but what most impresses me is the courage the author summoned to say what historians do not want to say: the attitudes about (and actual political reasons for) going to war with Germany in WW1 were profoundly conditioned by a gigantic (epic even) propaganda campaign by the British government to get the US fully into the war. The US was actually never neutral and secretly backed Britain from 1914 onward in a breach of it's neutral status. I'm more than flabbergasted that anyone (such as the only reviewer here so far) can still be so mired in the lies and myths that both the British and US governments foisted on the American population that he or she fails to appreciate how the public was shamelessly manipulated.
WW1 is a keystone/touchstone to so much of the West's recent history, and there is almost nothing written which deals with the little-known truths of these matters like Ross's "Propaganda for War." The powerful, and importantly non-European US plunging into the war in 1917 when both the Central Powers and the Allies were both exhausted (and quickly heading to a cease-fire) profoundly changed the whole game for Germany, Europe, their empires, and the US.
Although it won't be easy, find a copy and challenge yourself about these myths. Ross is tough on ALL parties, not just when looking at the extensive British media manipulation in the US or America's Anglophile elites. This is a major corrective and not tainted by any ulterior motives I can detect. No Germanophilia or anything of the like. Those who've been fed the standard story about that war in the English-and-French-speaking world will be shown the unflattering facts of the Allies' grand strategy, but anyone with a motive to absolve Germany will be sorely disappointed as well. THIS IS EXCELLENT HISTORY.