First Hand Stories Vs Propaganda

There is a significant difference between first-hand stories and propaganda. The propaganda were used to increase nationalism and desire to fight for the country. The propaganda posters mostly were two types to encourage people or to cause a fear and push people into the war. When citizens constantly saw posters that encourage them to fight for the country they eventually took guns and went on the battlefield. A lot of countries used posters with women and children to show bright future if country wins the war. Little things as a propaganda posters with happy families on it gave people some kind of hope and power to fight through the war. For example pictures on page 524 the Russian women handling out the gun, inspiring other working women …show more content…
People are witnesses of the action and they could express the emotion and fear. In many cases those accounts make history. The first handed accounts unlike propaganda is showing the truth. Stories in the magazines and posters were often made to hide real facts. For example, the story about poison gas in journal Echo de Paris described as the event that not worth the attention. All victims, who’s alive, should get back to fight and other people should keep fighting. The same event was described by soldier Wilfred Owen. It was described as a total mess of dying people. The people who tried to save their own lives and help their fellow soldiers. His description deliver fear from the gas attack, compassion to the soldiers. This is one of the most common examples of propaganda that was used. The government tried to cover up real facts from the society. To make people believe that the gas attack(or any other crucial event) is a normal, harmless event. A lot of first-hand stories were published or heard only after wars. So, during the war many citizens heard only what governments wanted them to know, not the truth from the …show more content…
During the battle Ernst Junger witness the horror that he saw on his guide's face. The first that he saw were ruined villages, dead bodies, artillery machines and smoke from the fire. The air sticked as a dead bodies, dead children were laying in their own blood. Bombardment killed and injured many civilians. The explosions were non stop. Soldiers were counting between explosions hiding they head with heads. They had to close their ears so they would be completely deaf. The ground was shaking from bombs and gunshots, the sky was full of smoke and red from the fire. People were dying or losing parts of their bodies the entire battle. Dead bodies were laying on the ground from both fronts English and German. Ernst Junger and his comrades were scared and lost. The battlefield was total wreckage. The village of Guillemot was destroyed. Shell holes full of dead bodies, railway station laying on the ground. Burned to the ash houses and civilians everywhere. There were no communication between troops and staff. In some days officers got information only after soldiers came back from missions. Battle of the type of battle on the Somme changes people's behavior and worldview. Each second could be the last one for Ernst Junger and his comrades. After that battle a lot of soldiers became more careful and mysterious. Junger describes battle as "a condition of things that dug itself remorselessly week