Sir Hedley Le Bas and the Origins of Domestic Propaganda in Britain 1914-1917

This article charts the role of Sir Hedley le Bas, an establishment figure in charge of the UK Government's propaganda efforts during the Great War, in using advertising and publicity to influence British public opinion.

Sir Hedley Le Bas and the Origins of Domestic Propaganda in Britain 1914-1917

Nicholas Hiley, New hail, Cambridge University

For forty years after the close of the Great War, commentators were agreed that in Britain between 1914 and 1917 it was official propaganda alone which kept the home masses docilely patriotic. On the outbreak of war, it was confidently asserted, control over public opinion had quickly passed into official hands as it became vitally necessary to inflame popular passion sufficiently to secure recruits for the continuance of the struggle1. Only in the 1960s did academics begin...

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