British Propaganda in World War I
Good Fit
- Readers with a serious interest in World War I history, especially Ottoman-British relations
- Anyone wanting to learn the historical roots of propaganda mechanisms from a sociological angle
- Serious readers who enjoy archive-based academic works with extensive bibliographies
- Readers interested in the historical roots of modern concepts like media sociology, identity construction, and "othering"
Not a Fit
- Readers looking for a simple, popular history summary who aren't ready for academic language
- Anyone wanting to focus only on battlefield tactics/military operations — this book is devoted to propaganda and media
- Readers looking for a short, concise book — this is 650+ pages, packed with archival documents and appendices (pp. 437-641)
Sociologist Dursun Ayan's "Foreword" frames propaganda within "the sociology of information" — presenting the creation of "learned helplessness" in a person or people through targeted information, the "othering" of the enemy, and the construction of a negative identity against them as propaganda's core mechanism.
Quoting from Avşar's own text, Ayan notes that the British propaganda apparatus began the war as a small, ineffective branch office, but over time became "a superb propaganda organization" whose activities were planned not around battlefield events but around the feelings and thoughts of ordinary people.
The author's own "Preface" continues with more concrete facts: propaganda was viewed as a frivolous pastime in official circles at the war's outset, but by the war's midpoint the great powers had come to understand that "verbal bullets" could be as powerful as several army divisions.
Avşar gives specific dates: Britain's Parliamentary War Aims Committee began propaganda work by opening the "Wellington House" press bureau in August 1914; an Information Bureau under the Foreign Office followed in December 1916.
The book also notes that aircraft were used for propaganda not only over battlefronts but over civilian population centers, with Britain being the first state to act in this domain — an early example of technology and propaganda converging.
Ayan closes the "Foreword" with an intriguing observation: that Turkish idioms like "İngiliz oyunu" (the English game) or "İngiliz sicimi" (English string) may themselves be traces of historical propaganda — a claim the book then sets out to test against the archival record.
- Written in a heavy academic register, frequently using sociological terminology ("the sociology of information," "othering")
- Cites documents directly from the British National Archives (TNA:PRO) and the Turkish General Staff's Military History and Strategic Studies (ATASE) archive
- The book carries an extensive bibliography and index on pp. 641-655, and archival-document appendices on pp. 437-641
- Being an "Expanded Second Edition" indicates it was enriched with additional documents and content after the first printing
A similarly archive-based history of intelligence and propaganda work
A broader, theoretical sociological analysis of the propaganda phenomenon
After the preface, the book moves into "The British Propaganda Organization" chapter — tracing in detail the founding and evolution of bodies like the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, the Censorship and Press Bureau, the Neutral Press Committee, the News Bureau, Wellington House, Press Control and MO5(h), and finally MI7.
The next major section covers British propaganda against the Ottoman Empire (blaming Germany for the war, neutralizing the Ottoman declaration of Jihad), followed by separate chapters on propaganda against Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, the Serbs, the Albanians, and separatist movements (Armenians, Arabs, Jews, Kurds).
The book concludes by covering how British propaganda pamphlets portrayed World War I and the Ottoman state, a two-part section titled "A Truth About the Great War," a Conclusion chapter, and extensive archival-document appendices spanning pp. 437-641.
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