Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The National War Aims Committee
- Part 2 Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- 4 Presentational Patriotisms
- 5 Adversaries at Home and Abroad: The Context of Negative Difference
- 6 Civilisational Principles: Britain and its Allies as the Guardians of Civilisation
- 7 Patriotisms of Duty: Sacrifice, Obligation and Community – The Narrative Core of NWAC Propaganda
- 8 Promises for the Future: The Encouragement of Aspirations for a Better Life, Nation and World
- Part 3 The Impact of the NWAC
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Local Case Studies
- Appendix 2 Card-Index Database
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Civilisational Principles: Britain and its Allies as the Guardians of Civilisation
from Part 2 - Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The National War Aims Committee
- Part 2 Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- 4 Presentational Patriotisms
- 5 Adversaries at Home and Abroad: The Context of Negative Difference
- 6 Civilisational Principles: Britain and its Allies as the Guardians of Civilisation
- 7 Patriotisms of Duty: Sacrifice, Obligation and Community – The Narrative Core of NWAC Propaganda
- 8 Promises for the Future: The Encouragement of Aspirations for a Better Life, Nation and World
- Part 3 The Impact of the NWAC
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Local Case Studies
- Appendix 2 Card-Index Database
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The war is no longer one between two groups of nations. It is the civilised world fighting to chastise rebels against its fundamental laws …
To make an end of war nothing less is requisite than a shifting of the centre of human allegiance from nationality to something wider. We need to feel a super-national patriotism.
– Lord Hugh Cecil, MPAs chapter 5 demonstrated, the NWAC's interpretation of British identity looked both inward and outward. However, whereas adversarial patriotism provided a predominantly negative motivation, the supranational and proprietorial sub-patriotisms presented positive explanations of what being British meant. Both transcended national boundaries. Supranational patriotism celebrated Britain's similarities with, and differences from, its allies, especially the USA, France and the empire (usually restricted to the ‘white’ Dominions). By dwelling on examples of behaviour or attitude where Britons were putatively surpassed by their allies, NWAC propaganda sought not to inspire through fear or outrage but to appeal to British pride in positive ways. In lauding French or American civilians, or Dominion soldiers, propagandists combined an explicit message of praise and friendship towards Britain's allies with an implicit encouragement of patriotic rivalry. Additionally, supranational patriotism illuminated similarities between Britain and its ‘great’ allies, thereby fusing supranational and proprietorial patriotism. Four values – honour, liberty, justice and democracy – were constantly invoked (sometimes with attendant emphasis on Christianity) to demonstrate that Britain and its allies fought for ‘civilisation’.
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- Information
- Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War BritainThe National War Aims Committee and Civilian Morale, pp. 140 - 168Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2012