ABSTRACT
The twentieth century had already begun in the Americas with a propagandistic drumbeat in the form of the Spanish-American War in 1898-99. The First World War, however, brought with it an even more radical escalation of propaganda as a dimension of warfare. Among the opposing camps, the totality of the war resulted in the creation of propaganda machines. The aim was to justify to the home front, as well as outwardly to other belligerents and especially to the neutrals, causalities running into the millions.
The propaganda war also took place on the two American continents precisely because they contained the largest number of the world’s neutral countries. Although the Europeans were concerned primarily with influencing the public in the the new world power, the United States of America, Latin America also came into focus. It was not exactly a fair fight. The Allies had open access to the communication links, whereas the German cable was severed at the start. German foreign propaganda may have had much catching up to do. However, it nonetheless knew how to take the fight to the enemy. During this period, discussion of propaganda typified public media throughout Latin America.
