ABSTRACT
The first chapter examines experiments in surveillance by the British and French governments just prior to the war. It then details the massive expansion of state power at the war's outset. This chapter argues that government leaders in both countries realized that they could utilize the wave of patriotic fervor accompanying the war's outset, whereas direct censorship of anti-war agitators was unpopular. Crucially, policymakers on both sides of the Channel concluded that minimal direct action was the most effective way to control their citizenry. Government officials rarely censored newspapers; instead they sent requests to editors who willingly engaged in self-censorship in exchange for access to government information. Police informed patriotic groups about anti-war demonstrations, turning one group of citizens against the other.
