The purpose of this study is to examine in depth the role which propaganda played in forcing Walpole's government to start the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739. There are a number of features which make this episode particularly interesting both as an example of the power of propaganda and as an example of the way in which a study of propaganda techniques throws new light on the political and artistic history of a particular period. Firstly it is unusual for an opposition rather than a government party to be going out of its way to create popular demand for a war. Secondly it is unusual to find so many writers, artists and musicians of the highest quality being recruited to assist in a propaganda campaign of any kind. Pope, Swift, Johnson, Gay, Chesterfield, Arne, Handel and Hogarth were among the list of contributors which included many other highly competent if less well known talents. Thirdly, while not unique, this campaign is nevertheless rare in providing an example of the use of a very wide range of media to achieve its ends: drama, ballad-opera, journalism, poetry, prose, satire, history, biography, painting, engraving, ceramics, sculpture and even architecture. Fourthly it provides a very interesting range of psychological techniques with heavy use of irony, a penchant for exotic metaphor and considerable reliance on the crude tools of tribal motivation. Finally the campaign provides an example of the way in which public hysteria can be created and developed by a group of leaders whose real short term objectives bear no relationship to the topic of the hysteria, who are substantially removed from its immediate consequences and totally regardless as to its long term effects. The study is beset by two problems. It has perforce to straddle a number of different disciplines in that it must dovetail a historical causality with the content of literature, drama, music and the visual arts. There is not and can never be any direct proof that the propaganda actually caused the event, only an accumulation of numerous pieces of evidence which support a high degree of probability. Equally there is unlikely ever to be any conclusive proof that the huge outpouring of patriotic propaganda in the 1719 - 1739 period was all part of a concerted deliberate plan, only that there was a whole range of personal contacts suggesting a pattern of mutual influences and common objectives, a mixture of political jealousy, ideology and commercial pressures which combined to sustain a united effort towards a single end. However, detailed study should produce sensible pointers to the motivation, structure, organisation and technical proficiency of the campaign. Overall the campaign must be seen as a classic example of the way in which the power of propaganda, particularly nationalistic propaganda, is divorced from the responsibility for its consequences. The emotive connotations of the contrast between the patriotic opposition's aggressive posture against Spain and Walpole's apparent appeasement run very deep. The nurturing of corporate vanity in nations is one of the most common real causes of wars throughout history.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:300002 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Thomson, Oliver |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3585/ |
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