Government Control In Ww2 Essay
The accuracy of the statement that Australian wartime controls in World War I had greater impact than they did in World War II is contentious. However, government sanctioned wartime controls in World War II had greater impact due to the more developed and efficient manner in which it was conducted. The World Wars were fought using enormous numbers of materials and millions of people. It became the duty of the civilian population to produce the masses of equipment, ammunition, weapons, food and transport necessary to continue the military effort. This collective effort was cited as ‘total war’, due it being a new type of warfare which required the involvement of total economies and societies. The Commonwealth government accordingly implemented
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These two concepts are closely linked as they were both methods employed by the government to control public opinion and maintain morale on the home front. The government exercised significant control over censorship and the flow of information available to the public. Official censorship was imposed as soon as the first World War broke out to ensure that the Australian public rarely learned how the fighting was truly progressing. Soldier’s letters and postcards were intercepted and heavily censored, with civilian correspondence also subject to censorship. This was all in an effort to suppress strategic military information potentially revealing campaigns and positions, which would then be utilised by the enemy. However, it was during World War II, that the newly established Department of Information took on a larger scale suppression the communication of information it deemed too sensitive or detrimental towards the war effort. In addition to this, the advent of radio technology provided another avenue of public communication and information which the government also controlled. They ensured that radios and mass media provided positive war reports, one instance being the Darwin air raids of 1941. Print media reported that 17 casualties and 24 injuries occurred when in reality the raids had suffered 243 casualties and resulted in 400
These two concepts are closely linked as they were both methods employed by the government to control public opinion and maintain morale on the home front. The government exercised significant control over censorship and the flow of information available to the public. Official censorship was imposed as soon as the first World War broke out to ensure that the Australian public rarely learned how the fighting was truly progressing. Soldier’s letters and postcards were intercepted and heavily censored, with civilian correspondence also subject to censorship. This was all in an effort to suppress strategic military information potentially revealing campaigns and positions, which would then be utilised by the enemy. However, it was during World War II, that the newly established Department of Information took on a larger scale suppression the communication of information it deemed too sensitive or detrimental towards the war effort. In addition to this, the advent of radio technology provided another avenue of public communication and information which the government also controlled. They ensured that radios and mass media provided positive war reports, one instance being the Darwin air raids of 1941. Print media reported that 17 casualties and 24 injuries occurred when in reality the raids had suffered 243 casualties and resulted in 400