World War I and the Anglo-American Imagined Community: Civilization vs. Barbarism in British Propaganda and American Newspapers

The mythology of the Anglo-American “special relationship,” often emphasizes the experience of World War II, particularly the close wartime relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. At a cultural level, however, much groundwork was built during World War I as the American press defined Allied war aims as a natural product of Anglo-American shared values. At the war’s outset in 1914, American opinion was divided. Strong commercial interests were threatened by British competition, and German-American and Irish-American communities were generally suspicious of the British cause. Against such opinion, however, were advocates of an American melting pot defined in primarily “Anglo” terms, and those who championed a pro-British foreign policy as the best guarantee of American national security. 2 The eventual entry of the United States into the war on the Allied side represented a victory for the latter groups in the United States. As these groups emerged victorious, Anglo-American ideals and identification similar to those projected in British propaganda also triumphed in the American press. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.