Complex Imperialism: atrocity propaganda, liberalism and humanitarianism in the British Empire and Australia during the First World War

Abstract

Despite the large body of research generated by Australian historians about the First World War, little work has been done on the atrocity propaganda that was produced during the conflict. Nor has there been adequate investigation into the humanitarian ideals that influenced atrocity propaganda, and the role these ideals played in gaining support for the war. As a consequence, the multifaceted reasons behind why Australians supported or condemned the First World War have been neglected. Instead, some Australian historians have depicted support for the war as having been driven by unthinking imperial sentiment that was fed by jingoistic government propaganda. This thesis demonstrates that imperial sentiment was in fact far more complex, and was not merely jingoistic. It establishes that imperial sentiment was influenced by a variety of ideological and political factors that heavily impacted upon how Australians regarded the moral legitimacy of the war. One of the primary forms of imperial sentiment that influenced Australian support for the war was liberal humanitarian imperial sentiment.

Liberal humanitarian imperial sentiment mobilised people to support the Great War not simply on the grounds that it was a war fought on behalf of the British Empire, but also because it was a just war. It both influenced, and was influenced by, Great War atrocity propaganda. Through an investigation of atrocity propaganda and the liberal and humanitarian ideals that largely underpinned it, this study demonstrates that Australians had a complicated relationship with the British Empire. I establish that liberal imperial humanitarian sentiment was vital in securing support for the war in two communities that had an ambivalent and sometimes extremely negative engagement with the British Empire: the labour movement and the Irish Australian community.

This thesis provides an original contribution to the field of Australian historical studies in three ways. Firstly, it provides a new interpretation of how Australians engaged with war propaganda: they were not passive recipients who embraced the war after being exposed to propaganda. Instead they were also producers of pro and anti war propaganda who worked in a politically contested space. Secondly, by showing that not all Australian supporters of the war were imperial jingoists, this thesis provides a more nuanced portrait of how Australians related to the British Empire. Imperial sentiment was not restricted to simple patriotism – it also was concerned with moral and ethical issues that were intertwined with liberalism and humanitarianism. This thesis proposes that the liberal imperial humanitarian sentiment contained in atrocity propaganda was of crucial importance in gaining Australian approval of the war. Atrocity propaganda contended that it was the duty of the British to protect Belgian civilians from the violence of the German military. This humanitarian interventionist argument appealed strongly to liberal imperialists. Thirdly, by mapping out the multidimensional relationship that Australians had with the British Empire, liberalism and atrocity propaganda, the thesis provides new insights into the political complexities that influenced whether Australians supported or opposed the war.