Self-Representation and Representation of the Other in the Great War Propaganda. Some Passages from “La Tradotta” and “Die Tiroler Soldaten-Zeitung”

Abstract

The main aim of this work is to identify, analyse and propose to modern readers and scholars, in an imagological perspective, how war propaganda, through trench papers, was able to create a group identity and a war mentality during the Great War.

In particular, this article concentrates on the vis-à-vis between Italy and Austria examining both an italian and an austrian trench paper (“La Tradotta” and the “Tiroler Soldaten-Zeitung”).

Through the comparison between some of the most interesting pieces of the two, the author tried to make the reader understand how war propaganda worked with language and how important it was in the creation of consent.

It emerges a skilful use of persuasion strategies which can be also seen in a more current perspective and can be useful for the study of modern mass media and their capacity to drive people’s way of thinking and behaviour.