The Raid on Scarborough
The December 1914 German attack on the coastal cities of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby, were the first real experience with the war for the majority of English civilians. The German soldiers who led these attacks killed almost 200 civilians, with another 500 casualties.
This was a great boon for the British propaganda producers, as it gave them a new angle from which to attack the Germans. While previous pieces of propaganda attacked the Germans from a legal foundation, propaganda produced in response to these raids was able to highlight the "quintessential immorality of 'Prussian Militarism'." (Sanders 138) This new form of attack would prove much more effective a tool at shaping the opinion of the average civilian on the street in Great Britain.
This was a great boon for the British propaganda producers, as it gave them a new angle from which to attack the Germans. While previous pieces of propaganda attacked the Germans from a legal foundation, propaganda produced in response to these raids was able to highlight the "quintessential immorality of 'Prussian Militarism'." (Sanders 138) This new form of attack would prove much more effective a tool at shaping the opinion of the average civilian on the street in Great Britain.
Posters of this type appealed directly to the citizens of Britain, and made a far more effective arguement against the Germans than materials which concerned the 'Scrap of Paper.'