"Annalee Newitz traces the way disinformation, propaganda, and violent threats--the essential tool kit for psychological warfare--have evolved from military weapons used against foreign adversaries into tools used in domestic culture wars. Newitz delves into America's deep-rooted history with psychological operations, beginning with Benjamin Franklin's Revolutionary War-era fake newspaper and reaching its apotheosis with disinformation during twenty-first-century...

In the words of Adolf Hitler, the broad masses of a nation "more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." This documentary, filmed in 1951, compares...

A Crusade for Freedom film, edited by Bill Buckley, argues that the Soviets are ideologically committed to world domination, and that countering their propaganda is crucial. It shows American viewers translated Russian propaganda about the American way of life and aggressive intentions. It explores Radio Free Europe and related propaganda operations directed at penetrating the Iron Curtain and reaching Eastern European audiences.

In 1952, the Mau-Maus launched a rebellion against the British foreign rule in Kenya. The Mau-Mau's killed European settlers and African "loyalists" with equal abandon. The uprising continued until 1956 when British troops finally defeated the Mau-Mau's. The ultimate political impact of the rebellion was to make the injustices of European colonialism in Africa more visible to the world. In the two decades following, other African countries launched...

"Social media has been weaponized, as state hackers and rogue terrorists have seized upon Twitter and Facebook to create chaos and destruction. This urgent report is required reading, from defense expert P.W. Singer and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Emerson Brooking"--

When Adolf Hitler begins his campaign of conquest in 1939, most Germans actually don't want war. But Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels use every tool of propaganda to change their minds. German pride is invoked to justify the invasion of Poland and France. Messages of hatred are used to persuade Germans that minorities should be stripped of their rights, deported or sent to "detention" camps. Hitler's despotism would have its admirers...

By 1943, the tide is changing and Germany and Japan will have to change their messaging accordingly to reflect a new emerging reality. Truth and Total War explores how "total war" proves to be a major turning point for all combatants and how the stories told on all sides have to be adjusted. For the British and Canadians, an attempt to create some good news for the Allies by raiding the French seaside town of Dieppe, turns into a terrible failure....

This episode of the U.S. Army's The Big Picture television series presents enemy propaganda and its danger to the American way of life. This video from the National Archives and Records Administration is set in an exhibit room containing examples of media such as pamphlets, posters, broadcasts, and photographs, which were used by the enemy to disseminate propaganda. A member of the Office of Special Warfare, whose job it is to recognize propaganda,...

This classic episode of the U.S. Army's The Big Picture television series portrays the "Aggressor," the friendly enemy, the Army training organization whose mission is to assist in field exercises and maneuvers. Selected U.S. Army troop units acting as aggressor forces, with unique uniforms and their own language, challenge the military skills of the American fighting man-and provide a full-scale test of U.S. battle concepts. In this video from the...