"G.I, your government has abandoned you."

"Defect, G.I., you know you cannot win this war."

"Your rich leaders grow richer, while you die in the swamp."

A stop in their tracks, a slight hesitation in their fingers, their eyes blinking with realisation. For a minute or two, the air was still. The instinct to run away and escape was growing ever larger. This is propaganda.

A tool used in war to influence public opinion and support war efforts, typically done in emotional and persuasive techniques. Whether it is to instill fear or a sense of patriotism to fight for their country, propaganda plays a huge role in war. It is often presented in a biased way, with incomplete information and narrative manipulation. Propagandists have a specified goal in mind, and it is to control and sway the public opinion. To achieve this, they purposefully use selective facts and present them in a way they think have maximum effect.

In the ancient Asiatic civilization before the rise of Athens as a great center of human society, many people lived under despotism, where freedom of speech was very minimal. There were no channels or methods for them to use in formulating or expressing their feelings and wishes as a group. In Athens, however, the Greek citizens were conscious and passionate of their interests as a group and were well informed on the problems and affairs of their city-state. Differences on religious and political matters gave rise to propaganda and counterpropaganda. The strong-minded Athenians, though lacking such tools as the newspaper, the radio, and the movies, could use other powerful engines of propaganda to promote attitudes and opinions. The other powerful engines being Greek games, the theater, the assembly, the law courts, and religious festivals. These gave opportunity for propagandizing ideas and beliefs. Furthermore, the Greek playwrights made use of the drama for their political, social, and moral teachings. Another effective instrument was oratory -- the art or practice of formal speaking in public -- in which the Greeks excelled. And though there were no printing presses, handwritten books were circulated in the Greek world in efforts to shape and control the opinions of men.

World War I dramatized the power and triumphs of propaganda. And both fascism and communism in the postwar years were the centers of intense revolutionary propaganda. After capturing office, both fascists and communists sought to extend their power beyond their own national borders through the use of propaganda.

Recent economic changes have expanded the volume of propaganda. Under the conditions of mass production and mass consumption, techniques of propaganda and public relations have been greatly developed to help sell commodities and services and to give rise to good will among consumers, employees, other groups, and the public at large.