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When the First World War began in 1914, nations discovered that modern war required more than guns and factories. It needed imagination. The conflict would be fought not only on the battlefield but in newspapers, cinemas, schools, and living rooms. For the first time, governments set out to manage what people felt. Posters, songs, films, and radio broadcasts became weapons in a struggle for morale. The same technologies that had been used to sell soap and cigarettes were now used to sell sacrifice and endurance. The twentieth century’s wars were also wars of culture — battles to control the stories…