Propaganda implies the dissemination of ideas and information for the purpose of inducing or intensifying specific attitudes and actions. The word 'propaganda' comes from the Latin verb propagare, 'to propagate'. Originally, 'propagate' meant to 'reproduce' or 'to spread'. It came to mean also 'to transmit' and 'to spread form person to person'. Every since people began to live together, they have tried to influence one another. In early Babylonian, Egyptian and Roman times, priests played on popular superstitions to keep themselves in power. Ramses II, the Egyptian pharaoh, filled the walls of his temples with victorious war scenes to emphasise his

Propaganda relies on symbols to attain its end: the manipulation of collective attitudes. The most powerful symbols are regularly religious ones. In 1933, Adolph Hitler came in power in Germany, and he was the incarnation of the "national community"; he was invariably right. He made masses reach the apex by arriving late and always animated his entrances. The swastika almost had the same significance with the Christian cross and Hitler's ceremonies were deliberately designed to parallel Christian ceremonies. In Germany, Mein Kampf became the equivalent of the Bible and overall, Nazism developed into a form of organised religion. The propaganda conducted in this case is proven to be the most effective, and it's still partially used in today's world politics.

In the 20th century, propaganda was most often thought of as a tool of governments. It was a key weapon in the dictatorship system and it sought to direct the will of the people. The dictatorship type of government, like the former one in Romania, controlled all media of communication. They thereby controlled what people saw, heard, read and learned. China crossed a dictatorship period lead by Mao Tze Dun, until mid 1980's. Similar to any of the other countries with the same system, all communication with the rest of the world was strictly forbidden. The access to free information was denied and any kinds of trips were also prohibited. Until this day, China remained under this system of government, despite the economic improvement and the free communication to other countries.

Who can possibly predict what exists within different governments' political and military arsenal at this point in time? The only confirmation is that the world portrays mainly an image. It is foolish to deny the existence of governmental influence, and it is fool hearty to believe that a country can survive without the extensive intelligence infrastructure that supports it. The technological advances of the mass media, especially those of the electronic media, are expanding the outlets available to propagandists and are likely to have a significant impact on propaganda efforts in the future.

A significant aspect of public influence is the notion of psychological warfare. This encompasses the use of information against the human mind. There are four major categories of psychological warfare: operations against the national will, operations against the troops, operations against the opposing commanders and, most importantly, cultural conflict. The use of psychological war against a national will is either through the velvet glove ('accept us as friendly') or the iron fist ('or else'). Second, the operations against troops offer variations on two traditional themes: fear of death and potential resentment between the trench and the castle (or home front). Take for example the Gulf War, where Coalition forces convinced many Iraqis that if they abandoned their vulnerable vehicles they would live longer. Weapons that had

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ilich Lenin, Bill Clinton, Mussolini Hitler, Public Opinion, Little Western, Tze Dun, War Coalition, Founding Fathers, Mein Kampf, War American, propaganda machine, psychological warfare, opposing commanders, cultural conflict, russian children, mass media, system government, operations troops, public opinion,
Approximate Word count = 2001
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)