Historian Justin McCarthy exposes Wellington House

Famous American history professor Justin McCarthy, who is an expert on the Ottoman Empire, Turks and the Middle East, offers the following important details about Wellington House and its anti-Turkish propaganda activities:

Wellington House drew on some of the best minds in the British government. The historian Arnold Toynbee was an adviser to Wellington House from 1914 and sat until 1917 on the committee that met daily and set propaganda policies. … Other private and public figures and members of ostensibly non-governmental patriotic organizations cooperated with or acted under the direction of the official propagandists.¹ British Universities provided propaganda pamphlets and expertise.

By the standards of the time, the British propaganda effort was a major undertaking. By 1917, Wellington House had a staff of 54 and could call on help from other departments and ministries. …

The first report (June, 1915) of Wellington House listed distribution of approximately 2.5 million copies of books, pamphlets, and other written propaganda in 17 languages. The second report (February, 1916) listed 7 million copies circulated. In 1914, British Propaganda distributed 45 different publications; in 1915, 132; in 1916, 202; in 1917, 469.² Unfortunately no record of distribution beyond 1917 exists. It can be assumed that the numbers continued to grow. All was done in secret and was done creatively.

The Wellington House brief was simple, the same brief as that of all propagandists. They were to make the enemies look as bad as possible and make their friends, and especially British themselves, look as good as could be. Their main focus was, naturally, Germany, but much effort was expended against the Turks…

… they destroyed all the records of the Propaganda Office immediately after the war. This has made it difficult to reconstruct the activities of the wartime propaganda office. [However], some Wellington House records were sent to other offices in the British Government. Although the originals were destroyed, copies were sometimes kept in relevant Foreign Office departments, especially in the Foreign Office records for the United States. The number of documents is modest, but they indicate some small part of Wellington House operations against the Turks.

Despite the effort to blot out the historical record, a good source on the actual publications of Wellington House exists: The record of the propaganda books distributed by Wellington House was kept in a hand-written ledger book, carefully bound. … These books were sent off to the Foreign Office Library, which was eventually opened to researchers. … the ledger affords a picture of British propaganda office activities. …

The publications listed in the ledger are only books or large pamphlets. They do not include press releases, articles, and other materials. The general themes of the propaganda are consistent from work to work: [Noble Turkish nation is above such remarks]

- Turks are illegitimate rulers who have destroyed all lands in which they have ruled. European rule over the Middle East would be far preferable.

- Turks are Muslims who hate all other religions, particularly Christianity. They have always treated Christians badly.

- Turks are guilty of inhuman atrocities against Christians, including mass murder and awful sexual crimes.

- The Germans stand behind Turkish evil deeds, either because they ordered the deeds or because they had the power to stop them and refused to do so.

- The mass of the people of the Ottoman Empire look to the British for salvation. This includes Muslims, who appreciate the good government the British have given Muslims in Egypt and India.

British propaganda made special efforts to tie the Germans to the Turks. This was an intelligent ploy, especially in the United States, where there was much pro-German sentiment but Muslims were held in disdain. British propaganda "proved" that the Germans could not be true Europeans, because they consorted with evil Muslim [Muslims are above such remarks] and Asiatic Turks. …

The list of publications in the ledger is long, but for the Middle East there are a more limited number of books. The table gives only those volumes, but it provides an idea of the breadth and the scope of the Wellington House interests. They include Palestine, Jews and Zionism, and especially the Turks.³

1. George G. Bruntz, Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire, New York: Arno Press, 1972, p. 42

2. M. L. Sanders and Philip M. Taylor, British Propaganda During The First World War, 1914-18, London: Palgrave, 1982, p. 108

3. Justin McCarthy, "Wellington House and the Turks", Louisville University, Department of History/USA