5. England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty War Declared On Germany Daily Express
The outbreak of at least one of the World Wars was bound to crop up in this list, and it happens to be the Great War which sneaks in. On August 4, 1914, Britain officially declared war on Germany, setting in motion a four-year conflict that would prove to be the bloodiest and most brutal in the history of mankind to that date. No-one at the time quite knew what to expect and many thought the war would be over by Christmas but the magnitude of several European powers being involved in armed conflict was not entirely unappreciated. With the headline England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty War Declared on Germany, the Daily Express brought the news to Britain that a conflict was about to ensue. Well, more correctly, the Express brought the news to England, such was the Anglocentric nature of the press at time. The more things changes, the more they stay the same I suppose... The headline also displayed the influence the government had over the media at the time, with the expectation that Every Man Will Do His Duty statement clear propaganda from the government.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
