Fighting a Philosophy’: The Figure of Nietzsche in British Propaganda of the First World War

The article describes how Nietzscheʹs name became a focus for the expression of anti-German sentiment in writings by British opinion-formers and propagandists at the time of the First World War. Drawing on a range of sources, this essay counters the view that Nietzscheʹs impact on British public opinon in 1914 was negligible. It is argued that the singular view of Nietzsche which emerged in Britain at this time was due not only to the demands of wartime propaganda but also to the malleability of Nietzscheʹs texts. The article emphasizes the irony of this exploitation, given Nietzscheʹs hostility to nationalism and ‘Germanness’.