Mind-Munitions

War and the Communications Revolution 175
But that war and its horrors were still physically distant, despite
the coverage given to it by the fledgling newsreel companies. In
America, Hearst had proved just as capable of jingoistic slogans in
the Spanish-American War (1898) with his cry to ‘Remember the
Maine’ (an American warship sunk by the Spanish at the outset of
the war). But it was the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 that was
watched with particular interest by political and military authorities
alike to ascertain the role of the modern media in determining
the outcome of a conflict between major powers. Within a decade,
the lessons learned from that conflict were to be put to the test in
the bloodiest struggle yet experienced by mankind.