Religious War Propaganda

The Crusades are remembered as the largest religious conflicts in history.  A series of wars were launched over the course of almost two centuries because "God Wills It".  In a way this mirrors the propaganda of wars in the twentieth and twenty-first century.  Instead of focusing on nationalism like more current wars, the Crusade focused more on creating religious propaganda.

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

Priests convinced people to join because to show devotion to God, the Pope also promised to forgive the sins of those who fought in the Crusades.  The religious banner behind the Crusades convinced many people to fight because their beliefs gave them something to fight for.  This strategy of religious propaganda clearly worked since it convinced people to keep fighting for nearly two centuries.  

Centuries later countries often relied on a sense of nationalism to fight in wars.  This convinced people to fight for their country and the beliefs that their country stood for.  Nationalism was used heavily in global conflicts like World War II, which helped convince many people to enlist.  While the Crusade was an event that happened centuries ago, the techniques used to get so many involved in them are not unlike more recent war propaganda.