The Daily Mail was established in 1896 by Harold and Alfred Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones. It is a middle-market newspaper in the form of a tabloid, and in 2020 it became the United Kingdom's highest-circulating daily newspaper, overtaking The Sun. Alfred Harmsworth died in 1922.
In 1910, Harold Harmsworth was made Baron Rothermere of Hemsted in the County of Kent. He served as President of the Air Council during World War One, and was made Viscount Rothermere of Hemsted in the County of Kent in 1919. In 1921 he founded the Anti-Waste League to combat excessive government spending (his own views). Harmsworth (known henceforth as Rothermere) used his newspapers to try and influence British politics during the 1930s, reflecting his support of the appeasement of Nazi Germany. He is considered "perhaps the most influential single propagandist for fascism between the wars" by historian Martin Pugh. Rothermere visited and spoke to Hitler on multiple occasions - including after the 1930 elections. Rothermere was granted an exclusive interview by Hitler, as thanks for foreign support. Rothermere hoped that "Adolf the Great" would become popular in Britain.
Many secret MI5 papers relating to the war were declassified and released in 2005. These show that Rothermere wrote to Adolf Hitler in 1939, the year before his death, about the annexation of Czechoslovakia and encouraging him to invade Romania. He also described Hitler's work as "great and superhuman".
References:
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment