World history posters assist educators with teaching students about how the United States and other countries have interacted with the world around them. Because of the nature of educational historic pictures, they reveal not only events in history but also the cultural impact of people's attitudes during those events.
Many of the world history posters that are used in American classrooms are war pictures, particularly the two World Wars, Vietnam War, Korean War, and other military conflicts that occurred within the past century of America's history. These historical event images include propaganda, such as the iconic 'I Want You' recruitment poster, war pictures, like 'Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945' by Joe Rosenthal, and many other images which provided informational and societal information about these world-altering events.
However, not all world history posters are concerned with war. Many times, the content of historical event images is purely civil in nature. These works are just as important historically as war images, although they target more domestic sources of unrest. Examples of this kind of world history image is seen in the poster 'We Can Do It!' by J. Howard Miller.
World history posters also explore other countries, as well. As the world has become increasingly integrated and connected, historical event images from other countries are becoming an increasingly useful resource for educators. This focus on educational historic pictures is leading to more a culturally sensitive generation and encourages students not to make the same mistakes as their ancestors.
