Was it propaganda or history?

My daughter said, “I wonder what propaganda the Russians used on their 20-year-old soldiers to justify invading Ukraine?”

I began an answer with history, that Ukraine could be considered the birthplace of Russia, Kievan-Russ founded by Scandinavian Vikings leading to Moscow as capital of succeeding Slavic groups. Russians consider Ukraine as always having been part of the larger nation of Slavs.

Then I decided that answer too long and too involved. I said, “What propaganda did Northern states use in order to convince tens of thousands of men to volunteer to force Confederate states back into the Union?” My daughter had no answer.

I asked that question at a history department faculty meeting at a college in Texas thirty years ago. The professors sat silent. After a moment, the dean of the department said, “My great-great-grandfather walked from Missouri to Illinois to enlist, but he never said why.” No one else expressed an opinion.