The British Home Front During World War 1
Conscription
The idea of conscription at the beginning of world war one was rejected as the government said that it wasn't very democratic. The ban on conscripion was then remved in 1916 when they needed ore soldiers fot the war.
The battle of the somme happened on the first of july 1915 which lost the British army lots of men. 1915 was the first time mustard gas was used. Both sides weren't prepared for the health effects that it would cause.
People stopped voulenteering for war when they realise what is happening in the trenches and they realised that people were getting killed.
Propaganda
Propaganda was used in war posters such as the lord kitcheners poster, the women say go and the remember scarborough poster. Propaganda was not just about finding recruits; it was designed to make people believe in certain ideas and viewpoints and to think in certain ways
The lord kitcheners posterwas incredibly sucsessful as he was a key general in the previous war and he had retired by the first world war. Many of the posters say 'you' as it made the men feel involved in the war cause. It could also imply that it was talking to the reader. In the 'women say go' poster it shows that women love a soldier rather than a 'coward' that doesn't fight in the war. The 'remember scarborough' poster shows that the British men should give back to the country and retaliate on the Germans as they bombed scarborough. The cinema acted like the news as it gave videos of the trenches every few weeks. But they sometimes staged the battles to make things looked better than they were. They wrongly left in parts of murder and deaths as the thought that it would make people more sympathetic towards them and make them want to join but it had an opposite impact. The government forced censorship into the newspapers to make the trenches look like a good enviroment and that everything was happy. The government also got the leading authors to sign contracts and a decleration to support the war effort.
Rationing
Rationing started in 1918 which showed that the government weren't prepared as they couldn't maintain food levels. The German U boats destroyed our food supplies. We imported most of our food and we couldn't grow much in England due to the weather conditions.
Conscientious objectors
Some people refused to go to war for several reaons. If you said that you didn't want to go fight in the war you had to have a trial infront of the army generals, if they believed you: you wouldnt have to go to fight. They could give you a non-miliatnt job in the trenches for example: Helping pick up bodies. You could also be fully exempt from war all togther but that normally wasn't the case. If the army generals didn't thinnk that you had a good enough excuse or didn't believe your reasons about not going to way you could've been sent to prison and treated really badly or you could be sent to war and forced to fight which was usually the case.
There were two types of conscientious objectors:
Absolutists- Refussed to be involved with the war effort in every way. These people were usually pacifists.
Alternativists- These people refused to fight but took on other jobs such as: Stretcher bearers and they often grew crops. The alternativists were a non-comat group but were willing to help the war effort without killing anyone.
DORA (Defence Of the Realms Act) August 8th 1914
no-one was allowed to talk about naval or military matters in public places,
no-one was allowed to spread rumours about military matters,
no-one was allowed to buy binoculars
no-one was allowed to trespass on railway lines or bridges
no-one was allowed to melt down gold or silver
no-one was allowed to light bonfires or fireworks
no-one was allowed to give bread to horses, horses or chickens
no-one was allowed to use invisible ink when writing abroad
no-one was allowed to buy brandy or whisky in a railway refreshment room
no-one was allowed to ring church bells the government could take over any factory or workshop
the government could try any civilian breaking these laws
the government could take over any land it wanted to the government could censor newspapers
As the war continued and evolved, the government introduced more acts to DORA. The government introduced British Summer Time to give more daylight for extra work opening hours in pubs were cut beer was watered down customers in pubs were not allowed to buy a round of drinks.
How did women help the war effort?
Many women were recruited for the war as nurses into the Voluntary Aid Detachments or Nursing and as drivers, cooks and telephonists.
Many women 'munitionettes' worked in the government's munitions factories. This had health impacts on the women. Their teeth fell out and their skin and hair turned yellow. They were often called canaries. Women also took on traditional men's jobs and became firemen, coalmen and bus conductors. The Women's Land Army helped with agricultural production. The land army started when food shortages began as they couldn't import much food. After the war, men took back their jobs and most women returned to the family. However, the War did bring about political and social changes:Political - women over 30 years old got the vote in 1918. Women were also allowed to stand for election as MPs, but there were only eight women MPs in 1923. Women became more liberated. Short skirts and short hair became fashionable and many women smoked in public.
