Britain 7- The social and cultural impact of war

Question 1

During the war , how many women entered the workforce?

Answer 1

Around a million

Question 2

By 1918, how much of the workforce did women make up?

Answer 2

1/3

Question 3

What year was the sex disqualification act and what did it do?

Answer 3

1919, women no longer had the right to be barred from a career in the law or the civil service on the basis of their gender

Question 4

What did the sec disqualification act open up to women?

Answer 4

Careers in the civil service, local govt and jury service

Question 5

What changed culturally for women by the end of the war?

Answer 5

Fashions, with shorter skirts and hairstyles

Question 6

When was the representation of the people act and what did it mean?

Answer 6

1918
-all men over the age of 21 became entitled to vote
- men over the age of 19 who had seen active service got the right
-women over 30 with property could vote

Question 7

Why did the miners strike (1921) take place?

Answer 7

-govt refused to nationalise the coal mines
-mine owners cut wages and lengthened hours in order to compete with foreign coal imports
- high levels of unemployment also allowed mine owners to increase wages as the workers had no where else to go

Question 8

Why were the govt concerned about the miners’ strike of 1921?

Answer 8

A National miners strike occurred and it seemed like it could escalate into a general strike as railway men and transport workers backed the miners.

Question 9

How did the govt deal with the miners strike?

Answer 9

DLG intervened personally and managed to split the potential alliance. On Black Friday, railway mean and transport workers backed down and miners went on strike alone. They were forced to accept pay cuts.

Question 10

What were miners forced to accept after the miners strike of 1921?

Answer 10

Pay cuts that left their wages 20% lower than in 1914

Question 11

What cultural changes occurred during the war?

Answer 11

Stuffier aspects of Victorian society loosened through increased social mobility and changes in women’s political and social positions, challenged assumption of western and European superiority + strengthen ideas of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism, artists embraces modernism

Question 12

What cultural aspects didn’t change as a result of the war?

Answer 12

Class divisions remained but with a common bond of suffering due to loss in the war

Question 13

What did the 1916 conscription act mean?

Answer 13

Meant that men had the right to claim exemption form military service.

Question 14

What were men called who claimed exemptions from military service?

Answer 14

Conscientious objectors

Question 15

Give the 3 reasons for being a conscientious objector and an example

Answer 15

Religious reasons (e.g. quakers who believed in pacifism), political reasons (activists of the left saw WWI as an imperialist war)
Moral reasons (some felt it wrong to kill)

Question 16

What was the process of for a CO claiming exemption form military service?

Answer 16

A CO had to go to a local tribunal to give his reasons and if they were not accepted he would be sent to the Front.

Question 17

What did some COs agree to do instead of fighting and how many?

Answer 17

10,000 out of 16,000 agreed to do some work for the govt like driving ambulances but those who didn’t want to be involved ‘absolutists’ were imprisoned

Question 18

What dangers did soldiers experience in the trenches?

Answer 18

Poison gas, shrapnel and shells

Question 19

Why were the living conditions in trenched appalling?

Answer 19

Mid, live, rats, rotten corpses, poor sanitation

Question 20

What long term effects of the war did the soldiers face?

Answer 20

Shell shock, mental trauma, disfigurement, loss of limbs

Question 21

what did the no. of women in transport rise from and to 1914-18?

Answer 21

18,000 -> 117,000

Question 22

what were working conditions like for women?

Answer 22

work in munitions factories dirty and dangerous. many killed or injured in shell factory explosions and more than 100 died from diseases contracted through handling poisonous chemicals

Question 23

what were the effects of women’s work on their family lives?

Answer 23

often worked long hours which disrupted family life and put relationships under strain (however war work better payed than domestic)

Question 24

what were the limitations of social change brought by women’s war-time employment?

Answer 24

still srong emphasis on women’s traditional roles. they were portrayed as responsible for ‘keeping the home fires bruning’ for bringing up the children and nursing the wounded

Question 25

how did the Church’s role change post-war?

Answer 25

greater public role. 1000s of chaplains needed to cater for the religious eeds of teh vast armies and churchmen in demand to, for example, carry out burial services. however, some found it hard to justify the slaughter on th Western front or to recomcile this with faith in God (religious beliefs undermined)

Question 26

how many volunteered to fight in total?

Answer 26

2.5 million