British Depth: Home War front Flashcards
How many men immediately signed up to fight in WW1?
500,000
How many men had signed up to fight by March 1916?
2.5 million
When was conscription introduced?
1916
What were ‘conchies’?
Conscientious objectors
What did ‘conchies’ do?
They refused to fight for humanitarian or religious reasons
What did ‘conchies’ do for the war?
They usually did non-combatant work (e.g ambulance driving etc) but some were absolutists
What were absolutists?
They were people who refused to have anything to do with the war- they were sent to labour camps or prison
What were the three ways in which Britain was attacked in the war?
Air, Naval and Zeppelin (bombing raids)
In total how many zeppelin raids were there? How many people were killed by them?
57 raids, 564 killed and 1370 injured
What did DORA stand for?
Defence Of the Realms Act
Who was conscripted?
Anyone between the ages of 18 and 40
Why was conscription introduced?
The number of volunteers in the army was falling- December 1915 had the lowest number of recruits since the war’s beginning
When was DORA passed?
1914
What powers did DORA give the government?
Taking over businesses/land/industries and censor what people knew about the war
What year did the munitions crisis occur?
1915
Who was the munitions crisis exposed by?
The Daily Mail
Who was made minister of munitions?
David Lloyd George
How many women signed up to work in industry in 1915?
100,000
How many women were initially given industry jobs in 1915?
5000
Why did trade unions resist women working in industry initially?
They knew that women didn’t work for as much pay- so thought they would become more well employed than men and there wouldn’t be jobs left post-war
What did Lloyd George do to prevent trade unions resisting women’s employment in industry?
Gave men and women equal pay and promised not to keep women on after the war
What organisation was set up in 1917?
The Women’s Land army
What was happening to food as the war progressed?
In April 1917 German U-boats were sinking 1/4 of British merchant ships
What extreme did the food shortage reach?
In April 1917 Britain had only 6 weeks of wheat left
When was voluntary rationing introduced?
May 1917
Why did many workers go on strike in 1917?
Their wages were too low for the increasing price of food
What happened to food supplies pre-rationing?
Supply was dangerously low, and the rich bought more food than needed and hoarded it, whereas the poor could barely afford anything
When was compulsory rationing introduced?
early 1918
What foods were rationed?
sugar, butter, meat and beer
How did the government control bread prices?
In Nov 1917 they introduced the ‘nine-penny loaf’
How did the Royal family try to support rationing?
They declared that they would reduce their bread consumption by 1/4 and reduce use of flour (May 1917)
When were journalists (even then only approved ones) first allowed at the front?
November 1916
Despite the issues of the first months of the war, what were people at home told?
Only British victories were reported or heroic resistance
When British battleship Audacious was sunk what happened?
When it was sunk (in Oct 1914) it was simply not reported
After the war what happened to the ‘paper barons’ - the heads of British newspapers?
The leading 12 were given knighthoods for wartime services
What happened to newspapers that were anti-war or posted balanced views on the war?
They were initially tolerated but as the war continued pacifist papers (eg Tribunal) were shut down, and socialist ones (eg Daily Herald) were monitored
What did censors examine in 1916?
38,000 articles, 25,000 photographs and 300,000 private telegrams
What did leading authors do to support the war?
They (HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling) signed a Declaration by Authors in support of the war
What was the ‘Red Book’?
A five-volume explanation of Britain’s justification in going to war- made by Oxford University. 50,000 copies were sold
How many war films were produced?
240 between 1915 and 1918 (few of which were actually commissioned)
Who created the most famous propaganda films?
The British Topical committee for War Films- a group of film companies who made and sold film to the War Department
What were the most famous war films?
The Empire (approx. audience of 9 million) and The Battle of the Somme (showed real footage mixed in with staged footage) -had been shown in 2000/4500 cinemas in the country after only 3 months of release
How many people were reading daily newspapers during the war?
Over 1/2 of the country’s population- and this number increased through the war
How many conchies actually were there?
It was in reality a very small proportion, about 16,000 out of about 8 million who were conscripted
