Impact on the Home Front

Question 1

What is DORA

Answer 1

Defense of the Realm Act, introduced on 8th August 1914. An act that developed as the war did, prioritising efficiency and maximising output by implementing rules and restrictions on businesses and the public.

Question 2

List restrictions

Answer 2

-Not allowed to talk about the war: newspapers risked being shut down if they presented any anti-war or anti-government debates
-Intoxicating Liquor Act 31 August 1914: watered down beer and limited opening hours
-Gov could take over factories, and and workshops to centralise production
-Gov could convict anyone who broke laws of censorship

Question 3

What was the cause for the Munitions of War Act

Answer 3

Shells scandal in the early months of 1915 in which Woolwich Arms (a private company) was not producing enough shells, or high enough quality

Question 4

What did the Munitions of War Act do

Answer 4

2 July 1915
-Nationalised the war production by buying private companies
-Made David Lloyd George the Minister of Munitions
-Made leaving your job illegal
-Made striking illegal
-Changed working regulations relating to overtime
-Promised to raise wages after the war

Question 5

Army’s technology before Lloyd George

Answer 5

-Each battalion had 2 machine guns
-The army had 80 motor vehicles
-Guns and supplies were transported by horses
-The army lacked telephones and wireless equipment
-30,000 shells being produced per month
-Machine gun output: 287 in 1914

Question 6

Army technology after Lloyd George

Answer 6

-5.3m shells delivered between July and December 1915
-Machine gun output: 33,500 in 1916
-Raised finance from Indian Princes, e.g. for Stokes mortars
-Supported the use of tanks (unlike Kitchener)

Question 7

Role of women in FWW

Answer 7

-200,000 in the civil service
-500,000 in clerical work for private firms
-117,000 in the transport industry

Question 8

Impact of the FWW on women

Answer 8

5.9m women were already employed before the war, so it did not explicitly put women into the workforce, but drastically changed their roles.
7.3m by 1918: only a 23% increase

Question 9

Convoy System

Answer 9

Escorted merchant ships in large groups with battleships to prevent them from being attacked by German U-boats