Public Perception of and Changing Attitudes to War on the Western Front (1914-18) Flashcards
How popular was the war in 1914?
- Very
- Even anti-government groups, such as Irish Nationalists, largely suspended their protests
What was the main form of opposition the government faced? What was the scale of this?
- Conscientious objectors; men who refused to fight
- Of the 1.5 million men that were conscipted, 16,500 applied for exemption on grounds of their conscience
How were conscientious objectors dealt with? Give 3 details.
- Most were given some alternative form of work, such as ambulance service
- There were 1300 ‘absolutists’ that refused to do any service, and they were sentenced to imprisonment
- About 70 of them died as a result
List 3 ways the government controlled what was reported about the war.
- They had censors at the front to control direct reportage
- They had an agreement with newspapers
- Soldiers’ letters were read by army censors, and they removed any sensitive material
What was set up in 1914 to control sentiment around the war?
- The War Propaganda Bureau
What were 3 purposes of propaganda?
- It encouraged men to sign up
- Some was anti-German, and capitalised on atrocities in Belgium
- It was also directed towards other countries, namely the USA
When were war correspondents allowed to go to the front? Why?
- May 1915
- People became frustrated by the one-sided accounts given by the War Office
Although war correspondents were allowed to go to the front, in what 5 ways were they restricted?
- They were only allowed to go to the rear of the front
- They were hurried away as soon as a battle started
- Press officers were ordered to waste the time of the correspondents
- Despatches went to censors that deleted sensitive material
- Publishing unauthorised news ran the risk of prosecution
What did one of the first war correspondents allowed at the front think about the impact of censorship? Which paper did he write for?
- Philip Gibbs, the Daily Telegraph
- He thought reports had little impact on public opinion, and that no-one believed war correspondents anyway
To what degree did the government even need to restrict the output of journalists? Give an example, and further proof.
- Not much, as the press largely censored itself
- Lord Northcliffe, who owned the Times and the Daily Mail, did not allow criticisms of the Gallipoli campaign (1915-16), for example
- No papers were actually prosecuted for expressing unwelcome opinions
How did public opinion about the war change? Give an example.
- The initial optimism was replaced by bereavement
- At the end of 1917, the Times stopped publishing full casualty lists as these were seen as demoralising
When was the press given more freedom at the front? Why?
- After the shells scandal
- Sir Edward Grey was informed that censorship was losing Britain support in the USA
When did the government and the army decide to cooperate with the press? Why?
- 1917
- They realised directing reportage was more helpful than censoring it, especially as it got the press on their side
How did the government use media to their advantage?
- To manage publicity, they had a:
- Cinema Division
- Political Intelligence Division
- News Division
How big of an impact can newspapers be said to have had?
- They helped fuel such strong anti-German sentiment that the royal family changed their surname to Windsor
To what degree did photography truly show what war was like on the Western Front to the British public? Give 3 details.
- Official war photos were censored
- The ones that were published showed the positive side of the army
- Some were even fakes (scenes staged elsewhere)
