The Home Front Flashcards
What was the Defence of the Realm Act? (DORA)
- It was passed in 1914 right at the start of the war with two basic aims:
1) To make sure the country had enought resources to fight the war
2) To make sure the British people were fit to fight and support the war
This allowed the government to:
-control industries like mining
-take over 2.5 billion acres of land and buildings
-bring in British Summer Daylight Time for more daylight working hours
-control driling hours and the strength of alcohol
-Introduce conscription
-stop people talking about the war and spreading rumours
-censor newpapers
-introduce rationing
What were the problems with the number of men in the front line at the beginning of the war?
1) Thousands rushed to the fighting as they thought it would be over by Christmas. They were enthusiastic as they wanted to be part of this ‘adventure’. But it didn’t last.
2) Kitchener wanted to introduce conscription in 1914, but Asquith refused. Instead there was a massive poster campaign
3) By 1915 the number of casualties was rising and the number of volunteers was slowing down. Men were being killed and wounded quickly, and there weren’t enough volunteers to replace them.
4) There was also a growing feeling that it wasn’t fair that some men were avaioding military duty
What rules, reasons and objections were there to military conscription in 1916?
1) All single men aged between 18-40 had to fight.
2) When there still weren’t enough soldiers married men had to join up too.
3) People who didn’t believe in the war were called consciencious objectors. They were treated as cowards and criminals and sent to prison. They were seen as traitors because they refused to fight. Some were members to groups like Quakers who had religious objections to fighting, so many instead agreed to non-violent war work like driving ambulances.
Why did women start doing “men’s jobs”?
-Many original volunteers came from heavy industries like coal mining. There was a shortage of workers in these industries, and without them Britain couldn’t supply the army. When conscription started there were even fewer men available to do the vital jobs, so women started taking their places in pits and factories.
Why were there food shortages in Britain?
1) German U-boats made it hard to import food from the US and countries that were part of that empire in 1914
2) Germany used these boats to attack shipping all around Britain and made it impossible to import all the food Britain needed to survive
3) By April 1917 Britain only had 6 weeks supply of wheat left, So David Lloyd George took three big steps to solve the food crisis
What did Lloyd George do in his three big steps to solve the food crisis in Britain in 1917?
1) He used navy convoys to protect merchant ships- the ships travelled in groups and were escorted by the royal navy to protect them.
2) Compulsory rationing started in 1918
- People got rationing coupons. They had to hand them over when they bought beer, butter sugar and meat each week.
- Some people hoarded food in fear of it running out and increasing prices, so they could sell it on later in a ‘food black market’
- There were shortages of some types of food but nobody starved
3) Britain grew more food- Farmers were encouraged to use more of their land to grow more food. And the Womens Land Army was set up in 1917. They were the force behind a new labour force available to work on farms.
What were attitudes to the war in the beginning?
1)There was a huge enthusiasm because it was seen as an adventure, honourable and that it would be over by Christmas.
How did the government keep people ignorant to what was going on in the war?
1) Letters were censored
2) Reporters weren’t allowed to see battles often
3) Newspapers were censored from 1914
4) No photographs could be taken showing dead soldiers
5) Casualty figures weren’t available from the government.
How did peoples attitudes towards the war change during the war?
1) People were killed in bombing raids, which was a new terrible danger
2)There were no obvious successes on the western front up until 1918
3)The government could hide casualty figures, but not the crippled and blinded veterans who returned to Britain, or keeps soldier deaths from
Families.
4)Rationing was difficult, the rich felt it was a hardship. Taxes increased to pay for the war. By 1917 people were sick of it and wanted it to end.
How did Britain use propaganda to encourage people to fight?
1) Propaganda posters encouraged men to sign up
2) Some propaganda was aimed abroad- to encourage US military involvement
3) In September 1914 the newly firmed War Propaganda Bureau asked 25 of Britains leading writers to aid the war effort. They produced pamphlets on Alleged German Outrages which included accusations of German crimes
4) The Ministry of Information produced propaganda films, yet it’s not clear how much public support they generated
5) In June 1917 the government set up a National War Aims Committee to issue propaganda literature and sponser speeches to improve morale
How was the war finally ended in November 1918?
1) The Usa entered the war in 1917. This was a massive help to the allied forces
2) Meanwhile trench warfare had worn Germany down. They asked for an armistice and was signed on November 11th 1918
3) The peace treaty was signed at Versailles June 1919- conditions were harsh for Germany
What was the mood in Britain like after the war?
1) As the government tried to control info during the war, people found out real facts by the end of it. People now felt that the government couldn’t be trusted
2) Many came to believe that the generals had been incompetent
3) Public school officers in trenches turned out to be no more competent than working class soldiers. Some people questioned the upper classes dominance in society.
4) Soldiers were disillusioned after the war. There was poverty and unemployment, they wondered what they had been fighting for
5) No war in European history produced so many casualties. The losses changed the balance of society.
6) Many were angry with Germany and wanted revenge.
