The Home Front Flashcards
What happened during the volunteering stage of the war?
- Britain only had 250,000 professional soldiers when the war broke out
- Lord Kitchener told the government he needed at least 1 million men
- Politicians toured the country to make patriotic speeches.
- 500,000 people joined the first month
- 20,000 joined per month
- March 1916 Lord Kitchener had over 2.5 million men
- press strengthened anti-German feelings as they said the killed babies
Roles of women in WW1?
- Women expected to manage budgets
- 1914 there were 5 million in work
- 16,000 women joined the land army
- 200,000 female government clerks
- Women started to go pubs
- 800,000 women in industry
What was DORA?
Defence of the Realm Act
What was the problem with munition and what did government do about it?
- Shortage of shells and bullets
- Rumoured that soldiers were limited to 3 rounds of ammo a day
What was done:
Coalition formed and Lloyd George made minister of munitions
-told essential workers to stay put and not go to better pay
-brought women into the work force
-open up governments munition factories
Evidence of success and evidence of failure with munitions?
Success:
- army well supplied after this
- equal pay established for women
Failure:
100,000 registered for industrial work but only 5000 given jobs
-women were thrown out of jobs when boys came home
-women suffered poisoning from working in factories
What was the problem with food shortages and what did the government do about it?
- GB dependent on foreign food
- April 1917 German U-boats were sinking 25% of Britain’s merchant shipping
- Prices doubled
- Britain only had 6 weeks of wheat left
What they did:
- May 1917- Voluntary rationing scheme
- Price of bread restricted to 9 penny loaf
- 1918 3 million acres of land suitable for growing crops was brought into use
- Wheat production was up 1 million tonnes
Evidence of success and failure for DORA food shortages?
Success:
-rationing welcomed as a fair system
-By the end of the war, many of the poorer people’s diets improved due to system
Failure:
-None of the measure relieved food shortages
-early 1918 compulsory rationing introduced
-stiff penalties for anyone who broke the rules
What was the problem with industrial supplies and what did the government do about it?
Problem:
- the government needs to ensure enough materials were produced to fuel the war
- the government need troops to move all around the country from camps to ports
- Government need to ensure vital goods could be imported abroad
- Workers were going on strikes due to bad working conditions or moved to where there was better pay making it harder to produced goods
What government did:
Mining
- government controlled coal industry
- profits were fixed and Treasury took any surplus
- National wage agreements were agreed so miners were paid the same everywhere
Shipping and Railways
- companies guaranteed same level of profit
- 1916 Lloyd George created Ministry of Shipping
- Increased rate of shipbuilding
- When U-boats sank 3.7 million tonnes of shipping he came up with a system where merchant ships and battleships sailed together
Evidence of success and failure of DORA industrial supplies
Success:
- Britain never ran out of food as it was imported from abroad with protection from navy
- troops could be transported quickly to frontline
- industry never ran out of goods or workers
Failure:
- ended free competition
- wages stayed low for workers
