The impact of war, 1914-1922, social and cultural impact Flashcards
What social changes happened in August 1914
Outbreak of war
Defence of the Realm Act
When was conscription introduced?
January 1916=
for men aged 18-41
May 1916=
for married men up to 41
April 1918=
for all men 18-51
How many men were taken out of the economy into the armed forces
6 million
How many women entered the work force?
How many women moved from peace to wartime work
1 million
250,000
By 1918 what percentage of the workforce was women
1/3
By 1918, what percentage of the workforce in the shell factories were women
80%
What new types of work did women do during the war
jobs previously done by men in factories, offices and transport and work in munitions industry
Number of female employees in transport
18,000 in 1914
117,000 in 1918
Number of female employees in banking and finance
increased by 600%
Which two traditional all-male industries did women work in
shipbuilding and engineering
What did some women do to enable men to be freed for the front lines
Served in the armed forces
Which groups of the non-combatant sections of the armed forces did women join?
Women’s Royal Naval Service
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
Women’s Royal Air Force
By 1918 how many women were serving in the auxiliary services
150,000 as clerks, drivers, wireless operators, mechanics and fitters
What were the conditions of war work for women
Work in munitions factories was dirty and dangerous.
Many women workers were killed or injured in shell factory explosions and more than 100 died from diseases contracted through handling poisonous chemicals.
Women often worked long hours and sometimes at night.
What was the pay of war work
Much better paid than traditional domestic services, shop work or spinning in the textile mills
Many women became the main breadwinner.
With full employment and with overtime pay rates, women workers earned more money than ever before.
Many waddle-class young women often experienced for the first time some degree of financial independence.
However women did not always receive the same pay as men for the same work
Sex Disqualification Act
1919
Said women could no longer be barred from entering a career in the law or the Civil service on the basis of their gender.
This opened up Civil Service, local government and jury service for women.
Changed in women’s fashion
Shorter skirts and hairstyles symbolised a new freedom for women
Limitations to social change
Still a strong emphasis on women’s traditional roles, both during and after the war year. Women were portrayed as responsible for ‘keeping the home fires burning’, for bringing up the children and for nursing the wounded.
Domestic service by 1918
Although employment in the domestic service fell by 400,000 during the war there were still 1.2 million domestic servants in 1918, almost of all which were female.
What key occupations were women still excluded from
Coal mining and dock work
How was the situation of women workers viewed
Viewed as transitionary, an emergency measure, rather than a permanent social change
Position of women in work after the war
After 1918, many women returned to their pre-war jobs or to their homes.
By 1921, the percentage of women in the total workforce was little different from what it had been in 1911.
Effect of war on female franchise
Critical for overcoming objections of those who believed that women should not vote or who felt that allowing any significant female suffrage was giving into violence.
Effect of war on male franchise
War overcame any last remaining objections to full voting rights for men.
Soldiers, who were not resident householders, would not have been able to vote under the existing rules, and this was unthinkable
Why was reform of franchise necessary
Because the government planned a wartime election
How did the 1918 Representation of the People Act affect the electorate
It tripled it
1918 Representation of the People Act
- All men over the age of 21 became entitled to vote.
- Men over the age of 19 who had seen active service in the war got the vote for the next general election
- Women over 30 became entitled to vote if they were a member or married to a member of the local government register, a graduate voting in a university election or a property owner
1918 Representation of the People Act effect on women
Younger working-class women who had been most active in war work still did not have a vote. Working-class women did not receive the vote until 1928 when they finally enfranchised on the same terms as men in the Representation of the People Act.
Impact of war on trade unions
The war created a huge demand for extra workers which gave the trade unions huge bargaining powers which they exercised through their Trade Union Congress.
The trade unions on the whole co-operated with the government in banning strikes in essential war industry and accepting dilution and conscription.
Meanwhile, the Labour Constitution 1918 gave unions a key role in the party.
When was the miners’ strike
1921
How did war impact generally on Britain’s society
Changed beliefs and assumptions towards behaviour, mortality and religious practise.
The stuffier aspects of Victorian society loosened during the war and never quite returned.
Increased social mobility and changed inwoven’s political and social positions during and after the war
How did war impact on class divisions
They were not broken by any means. In female employment during war, working-class girls went mainly into munitions, middle-class girls more into nursing or administration. (yet working-class women still did not receive the vote)
In the armed forces, class divisions between officers and men remained clear cut.
However, the terrible death toll created a common bond of suffering and loss that ran across all social classes and was later expressed in the war memorials and rituals of remembrance.
How did war impact on religion
War gave churches a greater public role.
Thousands of chaplains were needed for the armed forces ti cater for the spiritual and religious needs of vast armies.
Churchmen were in demand to conduct religious services, preach supportive sermons and carry out burial services.
However, the war also proved a challenge to Christian churches.
Some found it hard to justify the slaughter on the Western Front or to reconcile this with faith in God.
Some church leader, including the Pope, tried to reconcile the opposing camps and promote peace.
How did the war challenge cultural assumptions
Challenged assumptions about the superiority of Western civilisation.
For four year the supposedly most civilised countries on the earth had waged an increasingly barbarous war against each other. This weakened assumptions about the innate superiority of European values and civilisation, and strengthened the ideas of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism.
How did war impact on arts
Created a culture than rejected the war and the society that had allowed it to happen.
Many artists embraced ‘modernism’ which rejected the values that had been so destructive.
Patriotism
Outbreak of war created a wave of patriotism.
This had been fed in Britain since the start of the century, in literature, in newspapers such as the Daily Mailm and in the music halls.
The arms race, in particular the naval race with Germany before 1914, had fed nationalist feeling and also promoted the idea that Germany was the enemy of Britain.
Posters
Recruitment poster played on the patriotic duty that all men had to sign up to fight for ‘king and country’.
As a result, in the first few months, tens of thousands of young men in a fever of patriotic enthusiasm joined the British army.
Over 1 million had signed up by the end of 1914 and, altogether about 2.5 million volunteered to fight.
