War Flashcards
What was the 1918 Representation of the People Act?
First act to include women in the political system
What was recruiting like during the war?
Female members of Active Service League encourage young men to enlist, the Mothers’ Union published posters critising those who did not join up
They did not fight but many were nurses on the front line, thousands worked for voluntary organisation in France and Belgium, the Salvation Army provided soup kitchens for soldiers, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) formed in 1918 worked as drivers, secretaries and officials on the western front
Government took on 200,000 women during the war, initially trade unions feared women would lower the wages but by the end there were 800,000 women in engineering, around 260,000 worked on farms in the Women’s Land Army
Thousands were employed in munitions factories giving status and money but also had major health affects on the women
What were the new government powers?
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What was the Defence of the Realm Act 1914?
q conscription, rationing, use of propaganda and their impact on civilian life?
In August 1914, the government passed DORA, the act gave the government a wide range of powers over the media, food production, industry etc.
- the government took over many coal mines, miners were not conscripted and the gov. fixed prices and wages
- Similar was done to railways and shipping
- Early 1915, it was clear that private enterprise was unable to handle munitions and David Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions, he reorganised production and set up new state-run factories and by the end controlled around 20,000 factories
What was the mood of the people at the end of the war?
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What were the different attitudes to what should of happened to Germany?
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What was recruitment like for men?
Around 750,000 men joined up in the first few weeks, the ‘Pals Battalion’ was where group of friends joined up to fight together. Between August 1914 and March 1916, 2.5 million volunteered.
More troops were needed due to high casualty rate, conscription was being thought of.
By May 1916 conscription was introduced for all men between 18-41 under the military service act. Only men involved in reserve occupations (munitions or mining) were exempt
Conscientious objecters had to appear before local tribunals to explain why (conchies), most joined for medical or other support services with about 1500 imprisoned.
What was food and rationing like?
DORA allowed the government to take control of food supplies and Britain did not suffer shortages until 1916 but prices rose rapidly (60%) Britain imported a lot of its food and the German U-boats made food rationing more serious
The government increased food production by bringing all available land into production (3m extra acres by 1918)
Voluntary rationing did not work in 1916 so compulsory rationing was introduced in 1918
Sugar, meat, butter, jam were all rationed, most people supported it as it was fair and kept at decent prices
There was a black market in goods which DORAs penalties for illegal trading were severe
What were civilian casualties like?
about 1500 killed by enemy actions
December 1914, german warships shelled towns in the north-east
January 1915, Zeppelin began bombing raids (57)
May 1917, german Gotha bombers began the first of 27 raids on british towns
What was propaganda like?
DORA allowed censorship, pacifist newspaper ‘The tribunal’ was shut donw and the Socialist paper ‘Daily Herald’ was monitored, but mainly people supported the war
After the war, twelve newspaper owners were given knighthoods
Leading Authors produced patriotic material for no fee and were bought in thousand (Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling)
aimed at children through books games and toys
Patriotic films with views of around 20 million for the battle of the somme, which gave a more realistic view of war and was not made by the government
