WW1: On The Homefront Flashcards
1
Q
What is the ‘home-front’?
A
-Life in Britain during WW1
2
Q
What is a ‘Total war’?
A
-A war that involves or effects all society
3
Q
How did Women support the war effort in 1914?
A
- They stopped all campaigning
- They set up organisations such as the Women’s Hospital Corps and the Women’s Police Volunteers
4
Q
Did people support the war?
A
- Yes
- In 1914 half a million men joined the army
- These feelings went down after Christmas 1914, as everyone thought it would be over.
5
Q
How did women support the war effort in 1915?
A
-Lloyd George and Mrs Pankhurst organised a ‘Women’s job march’ to recruit women for factories
6
Q
Who refused to employ women? And how did they resolve it?
A
- Trade Unions and Employers
- The government agreed with the trade unions that they’d pay women the same as men
7
Q
Why was the Munitions Crisis important?
A
- Allowed women to work in factories
- Allowed them to help out more with the war effort
- A coalition government was set up
- Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions. He introduced a wide range of measures to ‘deliver the goods’
- New National Shell Factories
- 20,000 munition factories and their workers were controlled by the government
- Wages were controlled
8
Q
When was conscription set up? And did people like it?
A
- Set up in 1916 for non-married men aged 18-40
- May 1916 a further Conscription Act extended to all men of military age, married or not.
- Between 1916-18, around 1 in 3 men were conscripted
- Public didn’t like to as they’re loved ones had to leave
- 50 MPs voted against it in parliament
9
Q
How many people joined the army in September 1914 compared to September 1915?
A
- 1914, just under 500,000
- 1915, under 100,000
10
Q
Why was the number of volunteers higher in 1914?
A
-They thought the war would be over by Christmas
11
Q
What were Conchies?
A
- Conscientious Objectors
- They are people who are opposed to the war for religious or political reasons
- It would be against their conscience to fight
12
Q
What was DORA?
A
- Defence of the Realm Act
- Set up on the 8th August 1914
- Gave the government power to bypass parliament and are laws themselves
13
Q
What was the Problem with Mining? How was it solved and what was the importance?
A
- Problem: If mining wasn’t controlled by the government, they wouldn’t contribute
- Solution: The government took control, so that coal was for the war and not the coal owners
- Importance: Coal is need to run the steam engines and machines in factories
14
Q
What was the Problem with Food Production and Distribution? How was it solved and what was the importance?
A
- Problem: Britain depends on foreign imports (40% meat and 80% wheat)
- shortages occurred in 1916 and worsened in 1917
- German U-Boat sunk 1 in 4 merchant ships
- In April 1917 Britain was down to 8weeks supply of wheat
-Solution: LG persuades farms to turn pasture land into arable land which lead to an increase of potatoes and wheat.
-The Ministry of Food upped the price of bread. There were compulsory rationing in 1918
-It subsidised the price of bread which meant the price fell,
even the poorer families could afford the ‘nine-penny loaf’
-It encouraged voluntary rationing
-The Royal Family led the way by announcing they were going to reduce the amount of bread they ate
-Important: Britain needs food to keep going
15
Q
What was the problem with Railways? How was it solved?
A
- Problem: Trains needed to move troops around the country.
- Also to send cargo to factories and give troops supplies
- Solution: Government ran them as a single unified system
- Railway companies granted the pay they had in 1913
16
Q
What was the problem with Shipping? How was it solved and why was it important?
A
- Problem: German U-Boats sunk 3.7 million tonnes of British shipping in Spring 1917
- Solution: Ministry of shipping imposed a convoy system, whereby merchant ships sailed together, accompanied by battle ships
- Importance; Britain became stronger
17
Q
What was the problem with Munitions? How was it solved and why was the important?
A
- Problem: The Daily Mail exposed a munitions crisis
- There was a shortage of shells, bullets and guns
- Factories couldn’t keep up
- Solution: Government set up the Ministry of Munitions to increase production
- New factories were built
-Importance: Weapons and munitions were important for the war, it couldn’t be fort without them
18
Q
What was the problem with Business as Usual? how was it solved and why was it important?
A
- Problem: People carried on a normal, ate what they want, strike if unsatisfied, go to work with a hangover, large groups would gather where the Germans could bomb
- Solution: LG denounced alcohol, restricted pub opening hours, cancelled/postponed bank holidays, bonfire night, football and boat races
- Importance: People needed to act with a sense of importance
19
Q
What is Propaganda?
A
- Limited, often biased, information used for a specific purpose by the government
- It is often censored
20
Q
Did propaganda work?
A
- Over half the population read a newspaper daily
- Circulation went up during the war
- The Daily Express went up from 295,00 in 1914 to 579,000 in 1918
- John Bull was selling 2 million copies 1918
21
Q
What forms was propaganda used in?
A
- Films
- Posters
- News
- Art
- Children
22
Q
Types of Propaganda: Film.
A
- 240 war films between 1915 and 1918
- They were commissioned by the War Department
- ‘For the Empire’ had an estimated audience of 9 million by the end of 1916
- ‘The Battle of Somme’ showed real scenes, 13% of the time, but also ‘fake’ scenes
- ‘The Battle of the Somme’ was released August 1916
- By October 1916 it had been showed in 2,000 cinemas, out of 4,500
23
Q
Types of Propaganda: Posters.
A
- In the first of the war between 2 and 5 million copies of 110 different posters were issued
- Most were aimed at recruitment
- All avoided explicit details of the war
- Showed the horrible deeds of the enemies and the heroism of British troops
24
Q
Types of Propaganda: News.
A
- They were the main source information
- Newspaper correspondents weren’t allowed on the front line, they were sent a summary of events
- They didn’t report bad news
- There were no casualty lists until May 1915
- Many soldiers could not talk to friends or family; they felt betrayed and abandoned by the people at home who believed the lies
Forced Censorship:
- Some independent papers were more balanced
- As the war dragged on they were shut down
- They were censored carefully, so info didn’t reach the enemy
- In 1916 alone , 38,000 articles, 25,000 photos and 300,000 private telegrams were examined
Good News only:
- People were only told about great victories or heroic resistance
- The sinking of HMS Audacious wasn’t published
- November 1916 approved journalists could go to the front
- After the war 12 leading members of the newspaper industry were given knighthoods, for their wartime services
- Soldiers were censored so to not worry those at home
25
What the specific language used to keep morale high?
- Baptism of fire = Heavy casualties
- Rectification of the line = A retreat
- Broken Heroes = Shell-shocked soldiers
- Wastage = Death
- Soldiers either 'Fell', 'Took the Final Sacrifice' or were 'Slaughtered by the Hun'
26
Types of propaganda: Art.
- Germany had 50 photographers, France 35; briton only 4
- Lord Beaverbrook became Minister of Information in 1917, artists and photographers could work more freely
- HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling all signed a Declaration of Authors, to provide patriotic publications for free
- The University of Oxford produced 'The Red Book' which was an explanation of why Britain was justified to go to war, it sold 50,000 copies
27
Types of propaganda: Children.
- Toys were used to encourage the war effort
- Patriotic books and comics were sold
- Many books were still printed in the 1920s and 1930s and given out as school prizes
28
Describe the Battle of The Somme.
- Fort in Somme, France
- 1st July 1916
- It was a disaster
- On the first day 60,000 men were lost
- It was the biggest military loss
29
How did Women support the war effort?
- Suspended all campaigning activities
- Early August 1914 all suffragettes were released from prison
- Mothers persuaded their sons to go and fight in the war
30
What was the Order of the White Feather?
-White feathers were given to men who weren't wearing uniform as a sign of cowardliness
31
How did women fill the gaps?
- In the summer of 1915 industries were desperately short of workers
- 2 million fewer workers than they needed
- A further 200,000 women clerks were hired
- Unions feared that on mens return they would either pay men less or keep women
- around 800,000 women had taken up work in industry
- With little training women were as skilled as the men
32
How did women help with recruitment?
- 260,000 women joined the Women's Land Army to grow food
- In 1918 The Women's Army Auxillary Corps was founded, they didn't actually fight on the front line
- By the end of the war 1.6 million women were employed (which isn't actually that many)
33
Describe Women at home and family.
- The price of food doubled
- A string of national kitchens opened, here women could buy hot meals to take home
- Rent increased, so 15,000 tenants marched to city hall in protest, in Glasgow
- Rent restrictions act 1915 - kept rents at their 1913 level
- Mothers day was introduced in 1916, to emphasis the value of the nations mothers
34
Describe Womens social freedom.
- They would go out to pubs and restaurants in shorter skirts and smoked in public
- Many disapproved of this behaviour
- They were financially independent
- A curfew was put on 'a certain type of woman' which was between 7am and 8pm
- If a woman infected a service man with an STD, she would be arrested and go to jail
- If a man did the opposite he wouldn't be prosecuted
35
Women Change for all?
- July 1914 nearly 5 million women were employed
- 1918 just over 6 million worm were employed
- 16,000 joined the Women's Land Army ( with 260,000 already doing the job)
36
Recruitment: volunteers.
- In August 1914 Britain had a small army of around 250,000 professionally trained soldiers
- Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, told the government he needed at least 1 million men
- A huge recruitment drive followed which had excellent results for the army but families were deprived of husbands, fathers and sons
37
What were the Threats at home?
- In December 1914, German battleships shelled Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool
- 119 men, women and children were killed
- January 1915, German zeppelins began bombing raids across Britain; zeppelins made a total of 57 bomber raids on British towns, killing 564 people and injuring 1370
- These showed that anybody and everybody is at risk
- The shelling and bombings of the East coast made people worry that the Germans were planning to invade
- Detailed , highly secret instructions were prepared and sent sent to military commanders on the East Coast, when the threat was gone they were sent back, still sealed in their envelopes
38
What happened to women who worked in munitions?
- In August 1916, medical reports were released showing the damage that handling TNT caused like:
- Turning yellow, they were called the Canary girls
- Sometimes caused breathing difficulties, rashes, digestion problems, blood poisoning and even brain damage because of all the chemicals
- There was an explosion at Silverton in the East End of London in January 1917
- The work was very tiring, and they hours kept growing longer and longer
39
What is the Exam structure?
1 hour 30 minutes
5 questions
10 minutes reading/annotating sources (always start with provenance)
30 minutes answering Question 5
12 minutes answering each Question 1 – 4
Total: 50
SpAG: 3
