WWI - recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda Flashcards
Beginning recruitment in Britain?
- Outbreak of war British army = small
- 73,0000 offices and men
- 1/3 regular army most stationed in reserve formations.
- Territorial force – most highly regarded reserve force – volunteers
- Offices = upper class
- Rank-and-file soldiers = unskilled labourers
Recruitment Campaign?
- Impacted - public meetings, bands playing military music, posters and recruitment agents
- Newspapers + magazines ran stories of bravery and German Cruelty supporting war effort – propaganda
- Church Leaders delivered sermons to convince men to join
- Public institutions mobilised to aid recruitment
- Women’s suffrage movement encouraged young men – women gave men who weren’t enlisted white feathers (cowardice)
1914 Recruitment?
- men of military age = 5.5 million
- ½ million became eligible every year
- “August madness” – 30,000 men enlisted every day
- 2 million men had enlisted by late September 1914
- End of 1915 – volunteers for service organised into units – “New Army” “Kitchener’s men”
- Patriotic optimism– war believed to be over by Christmas
Benefits of enlistment?
- Working class men – opportunity to escape poverty
- Enlistment offered pay, good food and clothing.
Derby Scheme? - Recruitment
Persuasion rather than conscription – called upon men 18 – 41 to “attest” – voluntarily enlist when required
Uprising of conscription?
- “Derby Scheme” - brought 343 000 eligible men
- Inadequate amount = conscription (political debate in Britain)
- Out of all countries only Britain depended on volunteer army
David Lloyd George?
– conservative party
– argued for the introduction of conscription
Arguments for Conscription? - David Lloyd George
- Promote commitment to a unified war effort across society
- identify “shirkers” force them to meet responsibilities
- Ensured skilled workers remained in industries
- Provide sufficient numbers of men to the army to cover high causality rates
Herbert Asquith?
– British prime minster
– attempted to delay conscription, he was liberal and opposed policy.
Military service bill?
Jan 1916 – govt introduced military service bill – conscripting childless single men and widowers between 18 – 40
Conscientious Objectors + Absolutists?
- 16 000 “conscientious objectors” – “conchies”
- opposed to war political and religious reasons.
- “Absolutists” – people who refused to take part in war effort
- arrested, court maritaled and imprisoned
- 70 “absolutists” died in prison due to mistreatment
Manpower in Germany?
- Conscription not controversial issue as reserve training had been standard policy during 19th century
- Every German male between 17-45 years of age liable for service
- Armed forces averaged between 6-7 million troops, 5 million in field army
- Over course of war, 13 million men were mobilised
- 85% of male population
Censorship in Britain and Germany?
- Government controlled all forms of information
- Publications had to be approved to ensure they didn’t contain anything that could have a negative effect on community morale
- Regarded as necessary for protection of national security
- No-one could discuss information about munitions, movement of ships, location of troops or military action
Censorship in Germany? - News
- Wolff Telegraph Bureau was Germany’s exclusive official war news agency
- Foreign ministry checked all news item before publication
- German news told public they were fighting defensive war because war broke out when their land was invaded by the French
Public censorship discussion in Germany?
- Suppressed items regarded as controversial and reporting of military defeat, casualty numbers, food shortages, peace demonstrations
- Also applied to cinema, theatre, music halls, popular literature, etc
- Any publication or performance required censors approval
Propoganda?
Newspaper headlines and posters designed to stir emotions of nation and feed hatred of enemy that was no longer depicted as human
Britain: War Propaganda Bureau made in September 1914?
- Efficient and centralised campaign manipulated and managed public opinion
- Helped the total war effort
- Recruited highly regarded authors to contribute
- Within a year, WPB had over 2.5 million publications in circulation
