The Home Front WWI

Britain Declare War

Britain declare war on Germany August 1914 Britain, France and Russia (Triple Entente) against Germany, Austria -Hungary and Italy (Triple Alliance)

Recruitment
Britain had a small army and needed one very quickly Britain needed more men as many died in the Battle of Ypres (November 1914) Kitchener, Secretary of War, wanted conscription Asquith refused The Government started a massive recruitment campaign used propaganda and posters like Your Country Needs You o 500,000 joined by September 1914 and 500,000 more by February 1915 o By March 1916 2.5 million men had been scripted whole groups of friends joined up called the Pals Battalions

DORA (Defence of the Realm Act) August 1914

Two basic aims: o 1. Ensure that the country had enough resources to fight the war o 2. Ensure that the British people were in a fit state to fight and support the war Rights of Government: o Gave right to seize land and buildings o Take control of industries (like mining) o Introducing daylight saving in Summer (BST) to allow longer working hours o Control of drinking hours and the strength of alcohol o Allowed them to censor newspaper o Stopped people talking and spreading rumours about the war o Allowed them to introduce rationing o It allowed Govt. to introduce conscription Propaganda DORA allowed govt. to control media and press 3 aims of the propaganda: o 1. Keep up morale o 2. Encourage civilians to support the war o 3. Create hatred and suspicion of the enemy they published lies about the Germans etc. September 1914 War Propaganda Bureau asked 25 leading writers to produce propaganda pamphlets o Leading authors like Kipling and Hardy produced patriotic propaganda and articles for free The most effective propaganda were the toys and books aimed at children Films were created about the war that were very popular created by the Ministry of Information Some propaganda was abroad to encourage US involvement In June 1917 the govt. created the National war aims committee to sponsor speeches and propaganda to improve morale Govt. deliberately kept people ignorant to what was going on o Letters were censored and reporters werent allowed to battle o Newspapers were censored and casualty figures werent available

Photos werent allowed to show dead soldiers

Taking over industries and Munitions Crisis (1915) Government took over coal mines and miners werent conscripted because energy was very vital to the war effort In 1915 in the munitions crisis the Govt. took over 20,000 factories to make munitions workers werent given holidays Conscription Why was Conscription brought about? Thousands volunteered wasnt enough People believed it would be over quickly and wanted to be a part of it By 1915 casualties were growing and the number of volunteers was slowing down There werent enough soldiers to replace dead and wounded on the Western Front Growing feeling in Britain that it was unfair that some men were avoiding volunteering Conscription Introduced in 1916 Initially it was all single men between 18 and 40 When that wasnt enough it became compulsory for married men too Conscientious objectors Quakers and other pacifists objected to going to fight in the war on religious or moral beliefs Many were convicted and sent to prison However many Quakers agreed to do non violent help at home

Food Crisis (1917)

Causes
In 1914 Britain was importing quite a lot of food from the US and empire German U boats made it impossible to import all the food Britain needed to survive 1 in 4 merchant ships being sunk Before 1916 food prices rose wealthy horded food as they feared shortages of food created more shortages In 1916 there was a bad harvest food prices rose even more There was a shortage of farmers working as many were on strike Govt. took over land to increase production In April 1917 Britain only had 6 weeks of food supply left

Reaction from Lloyd George

Government put in the Bread act which controlled the price of bread and stopped it rising o They also increased wages so that people could buy bread At first Lloyd George introduced voluntary rationing in 1917 didnt work o Rich people horded food o They introduced it as voluntary at first so as not to cause panic and loss of faith in the govt. Govt. felt that if they couldnt feed the country then they might have to surrender DLGs 3 big steps: o 1. Navy convoys (boat fleet) to protect merchant ships (1917) Ships travelled in groups with the protection of Royal Navy Less than 1% of ships were sunk after the convoy system

2. Introduced compulsory rationing for beer, butter, sugar and meat (1918) Everyone got rationing coupons Stopped hording of food by wealthy There was a shortage but no one starved Severe penalties for ration cheats 3. Britain grew more food Farmers encouraged to use even more land Womens land army set up to provide a labour force for farms

Impact of war on civilians

Civilian casualties were quite small In 1914 and 1915 there was bombing of East Anglia and London bombs came from zeppelins but in May 1917 the Germans used Gotha Bomber planes In 1914 Northern Towns were shelled from ships Overall 1500 civilians died

Women in the workplace

Women became part of the war effort In July 1915 they began making munitions However in 1915 some employers refused to take on women workers and they werent allowed in unions

Morale
As people found out more about the war attitudes began to change Almost no successes until 1918 Whilst they could hide casualties figures they could not hide the fact that crippled and blind soldiers were coming home or the death of family members Rich people felt that rationing was a hardship and the taxes were increased to end the war By 1917 most Britons were sick of the war and wanted it ended

End of the War

Ended in November 1918 The USA joined in April 1917 more Americans came in 1918 Too many allies now to win but the Germans tried one more attack Haig counter attacked and pushed them back Armistice was signed when the Germans surrendered

Attitudes about what should happen to Germany

Treaty of Versailles 1919 (Paris peace Conference) British, French and Americans Germany had to return all land German colonies were split up and given to Britain and France Germany had to pay 6.6 billion to the allies French thought the peace treaty should punish Germany Lloyd George thought that it should punish them but not make them bitter Attitudes of British Over 9million British and French soldiers died The families of the soldiers who died wanted Germany to pay

 People suffered hardships at home because of the food crisis etc. Propaganda made them hate the Germans more they wanted revenge Politicians said in the General election that they would squeeze everything out of Germany and make them pay Many British people felt if they werent made to pay it would encourage them to start another war Britains feeling of the war Now people knew the real facts they felt that politicians and authority figures could no longer be trusted They came to believe that Generals were incompetent and didnt care how many lives were lost Further degrade in trust in authority Public school soldiers did no better than working class soldiers people questioned class system Returning soldiers became disillusioned as unemployment and poverty were high wondered what they had fought for Huge loss of young men changed balance of society Most people supported the harshness of the treaty of Versailles as wanted revenge 1. People happy that Britain won 2. Women got vote 3. Lloyd George re elected