'Evaluate how and why attitudes to war had changed from 1914 to 1918.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Britain had 247,432 regular troops. About 120,000 of these were in the British Expeditionary Army and the rest were stationed abroad. It was clear that more soldiers would be needed to defeat the German Army. On 7th August, 1914, Lord Kitchener, the War Minister, immediately began a recruiting campaign by calling for men aged between 19 and 30 to join the British Army. At first this was very successful with an average of 33,000 men joining every day. Three weeks later Kitchener raised the recruiting age to 35 and by the middle of September over 500,000 men had volunteered their services. At the beginning of the war the army had strict specifications about who could become soldiers. Men joining the army had to be at least 5ft 6in tall and a chest measurement of 35 inches. By May 1915 soldiers only had to be 5ft 3in and the age limit was raised to 40. In July the army agreed to the formation of 'Bantam' battalions, composed of men between 5ft and 5ft 3in in height. The British government also began a successful poster campaign. Artists such as Saville Lumley, Alfred Leete, Frank Brangwyn and Norman Lindsay, produced a series of posters urging men to join the British Army. The desire to fight continued into 1915 and by the end of that year some two million men had volunteered their services.

Many people suffered. Unlike in the past the war affected people the people back home even though the fighting was happening all over Europe. Before the war broke out in 1914, Sir Edward Grey said 'If we are engaged in a war we shall suffer but little more that we shall suffer if we stand aside.' In fact the what hit Britain hard, and brought about many changes.

'The war to end all wars', was how it was described after 1918 or even called 'Total war'. During the war, the resourses of an entire nation mobilised for war, this means all the money went from other areas, to help fund the war. The war affected bases of all combatant nations: Economical, Social, Political and Industrial.

The economical affects of World War One, were that armaments manufactures and industrialists made huge fortunes out of the war, because weapons to be able to fight, so companies could charge what they liked. Also new weapons for battle were being made which made many rich industrialists even richer. Other countries like Great Britain came up with weapons like the British V tanks, these were made out of metal and had Ricardo engines and travelled at 5mph. Also the airplanes were built to take action in the air, also trenches were used to hide camps, to out-smart the ememies. Also poisonous gases were produced and used against the ememies to blind and kill them.

The social affects of World War One were millions of men were killed, thousand of children would grow up fatherless. Also there was a huge inbalance between the number of females and males, as so many men died fighting. Other than getting killed, many more suffered horrific injuries and physical and mental disfigurements. Finally during the war the role of women changed for the better of all those soldiers that went to war. The women were used as nurses to help those that were wounded, and also maids to serve food, clothing, water and weapons. Anything that needed help, the women would be there. So women played a big role on how the war was going to turn out. However, at the end of the war many of these women were pushed out of their jobs and sent back into domestic life in order to make way for the returning men. For many women, though, it meant that they had enjoyed a brief taste of economics freedom from their manfolk.

In August 1914, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald founded the Order of the White Feather. With the support of leading writers such as Mary Ward and Emma Orczy, the organisation encouraged women to give out white feathers to young men who had not joined the British Army. One young woman remembers her father, Robert Smith, being given a feather on his way home from work: "That night he came home and cried his heart out. My father was no coward, but had been reluctant to leave his family. He was thirty-four and my mother, who had two young children, had been suffering from a serious illness. Soon after this incident my father joined the army."The government became concerned when women began presenting state employees with white feathers. It was suggested to Reginald McKenna, the Home Secretary, that these women should be arrested for "conduct likely to disrupt the police". McKenna refused but he did arrange for state employees to be issued peace with badges testifying that they were serving 'King and Country'. Although he was a serving soldier, the writer, Compton Mackenzie, complained about the activities of the Order of the White Feather. He argued that these "idiotic young women were using white feathers to get rid of boyfriends of whom they were tired". The pacifist, Fenner Brockway, claimed that he received so many white feathers he had enough to make a fan.

This was the first industrial war where weapons were designed to kill you and disfigure you. Also the conditions of the trench warfare, trenches weren't a new thing, but the way they were used like camps under ground, men lived in this for months on end. The conditions were brutal. Also they're were more advanced technology which was much more detructive than before, which in turn caused the number of casulies to go up significantly. There was also an indifference of military command to soldiers suffering and the incompetence of the high command.

Some of the reasons why people changed there minds is because, firstly the government said it would be a short war, when it turned out to be a long and brutal war, which killed thousands of men and injuried many more. This stopped men signing up to join the war and that's why they brought in conscription. They done this because men refused to sign up to fight after what they had heard from survivors.

Secondly, because the war was affecting people back home and men, women, and children were dying everyday in their homes, on the street, and so this changed people's opinion of war. Also food and clothes were rationed so, you only got a certain amount of things and you have to make them last. Thirtly, the weapons that were being used were designed to destroy the human body and the men have to over come this and deal with the weapons as well as the problem of seeing so many men dying all around in brutal and dehumanising conditions. May men also suffered not just physically, but mentally. Shell-shock and battle fatigue took it's toll on tens of thousands who returned home mentally scared. This was the "Lost generation". Finally, as you can see from above, there are lots of reasons why people changed their minds about war. But I feel the main factor was that this was a war of inprecedented brutalily and savagery- brought about by the first 'Toatl war' of human kind. It was a war like no other of it's time. A war to kill men.