The men who all volunteered had all sorts of reasons to join the war. There were people who volunteered because of pressure put on them by their families; some men even wanted excitement in their lives as they assumed the war would be an enjoyable adventure. Other men joined up because they did not want to be seen as cowards; they wanted to be seen as heroes and also to help defeat the hated enemy from invading other countries. This hatred that they felt of the Germans was built up through propaganda which played a big part in persuading people to volunteer.
The main two reasons for men to volunteer were unemployment and for a sense of honour. Unemployment had increased over the years before the war started; many had joined up just to earn themselves a living and also because they had nothing better to do. They realised that if they joined the war then would be paid and also be given food. Many men joined up out of a sense of honour and patriotism, but these men were usually the first soldiers to be killed as attacks advanced across ‘No Man’s Land’, the area between the German and Allied lines. These men were all proud to fight for their king and country. All of these soldiers became known as the ‘lost generation’ after the war as they were remembered by the people at home.
Propaganda was the main method of recruiting people for the war. Simple posters were used in the first two months of the war; asking men to volunteer and to help support their country. There were also other methods used which included appeals made at football matches, or by actresses who asked men to join up by coming up onto the stage halfway through a performance.
One early peculiarity was the formation of "Pals battalions": groups of men from the same factory, football team, bank, and similar, joining and fighting together. The idea was first suggested at a public meeting by Lord Derby; within three days he oversaw volunteers sufficient for three battalions. Kitchener, the Minister of War, gave official approval for the measure almost instantly and the response was impressive. Manchester raised fifteen specific 'Pals' battalions; one of the smallest was Accrington, in Lancashire, which raised one.
The formation of Pals Battalions was good for recruiting lots of Britons, but the whole idea proved to be a terrible mistake when put into practice as it had dreadful unforeseen circumstances. When a Pals Battalion went into action it could easily suffer from heavy casualties. On the first morning of the Battle of Somme, units that were ordered to charge on enemy trenches had 70 per cent of their men killed or seriously wounded. What made this whole idea a mistake was the fact that local areas in Britain could lose its military-aged men in a single day.
As the war progressed, the amount of volunteers each month decreased. At the front there were more casualties and deaths by February 1915, and newspapers were publishing this information for the British public to see. They were printing lists of all the people who died and were wounded. The government did not want people to find out about all the deaths and casualties so they banned all of these types of lists. The newspapers reacted with this by leaving blank spaces where the lists would have been. This was one of the reasons in why the amount of volunteers decreased. Since many people had already joined up, there were more available jobs for the rest of the unemployed, who were willing to say at home and earn a higher wage than to volunteer for the war.
The government reacted to the decreasing amount of volunteers by creating posters which were more direct than before. They also tried to use women to put pressure on their husbands and brothers by using slogans such as: ‘Women of Britain say go’. The propaganda was used to make the eligible men who wouldn’t volunteer were seen as cowards. These cowards were sometimes given white feathers from women in public places, showing that they are cowards.
Lord Derby organised one final attempt to persuade men to volunteer by creating a massive recruitment campaign in late 1915. Since the campaign failed to encourage enough men to join, the government prepared for conscription. They went about this by creating the national registration of all single men in August 1915. This list was then later extended to all married men. All of the men in this list had not volunteered and were also eligible to fight. They were all put into a list so if more men were needed for the war then they could be called up to join. Lord Derby used this list to ask all of the British men between the ages of 18 and 41 if they were willing to join up to the army, but only half of the single men said yes.
With insufficient numbers attesting and the French Army in dire need of relief a Military Service Act was introduced in January 1916, providing for the conscription of single men. In May the conscription was made universal, although Ireland was excluded from the scheme and the government pledged to not send teenagers to serve in the front line. However, this had little impact on enlistments. The number continued to decline towards 40,000 a month as essential men were needed for war work and the poor health of many others remained, even as the requirements were progressively reduced.
The changes of voluntary recruitment to compulsory recruitment had to take place mainly because of the decline in the number of volunteers, but also because more and more people were hearing rumours about the number of deaths and casualties and what the conditions were really like at the front. This made people reconsider volunteering, so conscription had to be employed as a solution as more men were needed. Some people thought the voluntary system was unfair because some people were volunteering and others weren’t; so conscription would be in favour of those people. Another problem caused by the volunteering system was the damaging of their agriculture and industry; so many miners, farmers etc. were joining the war, leaving only a small amount behind to continue with their work. In some cases there were so many joining that they had to be sent back, like the miners for example as they were needed at home to provide the essential coal.
Since conscription was thought to be anti-liberal as it was against civil rights and individual reasons; it was likely that there would be people against the whole idea. The press began to try and win over the support of the British public by campaigning for conscription as a necessity. The idea was beginning to be accepted by the general public so the National Service League demanded change. Asquith still did not like the ‘un-British’ idea but by 1916, there was a change in government. Lloyd George, who had a much more practical and determined approach to fighting the war, became the Prime Minister.
By May, all men, regardless of their marital status, between the ages of 18 and 41 had to register for active service; meaning that they could be called at anytime to fight. As the war progressed, more and more soldiers were getting killed. In July 1917, British citizens living abroad and also Allied citizens living in Britain were allowed to be conscripted thanks to the Military Service Act – Conventions with Allied States. Four months later The Ministry of National Service was formed; having the authority to cancel exemptions on occupational grounds.
In 1918, Britain was in dire need of more soldiers, especially as Russia had dropped out due to their own problems. In February the age limit was raised to 50 and if needed, it could be raised up to 56. Soon after it was then also made compulsory for Irish men to join the war. As the war was coming to its end, the minimum age of exemption was raised to 23. This was the Military Service Act II.
Conscripts were absolutely vital to the war efforts because without them there would have been a much harder war for the Allies as it could have affected the actual outcome of the war. The Allies could have struggled without the men provided through conscription in Britain; it could have cost them the war if it was not introduced. Conscription in Britain not only helped the war, it also marked the lowering of the remaining barriers of prejudice to the full-scale employment of women. Although it was seen as ‘un-British’; bringing conscription managed to change the attitudes of the general public as it actually showed them how it would help, as it provided more power for the Allies so they could defeat the enemy.
