Changing Attitudes towards World War I

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History Coursework: Changing Attitudes towards World War I        Jatin Gumbhir

Changing Attitudes towards World War I

World War I was started on the 28th July 1914. Tension had been building up over the years. At first the main countries involved were Austria-Hungary, and Germany - The Triple Alliance - against Russia, France, and Britain - The Triple Entente. War had not occurred for a long time before; the last war by the British was the Battle of Somme. None of the major countries had been involved in a war recently, and did not know of the reality of war. There was a great sense of euphoria everywhere across Europe. There were many ways of encouraging the public to go to war, as Britain effectively used propaganda at the start of the war, depicting that the soldiers at the front line were doing such a great job at what they were doing, but the actual fact was that certain events were a military disaster, and were not as even mentioned during the war. However, this attitude was not the same all the way throughout the war, as the war progressed, civilians at home soon started to realise that the war was not as victorious as it was made out to be.

On the 28th July 1914, the war broke out and there was a great sense of excitement everywhere across Europe. People were dancing and singing in the streets at the prospect of going to war, men thought that going to war was a brave and heroic thing to do and it would be an adventure and an achievement. Because of this, half a million men had signed up in the first month! Then 1,186,357 men had been registered in just the first year to be recruited. Men were not just the key figures in going to war; women also played a big role in encouraging people to go to war and help the economy. In August, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald set up the Order if the White Feather, this encouraged women to humiliate men who had not joined the army by giving them a white feather. Women were also given the opportunity to work for the first time ever, to contribute to the war effort while the soldiers were away in places such as munitions factories. The government setup the Defence of the Realm Act, which became known as DORA, which gave the government unlimited powers to do anything to do with the war, the government could seize any land or buildings it wanted, and control the attitude of people through propaganda and censorship. Propaganda was highly used to influence people’s thoughts about the war. These were often posters with a message behind them about the war; the idea was that the government wanted the picture of the war to stay positive. Censorship was also setup by the government - it strictly disallowed photographers to be there and pictures of the front line to be taken. Everybody was supportive of the war, as propaganda reported every atrocity committed by the enemy was reported, and there was a real anti-German feeling, even hatred, especially when the first civilian bombings by German zeppelins, and the German Navy bombardments of Scarborough, and 119 people were killed. However not everybody agreed with going to war, there were a minority of people who objected, people did object to going to war because they were cowards, but people who had a legitimate reason for objecting were called Pacifists. Pacifists objected to war either on conscientious grounds, nicknamed conchies, or religious grounds, such as Quakers. These types of people were often ill-treated by the press and were made out to be cowards.

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In 1915, there was an even bigger rise in recruitment figures, 1,280,000 men had joined the army up by the end of 1915. This was because, when war first broke out, there were too many people who put their names forward to be recruited, that not all people had been managed to be recruited in the first year. Also the height requirement for joining had dropped from 5foot 8 to 5foot 5. Propaganda was still going strong, spreading the hatred of the Germans, and the guilt of not going to war. Propaganda helped maintain the British attitude. The ...

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