At the beginning of the war, the British people were told it would be over by christmas, men got together in there thousands in Trefalger square cheering Britain's declaration of war. All along the mall and outside Buckingham palace a throng of people sang 'God save the King'. The age to join the army was 18, but many of the soliders how wanted to fight were must younger than 18 but the British government never done any real checks, you went to one of many medical examination places, one was at Marylebone grammer school in London, here you had a medical examination and if you pasted then you were posted of to fight. Hundred and Thousands of men sighed up in the first few months after being told it would only last till christmas and then you would come home as heroes, but it fact it lasted much longer, in fact it lasted four years.
Many normal people suffered to as 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 wat 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 four areas of nations people: Economical, Social, Political and Industrial.
The economical affects of world war 1, were that armaments manufactures and industrialists made huge fortunes out of the war, because you needed arms and weapons to be able to fight,so companies could charge what they liked because without weapons you would die, so u would have to pay for them what ever the cost. Also new weapons for battle were being made which made manyrich industrials 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 treches were used to hide camps, to out-smart the emermies. Also poisonous gases were produced and used against the emermies to blind and kill them.
Hair and skirts became shorter as a result of factory work, however these things were seen to make things harder. As women took over the running of the country many other things changed. Women were allowed in the police force and they had their very own police service. This service would supervise things at the music halls, dances, cinemas, railway stations and parks. With all the demands of working in factories fashion changed to co-inside with the type of work they would be doing. Long skirts would have got in the way so they would have been shortened and as the First World War finished this was restored. The petticoat was lost and hats were made smaller. Women were now becoming an important role in not only social issues but also the economic and political issues. I believe the women played a major role during the first world war, one would argue that they played the same importance as the soldiers on the front line. ??? The government through out the war, used women as a way of getting more men to sign up. The women were encouraged to have nothing to do to the men who did not do their duty, and were insisted to encourage the men who did. When supplies of men did run low women were never conscripted and instead were used in campaigns to help people
