As a consequence of the war the state also regulated the information society received during the war, the government placed restrictions which could be interpreted as censorship on what newspapers could say about the war. This came as a result of and article published in newspapers, which the state claimed, had exaggerated the defeats and deaths the British had suffered. Newspapers were told generally be positive and encouraging about the war effort and were restricted about how much information they could give about what the war was like. This led to a huge divide between those in British society and soldiers, people had no idea what it was like fighting in the war and many soldiers found this difficult to deal with.
The state during the war also placed restrictions on what times alcohol could be sold on premises and towards the end of the war controlled what times public houses could be opened. When the war ended the restriction’s on when alcohol could be served remained the same.
During the war it became apparent to the government that they needed to balance the needs of the military with the needs of society, they did this by controlling labour. In 1916 conscription was introduced as a consequence of the flagging volunteer numbers for the military but it also allowed the government to select those whose removal form the work force would be least damaging to war production. The use of conscription had quite huge impacts on society, it meant that men would be taken to fight in trenches against their will and if they refused they would face the threat of the death penalty. The use of conscription also had some long-term impacts on the role of the state. It highlighted to the government how unfit British males were, some 70% of men form industrial areas was classed as unfit for over sea’s duties. This led the government to introduce better medical facilities in the workplace and canteens so men could get all the healthy nutrients they require. The use of conscription which allowed the needs of the military to balance with the needs of society showed the state the state that they should not hesitate to use it in the event of another war. This was demonstrated in 1939, on the outbreak of the Second World War the government used conscription immediately.
As another means of controlling labour the state also introduced labour laws which passed the way for the use of unskilled and semiskilled workers for previously skilled occupations. Even with these laws the most significant new source of labour came from women.
Many women were brought into paid employment for the first time to replace men who were on military duties. There are views that the war brought about huge changes for the role and status of women in work and generally in society.
However although many women found jobs during the war and worked very well in those jobs, when the war ended almost all of them gave their jobs up and returned to their previous roles as mothers and housewives. To an extent it seems as though not much had changed since society as whole expected women to go back to how they were prior to the war. Clerical work was the only job that women in large numbers stayed on to occupy after then war. However the status of the occupation declined as a soon as it became a female dominated job, reinforcing the view that the war didn’t have much of an impact on the status of women in work. General attitudes towards women in the work place may have changed because they helped war production dramatically however this does not mean that they would be considered as permanent workers in areas such as munitions and factories, as workers they were always seen as cheap substitutes for men.
When the war-ended women were given the vote, some have argued that this was a reward for their hard work during the war. However women were likely to be given the vote because prior to 1914 public opinion was shifting more towards women being allowed to vote and many other countries who had not entered the war also came women the vote around the same time that Britain did. It may be concluded that woman being allowed to vote was not an impact of the war but more that the war speeded up the process which had started prior to 1914.
The war did have some log-term impacts on women, after the war there is the idea that women’s attitudes about themselves improved, women were said to have become more independent and cautious of their status and ability to cope without a husband.
After the war a change in women’s manners was noticed, women went into pubs on their own; they dressed different and started to smoke in public.
The war did have an impact on women during the war but many of those impacts were more short-term and ended after the war, however areas such as female employment could now be discussed seriously because women demonstrated that they could work just as well as men.
Some what unsurprisingly the majority of women who went into work were those who belong to the working classes and had no choice but take advantage and fill in the gaps vacated by men in the labour market. The working class as a whole was said to have made huge advances during the war; the shortage of labour during the war increased the power of the working class. The government was forced to constantly negotiate with them and trade unions. The government negotiated with trade unions to call of all strikes and demonstrations during the war and in return the government would promise to give better pay and work conditions for all workers. However the position of workers may have not been really affected by the war but more as a result of the trade cycle. After the first world war their was a short-term boom and the position of the workers and trade unions was one of influence and strength however in 1921 when bust occurred the workers and trade unions lost their influence because their wasn’t a high demand for labour.
During the war many workers left towns and villages for cities because of the industrial boom, however there was a shortage of housing due to the building of houses being virtually stopped during the war. Even with the shortages of houses, the war had a positive impact on living standards, which generally went up for the country. The working classes living standards generally improved because they had more money to spend, because of the shortage in labour they did more over-time work and with women working some families had two main wage earners. However this was not true for everyone and the war did cause living standards for some people to decrease, this was mainly as a result of the main wage earner fighting in the war.
With living standards rising it expected that the health of the nation at home improved. With the food shortage’s many unhealthy foods such as sugar, meat and alcohol were not available in large quantities for society and with a reduction in these foods the health of the nation improved for obvious reasons.
Although the health of the nation may be improving, after the war many cultural changes occurred, one of those was that smoking increased dramatically after the war and may have caused the health of a large proportion of society to decline. Religion which had also been on the decline since the 1850’s had risen during the war and this may have been a impact caused by the huge losses and deaths suffered in the war.
Some 750,000 Britons were killed in the war with a further 1.6 million permanently disabled. While the impact of death on society is difficult to measure or assess, it can safely be concluded that everyone in Briton was affected by the death of soldiers, for the reason that majority of the country knew someone who had died in the war. For some it was the young lad down the road and others an immediate relative. It has been suggested that biggest and most long-term impact of the First World War was the Psychological impacts caused by the deaths and injuries suffered in the war. To this day those who died fighting for Briton in the war are still remembered by society and have prayers held for them and the impact of their deaths lasted long after the war.
The First World War had a significant impact on British society though the majority of these impacts were short-term while the war lasted. During the war there were huge changes in the role of the state, the position of women. Changes in health, living standards and class influence. However many of these changes were already occurring prior to the war in 1914 and the war speeded these changes up. The Role of the state had been increasing since the turn of the century with the introduction of pensions and health insurance. Health of the nation was also improving prior to the war with advances in medicine. Women were also likely to have been given the vote without the war with public opinion supporting this view. The war brought with it many short-term impacts such as the role of the state in industry and women in the workplace, however the war had generally positive impact on these areas since they had been successful during the war and could now be discussed with evidence.
