In what ways were the lives of people at home affected by the First World War?

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Introduction

Recruitment and Conscription during World War One

When the First World War started in August 1914, Britain had 247,432 regular troops. Of these, 12,000 were British Expeditionary Troops and the rest were abroad. However, it was clear that more troops were going to be needed to defeat the German Army. On the 7th August, Lord Kitchener, Secretary of War started a recruitment campaign asking for men between the age of 19 to 30 to join the British Army. This was very successful with an average of 33,000 men signing up every day. After three weeks of men joining, he raised the age limit to 35 and by the middle of September, the number of men signed up was 500,000. Obviously recruitment was very popular for me to fight the "noble war" for King and Country but they didn't know the nightmare of the War.

The recruits of the British Army expected the War to be over by Christmas, but what they didn't know was that the War was going to last four years.

At the beginning of the War, the Army had very specific guidelines for people signing up. Men joining had to be 5ft 6in tall and have a chest at least 35 inches. However, these guidelines were stopping a lot of men from joining the Army. In March 1915, Kitchener restricted the specifications to 5ft 3in and the age limit was raised to 40. There were still men who were too short who were eager to join, so the Army formed the "Bantam" Battalions for men 5ft to 5ft 3in in height.

To help with Recruitment, David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer formed the British War Propaganda Bureau (WPB) and appointed Charles Masterman as Head of the Bureau. Some of the best propaganda published was posters directed at the person reading it. For example, a poster of Lord Kitchener pointing at you and using emotive language like "Your Country!". Another one would have been the questions asking you, for example: What will your answer be when your grown-up children ask, "Dad, why weren't you a soldier too?". The success of these is that it appeals to the guilt of men who didn't join. Proof of the propaganda working was that at the end of 1915 almost two million men had signed up.

However, this was only two-thirds of the compatible men for the Army's regulations. In 1916 the final solution was put into action which would guarantee that every possible man of specifications would sign up – Conscription. A Military Service Act was passed in 1916 by the Government saying that every man of military age had three choices:

  1. "He can ENLIST AT ONCE and join the Colours without delay."

  2. "He can ATTEST AT ONCE UNDER THE GROUP SYSTEM and be called up in due course with his Group".

"If he does neither, a third course awaits him. HE WILL BE DEEMED TO HAVE ENLISTED under the Military Service Act ON THURSDAY MARCH 2nd 1916. HE WILL BE PLACED IN THE RESERVE AND CALLED UP IN HIS CLASS."

This was the final solution that would get enough men into the Army because recruitment wasn't getting enough volunteers.

There was one small group who would not fight in the War, mainly for reasons of belief. These were deemed Conscientious Objectors. They were shunned out of the community, deemed cowards and traitors by people and received serious punishment from the Army. There were two punishments available for the Objectors. If they had religious beliefs preventing them from fighting in the War, they were imprisoned for treason and sentenced to do manual labour for the duration of the War. However, the prisoners looked upon the Objectors as traitors and so were likely to beat regularly or even kill some of them. If an Objector had no religious belief against War, but refused to fight with a weapon, then they were often sent to the Front Line unarmed for combat. There was one exception. If an Objector had (and recognised by the Army as appropriate) Medical qualifications, then they were likely to be sent to hospitals or paramedic areas on the front line to help medical staff. An example of the treatment from the community is that they were given a white feather which was used to disgrace the man who would not fight.

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Politics and the War Effort during World War One

Effect on the Home Front during the War did change people’s lives at home, but jobs, industry and politics were also reshaped. During the War, the Government’s power increased dramatically. By the end of the War they managed all mines and transport in Britain.

Politics affected jobs and businesses because they had the power to be in control. They had control over the profits made from industry; they controlled the wages for employees; hours of labour for every person working and they were able to control the ...

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