A group of women known as the “Suffragettes” staged to achieve greater equality with men. Many groups were set up for women including the Women’s Hospital Corporations and the Women’s Police Volunteers. They were there to take the place of men while they were off fighting the war.
In December of 1914, the first bombing of British civilians took place. German warships shelled the East Coast of Britain. 119 people were killed in Scarborough. The people of Britain were shell-shocked. This was the first sign of a total war.
The bombardment carried on into 1915, in which the first Zeppelin air raids on East Anglian towns took place.
In May of that same year, it was recognised that the war needed much more careful organisation than originally planned. Aspects such as the British way of life came into account. This lead to a coalition government with politicians from all parties was formed to handle the growing crisis in Britain.
Meanwhile, the first Zeppelin raids on London took place. This was becoming a regular feature, and was not going down well with the British public. They did not feel safe due the constant threat of an attack at anytime of the day of night.
The first major problems began to emerge for the British government. As the war became bogged down in a stalemate in 1915, it became increasingly obvious that planning for such a war was hopeless and inadequate. Most worryingly, there was a chronic shortage of shells, bullets and armaments on the Western Front. New soldiers had to train with wooden sticks instead of rifles, as there was not enough to go round. The “munitions crisis”, as it became known, became a national scandal.
As a result, a one Sir David Lloyd George teamed up with the leader of the Suffragettes, Mrs. Pankhurst organised a “Women’s march for jobs” to recruit women to work in factories.
Unfortunately, this did not go down well with many employers. They refused to take on women as workers as the employers were making huge profits out of the war. Also, trade unions refused to allow women workers due to affect that the women may have on other members’ wages. Eventually, the government came to an agreement with trades unions that women would be paid the as men and would only work ‘until sufficient male labour should again be available”. This led to the government setting up its own munitions factories, which employed large amounts of women.
In January 1916, the First Military Service Bill was introduced. This meant that conscription to the army was relevant for all single men in Britain aged 18 to 40.
Later on in the year, the Second Military Service bill was also introduced. This extended the first bill by saying that married men also applied to conscription too.
In July 1916, the Battle of the Somme took place. It led to more British soldiers being killed in this battle than any other previous battle that had taken place.
Eagerly, the British public flocked to cinemas around the nation to see the government’s new feature film “The Battle of the Somme”, which was known as being “ The greatest moving picture in the world”.
The government’s propaganda scheme was massively successful. People were no longer naïve as they had been in 1914 about a war like this. Even though the pictures shocked some people, the majority of people welcomed the realism of the film and dubbed it as being a brave heroic struggle.
In November the Battle of the Somme was called off. With very little gain to show for half a million casualties, the British generals pulled back their men. It was a big mistake and a stupid risk.
Due to the battles heavy death count, for the first time there was public criticism of the way the war was being run by the generals and government of Britain.
So in December 1916, David Lloyd George, a critic of the army leadership, became Prime Minister of Britain in place of Herbert Asquith. He immediately reorganised the British Government to focus all effort on the war. He set up the Ministry of Labour to deal with the labour supply in British industries. He also set up the Ministry of Food to deal with the ever-growing rapid demand for food supplies.
In the early months of 1917, Germany had begun its third and most devastating campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare against the British merchant ships. If carried on, this would lead to major problems for the British public.
The government also needed to ensure that Britain was fed. Under DORA it was able to take over land and turn it over to farm production. It set up the Women’s Land Army to recruit women as farm workers.
Now the unimaginable had happened. German U-boats had sunk one in four British merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean. This was devastating. In April Britain only had six weeks’ supply of wheat left. It was even thought that London’s supplies were behind by a few days. Food supplies were running low. The rich bought more than they needed and the poor starved to death. Under DORA, the government requisitioned two and a half million acres of new farming land to feed Britain. It was a desperate time. Things needed to change.
So in November 1917, a voluntary rationing scheme was introduced. Many methods were used including posters, statements and speeches from the Royal Family.
However, none of these measures was effective in reducing food shortages. Food prices continued to rise and food queues got longer. The British public turned to the government for answers.
In December 1917, a bill was passed which gave the vote to all women over 30. Only 23 MPs voted against it. In this area the war therefore helped women to achieve a change which a long campaign before the war had failed to achieve.
But in early 1918, the government introduced compulsory rationing of sugar, butter, meat and beer. Every person had a book of coupons, which they had to hand over when they bought their ration. There were stiff penalties facing anyone who broke the rationing rules.
On November 11th, at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the Armistice was signed. Germany was defeated. The war was officially over.
After the war, a general election was held in Britain. Women over 30 were allowed to vote for the first time.
By the end of the war, as a result of rationing, the diet and health of many poorer people had actually improved in comparison with pre-war days.
During the First World War the British and the Germans tried to prevent supplies reaching each other. The British used their naval superiority to blockade German ports, while the Germans used submarines to sink Allied merchant ships in the Atlantic. By 1917 the citizens of both countries found themselves short of food. The British managed to defeat submarine threat, but the Germans were never able to lift the British blockade. By 1918 the German people were starving. German flowerbeds in Berlin were turned into allotments to provide badly needed food. Poor German production figures meant that the Western Front could not be supplied with the needed food required. Wedged between his family and a hopeless future, the German soldier’s morale was shattered by the realisation that the succession of the offensives since 21st of March 1918 had in fact been in vain.
Ludendoff was growing short of means to waging war-essential supplies of rubber and oil. The Great German war machine was giving way under the constant strain of three and a half years of fighting. Germany could not go on much longer.
While the potato harvests were failing the morale was lowering, Germany was going into a revolution and the Kaiser was fleeing to his safe haven, the American threat of attack loomed over the German people. But once the Americans were involved, the result was almost certain to be a German defeat. The United States had vast supplies of manpower and materials, far greater than the Germans could achieve. Germany fast became exhausted; so too did Britain and France-but they could be boosted by America. And yet the Germans attacked. This weakened them. The Allies could then strike back, greatly aided by newly arrived American support.
And as said by Sir David Lloyd George himself: “The conclusion is inescapable that the British and her allies were triumphant, while Germany and her allies were defeated in the field of battle”.
