The political pressures that faced Asquith were vital to the introduction of conscription. Asquith was in a bad position because of the constant threat of Lloyd George and the Coalition taking over his place as Prime Minister. Therefore when Lloyd George forced conscription on Asquith and he was in no position to reject it because of the power and support that Lloyd George had. This reason is linked to the other factors because they are the cause for the proposition of conscription but it was the political pressures that got conscription introduced.
Another reason why conscription was introduced was because of the lack of voluntarism in 1915 and onwards. This was an important reason because it meant that as Britain were losing troops in the West they were not gaining anymore either because of the lack of voluntarism. This led to the decrease in fighting-fit soldiers and was obviously a big problem when fights such as the Battle of the Somme, July 1916, were killing so many British and French men. This was linked to the needs of the war because the lack of voluntarism was a cause for the shortage of men and this was a ‘need’ during the war.
A less important reason for the introduction of conscription was the needs of the economy. Not only did conscription put people into the army but it also controlled the people who were to stay in Britain and control the industry and economy. The Government used conscription to help the economy as a large percentage of workers were fighting therefore there needed to be some men left to do vital industrial jobs.
This is not as important as the need of the war because at the time, winning the war was more important than the economic situation in Britain therefore the increase of troops, who would eventually win the war, was more important than the lack of men helping the economy.
Overall, the main reason that caused conscription in 1916 was the needs of war. This is because the lack of men fighting was the most important problem to be addressed by the Government because of the increasing power of Germany. This factor was more important than the political pressures because the lack of men and needs of war was the cause for the pressure put on Asquith.