The majority of men went out to fight out of a sense of patriotism, honour and duty. They loved their King and country to the extent that they felt it was worth dying for. They thought it was a matter of honour and duty to fight for the British Empire if a foreign force threatened it.
Propaganda helped enforce the British portrayal the Germans as evil and sadistic. Every single atrocity that the Germans committed was reported at home. When an American passenger ship was sunk by German u-boats many people were shocked, their idea of war was something that only involved soldiers not civilians or traders. This inspired people to volunteer in the hope of finding a way of getting revenge. Things that happened in industrial cities like Scarborough, where German hot air balloons called Zeppelins made bombing raids against civilians in the hope of disrupting production of arms and munitions. Posters were very effective and created a picture of Germans who would run their bayonets through women and rape them.
Lord Derby had the idea of ‘pals battalions’, these were battalions of people who volunteered to join the army in the same area. This scheme inspired local and civic pride, this meant that soldiers would not just be fighting for the British Empire, but for their town or city and friend and family. This was particularly effective as it encouraged friend to enlist at the same time, if one was left behind there would be no one they new. It had a similar effect as ‘peer pressure’ - if you did not join up you considered a coward by your friends. This worked well in North England and Scotland, where places like Hull raised four regiments and three regiments from Liverpool went over the top of the trenches on the first day.
Women too played a vital role in the recruitment process. The Order of the White Feather was a group that encouraged women to hand out white feathers to men not in uniform in public as a sign of cowardice - the white feather being a symbol a coward. This really pushed men to go as they would not want to be seen as a coward in public. The suffragists used their considerable publicity machine to call on men to join the army. The mothers union produced posters urging mothers to get their sons to enlist. Some posters published by the British army were aimed at women to urge the men to join the army. Some slogans read ‘If you cannot persuade him to answer his country’s call and protect you now, discharge him as unfit.’ and ‘If he does not think that you and your country are worth fighting for - do you think he is WORTHY of you?.’
The glamour of a uniform and travelling to different countries also attracted a number of men. Men who had never travelled past the nearest town or city were after the chance of an adventure. And especially since every one expected the war to be over by Christmas it felt like a holiday for some.
Patriotism, honour, duty as well as pride in ones town or city played a considerable part in explaining why men volunteered. Propaganda pushed men to enlist as a way of getting revenge for all the deaths in places like Scarborough committed by the Germans. Women too played a vital role in moving men to volunteer, particularly the Order of the White Feather which disgraced men in public by labelling them s cowards.
