The battle of Somme was believed to be the war to end all wars, the soldiers were pleased to hear this as they thought they could go home as soon as the Somme was over and so had a very positive attitude towards this battle and the war on the whole although they were still angry at the Germans because of the grief they caused in the trenches. On the first day of the Somme 20,000 men died this caused an immediate plummet of morale as men believed they wouldn’t make it out of the battle alive, although this was the case this built determination and more anger within the troops as they would seek revenge for their friends and family lost in the war. The battle of the Somme was seen as the bloodiest battle in the First World War due to their being so many casualties. A total of 146404 allied troops died in the battle of Somme. Soldiers were disheartened by the losses at the battle and as a result of this morale dropped greatly. Another reason morale dropped was because even by 1917 the allies were failing to capture lands further distressing the soldiers and making the war last longer which the soldiers don’t want to happen.
After the battle of Somme came battle of Passchendaele. Morale was dropping here as soldiers felt the war had gone on too long and that they couldn’t put up with it anymore. Some soldiers were recovering from the Somme and then had to fight in Passchendaele. Although Passchendaele didn’t have as many casualties as the Somme It was tiring for the troops who fought in it.
Food rationing played a huge part in morale amongst troops. In 1917 soldiers were reduced to meat once every 15 days and pea soup for the rest of the days. Richard Beasley writes, “In Training the food was just about eatable but in France we were starving. All we lived on was tea and dog biscuits. If we got meat once a week we were lucky, but imagine trying to eat standing in a trench full of water with the smell of dead bodies near by.” The British army also recorded a record of complaint letters about rationing, 200,000 in total.
The biggest blow to the Soldiers morale came in December 1917 when the Russians withdrew from the war due to a revolution this caused morale to stoop to its lowest point as now the allies had lost a major source of troops and had to fight many battles on their own with no help from Russia. As morale reached this low point it seemed as if the soldiers had given up but then came the news that the Americans had joined the war on the allied side which gave the soldiers a huge boost in confidence as not fresh troops would soon be arriving and many soldiers could take a rest. Although the war had carried on much longer than planned when the Americans joined soldiers thought this would be the end of the war as they could overpower the German forces.
In 1918 the Germans launched their last big push called the ‘spring offensives’ the allied troops held this attack of killing many German soldiers in the process. After the spring offensives Germany realised that it stood no chance of winning the war and so to protect the complete destruction of Germany stopped the war. Morale was at a high as soldiers looked forward to going home and seeing their family’s and loved ones.
Civilians’ attitudes changed towards the war and the enemy according to what they found out from the press and government. Sometimes the government didn’t tell the public certain things to keep morale high this later resulted in a loss of respect for the government but in the long term may have helped the war effort as many people who signed up later on in the war may not have signed up if they heard about what was really happening in the war. In the beginning of the war many men signed up for the war most of the civilians that were left in Britain were women and so many factories ending up giving women many jobs. As mostly women were left in Britain the government focused on keeping these women happy to keep morale high.
Morale at the beginning of the war was high as the government told the public that the war would be over by Christmas this made many people support the war especially civilians by telling their family men to help the war effort. Civilians also took great pride in their country and so supported the war in any other ways they could like making food for the army.
In August 1914, many women organisation were set up this again was because the majority of civilians left in Britain were female. These organisations would find jobs for women who needed to support their families. As women now had jobs they would feel more part of the community and would make more friends at work resulting in them living a happier life. As a result of this morale stayed high as it was in the beginning of the war.
On 8th August 1914 the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was brought into place this sapped morale as this gave the government the power to imprison people without proof and censor the media. This may have given the civilians the first idea that the government is not telling them everything that is happening in the war. DORA was also used to control civilian behaviour, this including regulating the amount of alcohol consumed and food supply. In October 1915 the government reduced the time public houses were open from 5 am to 12:30pm to 12:00 noon to 2:30pm and 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Due to the things the government did to reduce drinking and other aspects such as food many people were angry at the government and lots of morale was lost due to this.
Later in October on 16th 1914 the first bombing of British civilians started by the Germans this made the British civilians very scared as bombs could kill large amounts of people in one go and this also meant that the war was not just going on in the war fields but also in the hometowns of many soldiers. This made British citizens very angry at the Germans as they were using tactics that endangered civilian lives as the civilians had no role to play in the fighting aspect of the war. This lead to civilians having a different outlook on the Germans, civilians became much more angry at the Germans and would also agree with the governments point of view that the Germans were beasts. This lead to morale going slightly lower.
In 1914 there was also a Christmas truce which made morale rise as the soldiers could take a break from fighting. This gave many civilians satisfaction that there family members were safe and alive. Although the war had carried on longer than expected the civilians were satisfied as their was a truce.
In 1915 there was a coalition of government parties which attempted to combat the British crisis this made morale high again as the civilians knew that something was being done about them and their safety. This would also give a sense to the civilians that the government was working together to combat this crisis and not as separate units in completion with each other. This caused morale to rise as the country had a sense of togetherness. The attitude towards the German’s was still very similar to as it was in 1914 which was angry at them.
In January 1915 the first air raids were carried out on London this struck major fear into the civilians of Britain as an air raid could happen at any time. Civilians also changed their attitudes towards the enemy at this point they were much angrier at the Germans for using such tactics to invade London. As these air raids were carried out the civilians became more aware of the dangers they faced and morale stooped to an even lower level.
Overall morale at this point was lower than t the start of the war as the war itself had carried on much longer than expected and still no end could be seen. The morale here was higher than the soldiers as the civilians were only receiving good news from the government until later on when news reels were leaked and the civilians lost respect for the government for not telling them the truth. Although the civilians were angry at the government they were also angry at the Germans who were responsible for the death of their loved ones.
In 1915 morale became even lower as their was a munitions crisis, this showed the civilians that something was going wrong in the war that they couldn’t make enough ammunition for the soldiers and so many women helped making bombs and guns. Although morale was low many civilians tried to help the crisis in some shape or form.
To bring morale even lower in 1915 many employers refused to give jobs to women. This didn’t go down to well worth the public as the majority of the public was female and so felt very offended by this act. Many women went on riots demanding that all jobs be open to women.
The next major step in the war was the battle of Somme which the civilians thought was the war to end all wars and therefore thought this would be the end of the war. 20,000 men were killed on the first day of the Somme but the civilians were to know nothing about this and so morale stayed high until the end of the Somme when the war still hadn’t finished. This infuriated civilians and so became even angrier at the Germans. The Somme was portrayed as a victory to the civilians which kept morale high until news reels were leaked and the truth became apparent to all, that the Somme was a bloody battle. Many people blamed the government about not doing anything about the Somme and not telling the civilians the truth about it. The civilians felt betrayed and lost all trust in the government. After this the civilians were furious at the Germans who were responsible for all the British deaths.
In January 1918 food rationing came into place this greatly demoralised civilians as their supplies were even further reduced. Sugar was first to be rationed later followed by bread and meat. The government gave the idea that rationing was to guarantee supplies not to reduced consumption which was proven true by government figures which shows that the average intake of calories during rationing was similar to that of post war eating. When rationing came into place many civilians blamed the Germans.
Another blow to morale in 1918 was Russia withdrawing from the war which leads civilians to believe that Britain had lost the war but weeks later America decided to join the war and morale was immediately boosted. In the first few months of 1919 the war was one by the allies and morale rocketed as the victory was reported home although many families had lost members the nation as a whole was happy that the allies had won.
Naturally, the soldiers would get fed up due to all of the reasons listed above. They would feel as if they were neglected and uncared for. Being in the army at that time would feel like a living hell for many soldiers. Some soldiers did not get to visit families or even spend much time away from fighting. Both sides were fed up with the war, and would have wanted it to end soon. The main reason for a British soldier to feel fed up with the war after the first Christmas is because they would have thought that it would have ended by then. It was actually only just beginning at that time. They have also felt like Britain was going to lose the war, because it was dragging on for so long. However there were many reasons for Britain to keep on fighting, due to unnecessary attacks from the Germans, and also because they wanted their country to be victorious. Civilians also had their reasons of being fed up with the war, many promises the government made were never kept such as the war ending by Christmas. The public also took a dislike to the government when hey found out about the Somme and saw the videos, although it is understandable why the government did this. Civilian’s morale differed from soldier’s morale at many points in the war as the soldiers were experiencing the war first hand and the civilians only knew what the government told them. Generally Civilians morale stayed higher than Soldiers morale throughout the war as they didn’t experience the treacheries first hand and weren’t told the full story, this was due to DORA.
By Amanbir Singh Sawhney
