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

The photograph in source A1 (ii) was taken outside a recruiting office in London. The source has a good reliability as it gives the impression that there were many men willing to sign up and fight for their country. It is a hard decision whether to trust a photograph or not, as the picture may have been taken at a popular point in the recruitment stage if so it would have gave that impression to the men and would have made them feel irresponsible/guilty for not supporting there nation.

The Welsh played a significant part within the British army David Lloyd George gave a speech to a welsh audience persuading them to fight for their nation. Although for a long time to fight in the war to the welsh men was seen to be sinful. This all changed when David Lloyd George also managed to persuade the chapel. By 1915 the law was lifted as soon as this happened there was a tremendous intake of welsh men. Sources A2 and A3 support this point.

This proves that recruitment at home proved popular to begin with yet less popular as time went on.

Source B2 shows us a cartoon picture of Lloyd George who will soon be appointed Minister of Munitions. Source B3 shows us Lloyd George as the new Prime Minister with members of his coalition at 10 Downing Street in December 1916. Both of these two sources are useful as it shows us that Lloyd George was a strong leader. This tells us that the government during the war was led by a determined leader who was well organised.

Source B5 (i) is a report taken from the December 1917 newspaper the daily sketch. It shows that women over 30 won the vote this was a big step for women. Women were gradually becoming more independent and self sufficient. This would have made women feel more there own person because they were so used to men telling them what to do. I believe this source to be reliable as it would have been passed through the houses of parliament first. This source proves that the government were willing to change the status of the women, due to their efforts during the war.

The home front had many positive aspects to the war, many sources back this up like Source C2 talks about the Suffragettes marching through London, campaigning that they wanted to help the war effort, their leader Mrs Emily Pankhurst, demanded a fair minimum wage and fair working conditions for women. I believe that this was fair as women were doing the men's jobs yet they were getting paid a lot lower than what the men would have.

Source C3 shows employment figures for women shot up between July 1914-July 1918. The reasons for this was due to so many men were leaving the country to fight the war. Many jobs were left empty, so to earn the money what men used to provide the women worked in these jobs. This helped to prove that women could also do the job as many thought that they couldn't as in this period it saw women as the house wife type. Although this was a good leap for women it put more of a strain on the household chores. I believe that this source is reliable, as the employment figures would have been passed through the house off commons which would have meant they would not of been tampered with

The sources that I have written about above all address the positive effect the home front would have had during the First World War. Sources B5, C2 And C3 show how the women benefited.

In this next section of my coursework I will be writing about the negative affects the war had on the British society.

Firstly source A4 shows us a turning point as a new law was passed about conscription. The new law forced every unmarried man of military age to fight in the British army. This would have put the British society under pressure as it would have meant that more men would have to die. This source is very reliable as it was passed through the houses of parliament, due to this it means the source was unlikely to have been altered in anyway. The source was issued by the government may 1916. This shows us that between 1914-1916 recruitment by free will had dropped. This is a primary source. It tells us that men were no longer offering to join the war but were now being forced. This would have caused major effects at home as the women needed the money to keep the house running and with the men away it caused the women more work in and out of the house.

Secondly source A5 shows us a consequence of one man who chose not to abide by the new law of conscription. This source tells us that men who didn't follow the conscription law were called conscientious objectors. Conscientious objectors were willing to face unpopularity and punishment as they did not believe in people being forced to join the army. These men were thrown into prison. Back in 1914-1918 prisons were in very poor conditions. Two of the main illnesses were tuberculosis and scarlet fever this was because of the contaminated air caused by the steel and coal works that were in Britain. Many of the conscientious objectors died due to these conditions. This would have put a tremendous down fall on the families that lost people. This source is a letter which was written by Harold Bing in 1916, which was wrote to a group of people called the No-Conscription Fellowship, motivating them to get their feelings known and to let others no they will not give up. I believe that this source is reliable as it was taken out of a person's diary therefore it would have been what he had gone through although the source maybe seen as biased as he only giving his side of the story. This source also proves that life at home would have been much disrupted because if the men were not out already fighting there would have been protests to stop the conscription which would have implied a lot of chaos. The government back in 1914-1918 would have tried their hardest to get those men either sent to prison or maybe even killed.

In this essay I conclude that society dramatically changed during the period of the First World War. This is due to the amount of men lost during this period this is because of conscription. Women's part in society changed as it gave them a better lifestyle more rights and they could also vote they were also seen to be more independent

My essay also shows that a resistance was put up due to the incoming of conscription, but the group were imprisoned due to their views on the situation. This shows that free speech was not accepted by society and government during this period of time.

I believe that the general attitude at home was both positive and negative. The positives were mainly about the women as the laws were changed so that they could vote and also have a fair minimum wage the same as the men. The negative affected all the criteria's at home as the men wanted to stay to support their families which then forced on conscription.

Robyn Williams