Britain in the First World War

Britain in the First World War

Introduction

Recruitment and conscription had become a big issue at the beginning

and propaganda was used to change the attitudes of the public.

After the First World War, life in Britain had changed dramatically.

Britain owed nearly six billion pounds to the Americans. Air raids

back on the British homeland had killed over one thousand people and

left millions homeless. In total nearly one million British people had

died during the war.

Women had come to do the jobs of men, and governments had taken new

measures to ensure we had won this new kind of war. The League of

Nations had been intended to bring peace back to Europe and the world

but only brought more bitterness.

Recruitment

Before conscription, men would be encouraged by their families to

enlist and fight for the country. Propaganda was used to stir up the

ideas and emotions of what kizer whilhelm had in mind for Europe and

to bring out countrymen's patriotic duties.

When Lord Kitchener as put in charge of Britain's fight against the

Germans he realized that more men would be needed.

The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) only had one hundred thousand

men and so the recruitment drive had begun.

Women were encouraged to persuade men to enlist, and at the height of

the recruitment drive half a million had enlisted. Men that didn't

enlist were seen as cowards and given white feathers to wear in

public. Many feared that the war would be over before they got to the

front. All countries involved had greeted the war with enthusiasm

hoping to fight for 'King and country'.

Conscription

Conscription was introduced...

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...re that

this could never happen again. America on the other hand wanted to

keep Germany from being punished too much incase any thing like this

happen again. Britain was in the middle of all this. They understood

were both nations were coming from. They agreed on the punishment and

forced Germany to sign the treaty of Versailles. The British blockade

had starved the Germans into surrendering. The German public had

nicknamed the government the 'November Criminals'.

The League of Nations had been created by woodrow Wilson but when he

backed out, the league was left with no real power. The permanent

members were still recovering after war. The league had more defeats

then victories and rarely brought peace to rising conflicts. The

American public had felt they should never have gotten involved with

European affairs.