Restrictions In Ww1 Research Paper
The Liberals’ policy towards State Control before the First World War was ‘laissez faire’, a policy of the government having a very limited impact on life in the country. However, the First World War forced them to scrap this policy and increase the restrictions placed on civilians in order to successfully fight the war. They did this in a number of ways, and this answer will include: Conscription, Censorship, restrictions on women and food rationing. It will be argued that the most extensive increase in state control was food rationing.
The most extensive increase in restrictions on civilians was rationing of food. Food had to be rationed due to the fact that German U-Boats were sinking British supply ships. In response to this, Britain had to become self-sufficient and the government had to start rationing food. Also, to ensure that everyone had a fair share of the food both the rich and poor were rationed. From this, it could be argued that the upper classes suffered more than the lower classes as the lower classes had …show more content…
always had little food, but it was a massive blow to the rich who were used to an enormous amount of food in a single day. To organise the rationing fairly, the government set up the Department of Food Production, which also helped organise the Women’s Land Army to gather the food required.
As well as the Women’s Land Army, women entered many areas of work previously closed to them.
Millicent Fawcett, a leading feminist and president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies from 1897 to 1918 said in 1918: 'The war revolutionised the industrial position of women - it found them serfs and left them free.' The war did offer women increased opportunities in the paid labour market. Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated two million women replaced men in employment, resulting in an increase in the proportion of women in total employment from 24 per cent in July 1914 to 37 per cent by November 1918. However, their pay was much less than men’s and they were treated poorly in many areas of work. The greatest restriction placed on women was that, due to the dilution agreements with the trade unions, when the men returned after the war they would automatically get their jobs back and so the women who had taken them were forced
out.
Women had come into work because Britain was running out of workers, a problem which increased with the introduction of Conscription. Before 1914, Britain didn’t conscript men to serve in the armed forces bit relied on the incredibly successful ‘voluntarism’ campaign led by Lord Kitchener, the victor of the Boer war. His propaganda poster “Your country needs you” led to the raising of the largest volunteer army in history - “10,000 men volunteered within a few days, and by mid-September the total was 500,000. By the end of February 1915, a further 500,000 had been recruited.”(Norman Lowe). However, not even this was enough, as the cost in men was too high for voluntarism to provide by itself. Because of this, in January 1916 conscription for all single men between 18-41. After the terrible casualties of the Somme in July 1916, conscription was extended to married men and men up to age 50. People who refused to join up, such as the conscientious objectors or ’conchies’ could be imprisoned, and soldiers who refused to fight could be shot. The only exceptions to this are connected to the protection of the working class, as the government promised that highly skilled workers would be exempt from conscription.
Censorship was introduced in Britain during the war. This was to maintain national morale, without which the country would fall within weeks. Censorship was essential to prevent information being published that could aid the enemy, and, though it was inevitable that not everything could be hidden, they did their best to downplay British losses while exaggerating enemy casualties, and this propaganda was used to encourage people to stay positive and do their bit. However, this was a serious restriction on freedom of speech. Despite this, Northcliffe published several derogatory stories about Lord Kitchener and Asquith in the Daily Mail.
In conclusion, the most extensive increase in restrictions on civilians was rationing of food as it affected all levels of society. Poverty had been one of the main problems of pre-war Britain, and it can be argued that the First World War did more to improve the lives of the working class than all the prior social reforms the Liberals had brought in. Certainly, when Seebohm Rowntree repeated his examination into the life of the working classes in the 1930s (during the great depression) they were actually better than they had been in 1901, when he had done his first investigation.
The most extensive increase in restrictions on civilians was rationing of food. Food had to be rationed due to the fact that German U-Boats were sinking British supply ships. In response to this, Britain had to become self-sufficient and the government had to start rationing food. Also, to ensure that everyone had a fair share of the food both the rich and poor were rationed. From this, it could be argued that the upper classes suffered more than the lower classes as the lower classes had …show more content…
always had little food, but it was a massive blow to the rich who were used to an enormous amount of food in a single day. To organise the rationing fairly, the government set up the Department of Food Production, which also helped organise the Women’s Land Army to gather the food required.
As well as the Women’s Land Army, women entered many areas of work previously closed to them.
Millicent Fawcett, a leading feminist and president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies from 1897 to 1918 said in 1918: 'The war revolutionised the industrial position of women - it found them serfs and left them free.' The war did offer women increased opportunities in the paid labour market. Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated two million women replaced men in employment, resulting in an increase in the proportion of women in total employment from 24 per cent in July 1914 to 37 per cent by November 1918. However, their pay was much less than men’s and they were treated poorly in many areas of work. The greatest restriction placed on women was that, due to the dilution agreements with the trade unions, when the men returned after the war they would automatically get their jobs back and so the women who had taken them were forced
out.
Women had come into work because Britain was running out of workers, a problem which increased with the introduction of Conscription. Before 1914, Britain didn’t conscript men to serve in the armed forces bit relied on the incredibly successful ‘voluntarism’ campaign led by Lord Kitchener, the victor of the Boer war. His propaganda poster “Your country needs you” led to the raising of the largest volunteer army in history - “10,000 men volunteered within a few days, and by mid-September the total was 500,000. By the end of February 1915, a further 500,000 had been recruited.”(Norman Lowe). However, not even this was enough, as the cost in men was too high for voluntarism to provide by itself. Because of this, in January 1916 conscription for all single men between 18-41. After the terrible casualties of the Somme in July 1916, conscription was extended to married men and men up to age 50. People who refused to join up, such as the conscientious objectors or ’conchies’ could be imprisoned, and soldiers who refused to fight could be shot. The only exceptions to this are connected to the protection of the working class, as the government promised that highly skilled workers would be exempt from conscription.
Censorship was introduced in Britain during the war. This was to maintain national morale, without which the country would fall within weeks. Censorship was essential to prevent information being published that could aid the enemy, and, though it was inevitable that not everything could be hidden, they did their best to downplay British losses while exaggerating enemy casualties, and this propaganda was used to encourage people to stay positive and do their bit. However, this was a serious restriction on freedom of speech. Despite this, Northcliffe published several derogatory stories about Lord Kitchener and Asquith in the Daily Mail.
In conclusion, the most extensive increase in restrictions on civilians was rationing of food as it affected all levels of society. Poverty had been one of the main problems of pre-war Britain, and it can be argued that the First World War did more to improve the lives of the working class than all the prior social reforms the Liberals had brought in. Certainly, when Seebohm Rowntree repeated his examination into the life of the working classes in the 1930s (during the great depression) they were actually better than they had been in 1901, when he had done his first investigation.