How were civilians affected by World War 1?

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How were civilians affected by World War 1?

• Aim To revise key details about the British
  Home Front during the First World War

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Total War

• What was the Total War?
• A war where the countries drafts all the people
  and collects all resources that they can.
• When did this war take place?
• Around 1916
• Where did it take place?
• Europe
• Why did the Total War occur?
• The war turned into a Total War because the
  countries expected the war to be short so they
  werent prepared for long term war, when their
  supplies ran out, total war was their only
  option.
• What was the significance of the war?
• WWI turned into a Total War which affected the
  home front and government a lot.
• It affected women too because with the absence of
  men they were expected to take over more jobs and
  help out with the war effort.
• They received the rights to new jobs, to vote,
  and the right to apartments.

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WWI on the Home Front

• WWI was a Total War required populations on
  the home front to mobilize their resources
  completely toward the war effort civilian
  population centers also became targets of the war
  effort not since the US Civil War the
  Napoleonic Wars had the world seen such complete
  mobilization for war
• Mass conscription was carried out by all nations
  most European nations had armies of 1-2 million
  eventually over 70 million would be drafted
  worldwide many women would volunteer services
  as nurses at home the front
• Entire economies were geared toward war
  production led to rationing of all sorts of
  essentials as raw materials agricultural
  products were utilized to feed the war machine
  led to increased centralization govt control
  of economies
• WWI saw an increase in restrictions of civil
  liberties the press was censored as was speech
  mail due process of law was suspended for
  those suspected of treason German books were
  burned, speaking German was banned lynchings of
  German-Brits were interned in Britain and its
  colonies
• Women played an important role in the war effort
  taking up jobs as men were sent to the home
  front over 35 of the workforce was women in
  many European nations during the war

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War on the Home Front
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? starter activity
This was arguably the most successful recruitment
poster of the War. It shows Earl Kitchener, the
man responsible for getting men to join the army.
It uses a clever visual trick. Can you guess what
it is?
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Recruitment

• Initial recruitment used posters, leaflets, etc.
  to build an army quickly
• What is the message of this poster?
• How would this poster encourage men to join the
  army?

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Why did people join up?
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Patriotism

• Britain joined the War on 4 August 1914
• People encouraged to do your bit for King
  country
• Kings shilling
• Pals brigades (including villages, football
  teams, orchestras, old school friends)
• Over by Christmas
• By December 1914, 1 million men had enlisted

What is the artist of who made this poster trying
to say?
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Propaganda

• Leaflets posters
• Women were told to encourage sons, husbands
  boyfriends to enlist
• By January 1916, 2.6 million men had enlisted

What do you think the man in the poster is
thinking?
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Recruitment

• Initial recruitment used posters, leaflets, etc.
  to build an army quickly
• What is the message of this poster?
• How would this poster encourage men to join the
  army?

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Recruitment

• Womens organisations tried to boost recruitment
• White feathers were given to men as a sign of
  their cowardice
• The Mothers Union urged its members to get their
  sons to join up

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Recruitment

• Initial recruitment used posters, leaflets, etc.
  to build an army quickly
• What is the message of this poster?
• How would this poster encourage men to join the
  army?

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Recruitment
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Recruiting by E. A. Mackintosh

• Lads, youre wanted, go and help,
• On the railway carriage wall
• Stuck the poster, and I thought
• Of the hands that penned the call.
• Fat civilians wishing they
• Could go out and fight the Hun.
• Cant you see them thanking God
• That theyre over forty-one?
• Girls with feathers, vulgar songs-
• Washy verse on Englands need-
• God-and dont we damned well know
• How the message ought to read.

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Recruiting continued

• Lads, youre wanted! Over there,
• Shiver in the morning dew,
• More poor devils like yourselves
• Waiting to be killed by you.
• Go and help to swell the names
• In the casualty lists.
• Help to make a columns stuff
• For the blasted journalists.
• Help to keep them nice and safe
• From the wicked German foe.
• Dont let him come over here!
• Lads, youre wanted-out you go.

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Recruiting continued

• Theres a better word than that,
• Lads, and cant you hear it come
• From a million men that call
• You to share their martyrdom.
• Leave the harlots still to sing
• Comic songs about the Hun,
• Leave the fat old men to say
• Now weve got them on the run.
• Better twenty honest years
• Than their dull three score and ten.
• Lads, youre wanted. Come and learn
• To live and die with honest men.

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Recruiting continued

• You shall learn what men can do
• If you will but pay the price,
• Learn the gaiety and strength
• In the gallant sacrifice.
• Take your risk of life and death,
• Underneath the open sky.
• Live clean or go out quick-
• Lads, youre wanted. Come and die.
• What aspects of Home Front changes are addressed
  in this poem?
• What is the overall message?

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Conscription

• Voluntary recruitment was decreasing, but the
  demand for troops was increasing
• Voluntary recruitment didnt share the burden
  between all parts of society
• Conscription introduced in 1916
• All men aged 18-40 had to register
• They could be called up to fight at any time

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Conscription

• The British army had consisted of all volunteers.
• As hundreds of thousands of men were killed or
  wounded, more volunteers were needed.
• Due to this the height limit was reduced.
• And the upper age limit increased.
• But the flow of volunteers was not enough.
• In January 1916, the Military Service Act was
  passed.
• It required all unmarried men between 18 and 41,
  except those in exempted occupations to serve.
• On April 26, 1916, the Act was extended to
  include married men between the ages of 18 and 41
  as well.

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Conscription

• Who took practiced conscription during the time
  of World War I?
• Europe
• When exactly did conscription occur during this
  time?
• Between 1890 and 1914
• What was conscription?
• Conscription was a military draft which made
  European armies double in size.
• Why did countries choose to practice
  conscription?
• European countries felt the need to become more
  powerful because of tensions tightening between
  them.
• What was the significance of conscription during
  this time?
• Conscription, which is an act of militarism,
  cause Military leaders to receive more power and
  gave countries the means to go to war.

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Conscription

• Casualties increased
• News returned to Britain of horrors of trenches
• Conscription introduced for all men between ages
  of 18 and 41
• Conscientious objectors (conshies) given white
  feathers
• By 1918 2.5 million extra men had been enlisted

Why did millions of men feel obliged to fight
in the War?
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• All now depended on how the Somme was followed
  up.
• Conscription was introduced in 1916.
• Had it been introduced in 1914, which had not
  been possible, then death and disablement would
  have been more evenly spread.
• While this does not diminish the unquestionable
  tragedy the war, the perception of the death toll
  may well have been less shocking.
• The British nation had never been so involved in
  a war before,
• never had it suffered as it did 1914-18,
• but it suffered fewer losses than most of the
  other combatants.

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Conscientious Objectors

• The Military Service Act that introduced
  conscription put many who opposed the war into a
  position of direct personal conflict with the
  British Government.
• Exemption was allowed on grounds of conscience,
  and unsympathetic and biased trials were set up
  to assess those who claimed conscience as a
  reason for not fighting.
• David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister,
  promised the conscientious objectors a rough
  time.
• However, such was the decline in enthusiasm for
  the war, there were 750,000 claims for conscience
  exemption.
• Of these tribunals, only 16,500 of the 750,000
  were accepted as Conscientious Objectors.
• The great majority of these men accepted some
  form of alternative service, working in
  hospitals, factories, mines, etc
• However, over 1000 refused all forms of war
  service.
• These men were imprisoned, and most were brutally
  treated, resulting in physical and mental abuse.
• 70 of these men dies in prison.

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'The Ideal' - one of many cartoon produced by
COs (1917).This and several other were also
produced and widelydistributed as
postcard        
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In The Daily Express on July 4, 1916, Lieutenant
Colonel Reginald Brooke, Commander of the
Military Detention Barracks for the C.O.s bragged
about how he broke them

• Some of the early batches, when nothing could be
  done with them, were taken singly and run across
  the yard to special rooms---airy enough, but from
  which they could see nothing. They were fed on
  bread and water and some of them presently came
  round. I had them placed in special rooms, nude,
  but with their full army kit on the floor for
  them to put on as soon as they were so minded.
  There were no blankets or substitutes for
  clothing left in the rooms which were quite bare.
  Several of the men held out naked for several
  hours, but they gradually accepted the
  inevitable. Forty of the conscientious objectors
  who passed through my hands are now quite willing
  soldiers.

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Conscription and Conscientious Objectors

• Conscientious objectors opposed the war for
  political or religious reasons
• They refused to fight, and were imprisoned or
  executed for doing so
• Others helped the war effort, but not through
  military action
• Field hospitals
• Stretched bearers

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The Conchies

• Conscientious objectors were people who simply
  did not want to fight in World War 1.
• Conscientious objectors became known as
  'conchies' or C.O's
• They were a sign that not everybody was as
  enthusiastic about the war as the government
  would have liked.

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• Over one million soldiers died on the Western
  Front during World War One but there were some
  men who refused to go because they believed the
  war was wrong.

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There were several types of conscientious
objector.

• Some were pacifists who were against war in
  general.
• Some were political objectors who did not
  consider the government of Germany to be their
  enemy
• Some were religious objectors who believed that
  war and fighting was against their religion.
  Groups in this section were the Quakers and
  Jehovah Witnesses.
• A combination of any of the above groups.

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Quakers were prominent in promoting conscientious
objection, and were ridiculed in the papers.

• A Christian To A Quaker
• I much regret that I must frown
• Upon your cocoa nibs, (reference to Cadbury
  chocolate owned by a Quaker family)
• I simply hate to smite you down
• And kick you in the ribs
• But since you will not think as I,
• Its clear you must be barred,
• So in you go (and may you die)
• To two years hard.
• We are marching to freedom and to love
• Were fighting every shape of tyrant sin
• We are out to make it worth
• Gods while to love the earth,
• And damn it, you wont join in!

• To drive you mad, as I have done,
• Has almost made me sick.
• To torture Quakers like a Hun
• Has hurt me to the quick.
• But since your logic wars with mine
• Youre something I must guard,
• So in you go, you dirty swine,
• To two years hard.
• We are marching to destroy the hosts of hate
• Weve taken, every man, a Christian vow
• We are our to make war cease,
• That men may live at peace,
• And, damme, youre at it now!
• By Harold Begbie

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• Some conscientious objectors did not want to
  fight but were keen to 'do their bit'. These
  people were willing to help in weapons factories
  and some went to the trenches to become stretcher
  bearers etc., though not to fight. Other C.O's
  refused to do anything that involved the war -
  these were known as 'absolutists.

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What did people think of the conchies?

• They were treated as cowards
• Traitors
• Criminals
• White feathers were handed out to young men who
  had not joined the army
• They could not get jobs in factories doing war
  work

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What happened to the conchies?

• Some did war work
• Medical services
• Support services
• Some refused every kind of alternative service
  and went to prison. Ten died and 31 went mad as
  a result of their experiences

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• HAROLD BING'S STORYThere were plenty of
  protests against war in 1914. Some of the
  protesters were socialists, who believed that the
  working men of the world should unite, not obey
  orders to kill each other.
• Some belonged to religious groups which forbade
  taking human life.
• Some thought this particular war was wrong, some
  thought all war was wrong.
• Thousands of these varied protesters gathered in
  London's Trafalgar Square on August 2 to make
  their anti-war voices heard.
• A 16-year old called Harold Bing was there.
• He had walked the 11 miles from Croydon (and
  walked back again afterwards).
• It was thrilling,' he said. Harold and his father
  were both pacifists (his father had opposed the
  Boer War as well), and they both joined the
  No-Conscription Fellowship.
• Harold helped to distribute NCF leaflets from
  house to house on one occasion he was chased by
  a hostile householder wielding a heavy stick.
• After conscription was introduced in 1916,
  Harold, an 'absolutist' CO, went before his
  tribunal.
• He was not thought to qualify for exemption.
• '18? - you're too young to have a conscience,'
  said the chairman.
• But not, apparently, too young to be sent to war.
  
• A policeman came to his home to arrest him, and
  he was taken to Kingston Barracks.

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• A policeman came to his home to arrest him, and
  he was taken to Kingston Barracks.
• When he refused to regard himself as a soldier,
  or obey military orders, he was court-martialled.
  
• The sentence 6 months hard labour. In the end
  Harold spent nearly 3 years in prison.
• Many COs were given what was called the 'cat and
  mouse' treatment at the end of their sentences
  in civilian prisons, they were released, taken
  back to barracks, arrested again for disobeying
  orders, and imprisoned once more.
• The good thing, as Harold observed, was that each
  time someone was released, they had enough time
  before re-arrest to get hold of newspapers and
  information which they could then pass on
  covertly to fellow inmates. 'I remember there was
  great excitement when news of the Russian
  revolution came through. People thought this
  would make a great difference to the war.'
• Harold made a difference himself.
• He helped to get vegetarian food provided (though
  unappetisingly) by the prison kitchen, and
  additional nourishment (a mug of cocoa) supplied
  for men who worked overtime.
• He also made friends with a few of the kinder
  warders - helping the daughter of one of them
  with her maths homework that particular warder
  died soon after the war, and Harold and some
  other ex-prisoners set up a fund to pay for the
  girl's secondary education.
• Harold was also one of the men who together
  created a prison magazine written on thin brown
  sheets of toilet paper using the blunt end of a
  needle and the ink supplied for monthly letters
  home.

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• Just the one copy ('different people writing
  little essays or poems or humorous remarks,
  sometimes little cartoons or sketches') was
  passed secretly from one prisoner to another.
• In Harold's prison this unique publication was
  called 'The Winchester Whisperer'.
• The idea was widely copied.
• Wandsworth COs, for example, produced their 'Old
  Lags Hansard', once with an apology for late
  publication 'owing to an official raid on our
  offices', the editor's cell.
• A work camp attached to a stone-breaking quarry
  published 'The Granite Echo', with copies printed
  by a supporter in London.
• Harold Bing left prison with his sight damaged by
  years of stitching mailbags in dim light, but
  also having taught himself German and French.
• He wanted to teach, but he quickly found that
  many advertisements for teachers said 'No CO need
  apply'.
• 'And if you did apply, you got turned down as
  soon as they knew you were a pacifist.'
• But at last he found a sympathetic headmaster who
  was willing to employ him.
• As well as teaching, Harold worked as a peace
  campaigner (often travelling abroad) for the rest
  of his life. He died in 1975.

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AFTER THE WAR

• No-one was in a hurry to release the COs -
  certainly not until the surviving soldiers were
  brought back from the front, which took months.
• Some COs went on hunger strike in protest at
  their continued detention 130 were forcibly fed
  through tubes (as suffragettes had been) - so
  forcibly that many were injured by the treatment
  and had to be temporarily released.
• Others went on work strikes and were brutally
  punished for it.
• In May 1919 the longest-serving prisoners began
  to be released the last CO left prison in
  August.
• Many found that no-one wanted to employ them.
• Those who hadn't done alternative or
  non-combatant service were deprived of their
  votes for five years (though this wasn't always
  strictly enforced)

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Planned Economies

• What was planned economies?
• An economy controlled by the government, for
  example, when European governments decided price
  of goods, wages of the people, and the rent
  people had to pay. They Also Rationed food and
  materials and controlled imports, exports,
  transportation and industries.
• Where/ Who used planned economies?
• Europe
• When did these take place?
• During WWI
• Why were these used?
• Planned economies were set up as a result of
  Total War and the high demands of the war.
• What was the significance of planned economies?
• The planned economies that the government set up
  had a large impact on the civilians at home and
  caused their support of the war

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DORA

• The Defence of the Realm Act
• Introduced on August 8, 1914
• Gave the government powers to control many
  aspects of peoples daily lives
• The priority was to keep industrial production
  high, but other things were affected too
• One of the first businesses it took over was the
  railways

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DORA

• Mines and railways were taken over by the
  government
• The government had ultimate control over them
• This meant production of coal, and the movement
  of trains, would be prioritised for the war
  effort

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• Ministry of Munitions created in May 1915
• Ministries of Labour, Shipping, and Food all
  created in Dec 1916
• In ten years, from 1911 to 1921, the number of
  government employees doubled due to DORA

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DORA

• British Summer Time was introduced
• The government move the clocks forward by an hour
  in the summer
• This ensured factories had maximum daylight,
  meaning they could operate later

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Impact on Industry Primary Source from Birmingham
in 1918

• Jewelers abandoned their craftmanship and the
  fashioning of gold and silver ornaments for the
  production of anti-gas apparatus and other war
  materials old-established firms noted for their
  art productions, turned to the manufacture of an
  intricate type of hand grenade. Cycle-makers
  adapted their machines to the manufacture of
  cartridge clips and railway carriage companies
  launched out with artillery wagons, limbers,
  tanks and aeroplanes, and the chemical works
  devoted their energies to the production of
  deadly TNT.

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Unions Reactions to DORA

• April-May 1917 unofficial strikes broke out
• Resulted in the estimated loss of 1.5 million
  working days
• April-July 1918 Engineering Workers Strike in
  Leeds and Birmingham
• Government ended the strike with the threat of
  conscriptions
• Overall, between 1915-1918, there were 3227
  strikes involving 2.6 million workers
• Estimated loss of 17.8 million working days

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DORA

• Licensing hours were introduced
• Pubs could only open for 2 hours at lunchtime and
  3 hours in the evening
• This made sure the workforce was awake and sober
  for factory work

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DORA

• Beer was diluted
• The government allowed publicans to make beer
  weaker
• This ensured the workforce didnt drink so much
  as to make them drunk or hung-over while at work

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Leisure and Pastime Changes

• Prohibitions on public clocks chiming in between
  sunset and sunrise
• No whistling for taxis between 10PM and 7AM
• Restaurants and hotel dining rooms had to turn
  off lights at 10PM
• All places of entertainment had to close at
  1030PM
• British Summer Time was introduced in May 1916

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DORA

• Food was rationed
• The government took over land and used it for
  farm production
• This ensured there was enough food to feed the
  public and the army, despite German U-Boat
  attacks
• During war, average household spend 75 of income
  on food, fuel, and housing

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• Pubs were to close by 10PM
• Weakening of the spirits and watering down beer
• We are fighting the Germans, Austrians, and
  Drink, and so far as I can see the greatest of
  these deadly foes is Drink. was said by Prime
  Minister David Lloyd George
• Spectator sports continued until 1915
• Football or soccer was targeted
• So was hunting and horse-racing
• People still went to the beach but now there was
  barbed wire along the beaches and some piers were
  cut in half as precautions against invasion

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• American jazz and ragtime became popular
• 150 night clubs operated in Central London by
  1915 with illegal liquor sold in coffee cups
• Soho was very popular
• Cinema became very popular---20 million tickets
  sold per week
• War Exhibitions were created to communicate
  public information on health and hygiene
• Examples War Exhibits on Houseflies and
  Exhibits on Lice
• Church attendance declined

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Homefront Food Administration

• Assure the supply, distribution, and conservation
  of food during the war,
• Facilitate transportation of food and prevent
  monopolies and hoarding, and
• Maintain governmental power over foods by using
  voluntary agreements and a licensing system.

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The Home Front

• Brings changes in hair length and fashions
• World War I innovations
• --Chanel 5
• --Spam
• --Deodorant
• Impact on language and culture
• -- Dud
• -- Lousy
• -- Rats!
• -- Gas Attack

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Rationing

• In April 1917, German U-Boats were sinking one in
  every four British merchant ships
• Britain was running out of food

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Rationing

• In 1917 voluntary rationing began, led by the
  royal family
• In 1918 compulsory rationing began
• Sugar
• Butter
• Meat
• Beer

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• Efforts to control Food Consumption
• Dec 1916 Lunches in public eating places were
  restricted to two courses and dinners to three
  courses
• Fines were introduced for feeding pigeons and
  stray animals
• Food Control Campaign of 1917
• One Ministry of Food Leaflet introduced the
  public to Mr. Slice oBread proclaiming that 48
  million slices of bread were wasted every day

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• I am the bit left over the slice eaten
  absent-mindedly when really I wasnt needed I
  am the waste crust.
• If you collected me and my companions for a whole
  week, you would find that we amounted to 9,380
  tons of good bread---Wasted.
• It was similarly claimed that a teaspoon of
  breadcrumbs saved by every person every day would
  amount to 40,000 tons a year.

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• Government Bread
• Reducing the amount of white flour and
  substituting other grain or potato
• Long queues or lines for food led to people
  taking off from work to wait in line, crowds
  bordering on riots, changing clothes and
  appearance to try to get seconds, etc
• Inflation skyrocketed 80 increase on wheat and
  40 on meat just within the first year of the war

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• Diets of ordinary families changed throughout the
  war
• 1914 oatmeal was the cheapest
• 1915 beans and rice
• 1916 lentils and oatmeal
• By 1918 sorrel, dandelion leaves and nettles
  were substitutes for vegetables
• Official Government Rationing
• Began in 1917
• Sugar rationed first
• Then meats and fats
• Weekly Ration 15oz beef, mutton, or lamb, 5 oz
  of bacon, 4 oz of fat, and 8 oz of sugar

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• Coal Rationing began in Oct 1917
• 200 hundred weight a week for up to four rooms
• 300 hundred weight a week for up to five or six
  rooms
• The Total War led to many Welfare Programs being
  passed
• Health of Munitions Workers Committee of the
  Ministry of Munitions provided for factory
  inspectors and 900 canteens created to feed the
  workers---sausage and mash, mince and mash,
  stewed fruit, and milk pudding

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• The Maternity and Child Welfare Act was passed in
  August 1918 to provide services for mothers and
  infants under the age of five
• Extension of government provision of school meals
  for the needy for the whole calendar year
• Rents and Mortgage or Rent Restriction Act of
  1915 eased the pressures of housing shortages

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DORA

• Newspapers and radio broadcasts were censored
• The government could control what people heard
  about the war
• This made sure the public continued to support
  the war effort by only hearing good things

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Propaganda

• What is this?
• These were ideas spread around to influence
  public opinions or to go against a cause. It is a
  method that the government used to create
  enthusiasm for the war also.
• When did this occur?
• August 1914
• Where did this take place?
• In Europe
• Who used propaganda?
• The European government
• What is the significance of using propaganda?
• They used it because before the wars it stirred
  up national hatreds.

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WW I Propaganda - The Poster War

• Propaganda - the spreading of ideas, information,
  or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring
  an institution, a cause, or a person.
• A deliberate attempt to influence individuals by
  leading one to behave as though his response
  were his own decision.
• In war, its used as an instrument for
  maintaining unity, good will and a common
  purpose
• Maintaining and boosting the morale of soldiers.
• Unifying society at home in support of the war
  effort.

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Propaganda WWI

• WWI was one of the 1st wars in which a massive
  propaganda campaign was unleashed usually to
  gain support for the war and/or demonize the
  enemy
• Germany faced an onslaught of negative
  propaganda stemming from their illegal invasion
  of Belgium (and treatment of civilians)
  savages barbarians and Huns were often-used
  phrases
• Propaganda was used to sell war bonds, persuade
  volunteers/recruits and to demonize the enemy
  (justify the war effort)
• Germany (and Adolf Hitler) would learn the
  lessons of winning the propaganda war at home
  and utilize it effectively in WWII
• The propaganda that Germany started WWI would
  be critical in the post-war agreements shaping
  of the post-war world

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• Propaganda was used to stimulate or revive
  national morale and damage the enemy
• Propaganda was used in the church, in classrooms,
  in the cinema, in music halls, in postcards, in
  cartoons, in porcelain figures, in jigsaw
  puzzles, childrens toys, and even in Christmas
  decorations
• Example Christmas scene that had a trench scene
  with a tank

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The following posters are divided into three
parts

• Propaganda symbols
• The use of the soldier on the battlefront as a
  universal propaganda image.
• The home-front, especially the evolution in the
  portrayal of women.

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Propaganda Symbols

• Identify and vilify the enemy.
• Glorify the Allies
• Portrayal of Women as Victims.

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Britain 1917 Artist David Wilson
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USA 1917
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One last effort we will get them. Artist
Unknown France 1917
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USA 1918
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Sottoscrivete al Prestito Subscribe for the
Loan Artist Giovanni Capranesi Italy 1917
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Canada 1918
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Liberation Loan France 1918
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The use of the soldier on the battlefront

• Defender of Civilization
• Heroes
• One who always does his duty despite hardships.

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They Shall Not Pass France 1918
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We Will Get Them France 1916
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Zeichnet 7. Kriegsanleihe - Wiener
Kommerzialbank Translation Subscribe for the 7th
War Loan Alfred Offner 1917 - Germany
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Canada 1917
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Offering the Army and Navy Germany 1916
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For The Supreme Effort France 1915
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USA 1917
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THE HOME-FRONT

• Evolution in the portrayal of women.
• Shifted from one of women as victims to a more
  positive image
• As care givers.
• Factory workers in jobs formerly held by men.

101
USA 1918
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USA 1918
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USA 1918
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The Frenchwoman in War-Time. Artist G. Capon -
France 1917
105
Censorship

• British journalists were expelled from France in
  August 1914
• Official Press Bureau allowed only six war
  correspondents
• Persuaded writers, artists, and intellectuals to
  publish materials in support of the war Rudyard
  Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy,
  and HG Wells

106
Propaganda and Censorship

• All news was tightly controlled (censorship)
• Reports aimed to
• Maintain morale
• Encourage civilians to support the war effort
• Create hatred and suspicion of the enemy
• Newspapers, radio broadcasts, films and even
  board games were used

107
The Home Front and Censorship

• Censorship
• Not told about high death toll
• Romanticized the battlefields
• soldiers have died a beautiful death, in noble
  battle, we shall rediscover poetryepic and
  chivalrous

108
The Home Front

• Censorship
• Newspapers described troops as itching to go
  over the top.
• Government reported to the press that life in
  the trenches promoted good health and clear air

109
Propaganda and Censorship

• The film, The Battle of the Somme, was filmed in
  1916
• The Battle was a disaster for the British Army
• Failed objectives
• Enormous causalities
• What can the film tell an historian about the use
  of propaganda in WW1?

110
BATTLE OF THE SOMME MOVIE

• For the first time the home front in Britain was
  exposed to the horrors of modern war with the
  release of the propaganda film, The Battle of the
  Somme which used actual footage from the first
  days of the battle.
• The film spanned five reels and lasted 63 minutes
  .
• It was first screened on 10 August, 1916, while
  the battle was still raging.
• On 21 August the film began showing
  simultaneously in 34 London cinemas.

111
Battle of the Somme Video Clips
http//www.encyclomedia.com/video-battle_of_the_so
mme.htmlmoretext
112
Battle of the Somme Film

• Created by Malins and McDowell- who were sent to
  the British Fourth Army to do some general
  filming.
• Ended up turning into a documentary of the Somme
  offensive.
• On July 1, Malins filmed the famous scene of the
  explosion of a large British mine under the
  German Hawthorn Redoubt.

113
Battle of the Somme Film

• The film caused awareness- most notably from some
  faked scenes of men falling dead and wounded.
• Led to the establishment of the War Office Cinema
  Committee in November 1916.
• Eventually war films were replaced with
  newsreels.

114
SOMME MOVIE CONT

• The film was screened for British soldiers at
  rest in France where it provided new recruits
  with some idea of what they were about to face.
• Soldier's main complaint was failure of film to
  capture sounds of battle. However, as a silent
  film, the titles could be remarkably forthright,
  describing images of injury and death.
• The film was shown to British public as a morale
  booster and was favorably received.
• British public's response to film was enormous
  with an estimated 20 million tickets being sold
  in two months. On this basis, The Battle of the
  Somme remains one of the most successful British
  films ever.

115
Effects of the Battle of the Somme

• The film, The Battle of the Somme, is seen by
  historians as a propaganda triumph
• People at home felt they could see how their
  efforts were helping the troops
• Although it showed some casualties, it also
  showed advancing troops, helping morale

116
Propaganda and Censorship

• The film, Britains Effort, was created in 1917
• What was its purpose?

117
Propaganda and Censorship

• It is hard to measure how effective propaganda
  was
• BUT
• Support for the war was reasonably constant
• Only really changed with the enormous causalities
  at the Battle of the Somme in 1916
• People read lots of newspapers, and watched the
  films, so they were being exposed to it

118
Effects of Propaganda

• The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC)
  eventually printed almost 6 million posters and
  over 14 million leaflets at a total cost of
  24,000.
• For every PRC leaflet produced in 1914-1915, at
  least ten had been produced by the three main
  political parties during the 1910 election
  campaigns.
• Propaganda was certainly not the most significant
  factor in Germanys defeat.

119
The Brown Familys Four War Christmas

• What is happening in each frame?
• Explain why these things are happening, based on
  what you know about life on the Home Front

120
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122
Womenand theWarEffort
123
Key points Before the war, the most common
employment for a woman was as a domestic
servant. However, women were also employed in
what were seen to be suitable occupations
e.g. teaching, nursing, office work.
124
Key points When war broke out in August
1914, thousands of women were sacked from jobs in
dressmaking, millinery and jewellery making.They
needed work and they wanted to help the war
effort.
125
Key points Suffragettes stopped all
militant action in order to support the
war effort.
126
Obstacles They Still Faced

• In 1914, Dr. Elsie Inglis offered to raise an
  ambulance unit to help the wounded soldiers.
  She was told by the Ministry of WarMy good
  lady, go home and sit still.
• But despite this view, women played a vital role
  in winning the war.

127
Key points At first, there was much trade
union opposition and the employment of women had
not increased significantly before the summer
of 1915. In July 1915, a Right to Work ,march
was organised by a leading suffragette,
Christabel Pankhurst.
128
Key points The introduction of conscription in
1916 led to an increase in the number of women
employed in all sectors of the economy.
129
War Girls by Jessie Pope

• Theres the girl who clips your ticket for the
  train,
• And the girl who speeds the lift from floor to
  floor,
• Theres the girl who does a milk-round in the
  rain,
• And the girl who calls for orders at your door.
• Strong, sensible, and fit,
• Theyre out to show their grit,
• And tackle jobs with energy and knack.
• No longer caged and penned up.
• Theyre going to keep their end up
• Till the khaki soldier boys come marking back.

130
War Girls continued

• Theres the motor girl who drives a heavy van,
• Theres the butcher girl who brings your joint of
  meat,
• Theres the girl who cries All fares, please!
  like a man,
• And the girl who whistles taxis up the street.
• Beneath each uniform
• Beats a heart thats soft and warm,
• Though of a canny mother-wit they show no lack
• But a solemn statement that is,
• Theyve no time for love and kisses
• Till the khaki boys come marching back.

131
War on the Home Front

• Women in War
• Millions of men at battle
• Work on home front done by women
• Some worked in factories, producing war supplies
• Others served as nurses to wounded
• Contributions of women
• Transformed public views of women
• Helped women win right to vote

132
Women on the Home Front

• Women took war factory jobs
• Received lower wages than males
• Food shortages made running a household difficult

133
Women and Jobs

• Women were asked to take over jobs that had not
  been available to them before
• Women were employed in jobs that had once been
  considered beyond their capacity.
• Jobs included
• Chimney Sweeps
• Truck Drivers
• Farm laborers
• Factory workers

134
Key points Many women were paid good wages,
especially in munitions factories, but in most
cases they were paid lower rates than
men. Improved wages did permit greater
independence for some women.
135
Key points Women became more visible in the
world of work. They were seen to be doing
important jobs.
136
Women and Work

• Theres the girl who clips your ticket for the
  train,
• And the girl who speeds the lift from floor to
  floor,
• Theres the girl who calls for orders at your
  door.
• Strong, sensible, and fit.
• Theyre out to show their frit.
• And tackle jobs with energy and knack.
• No longer caged and penned up, Theyre going to
  keep their end up
• Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back.

• The place of women in the workforce was far from
  secure
• Both men and women expected that many of the new
  jobs were only temporary
• This was evident in the British poem War Girls
  written in 1916

137
Women and Work

• In some countries, the role women played in
  wartime economies had a positive impact on the
  womens movement
• The most obvious fain was the right to vote given
  to women in Germany, Austria, and the USA
  immediately after the war
• In Britain, women over the age of 30 were given
  the right to vote and be elected to Parliament in
  1918
• Many upper and middle class women gained new
  freedoms as their young women took jobs, got
  their own apartments, and became independent

• At the end of the war, governments would quickly
  remove women from the jobs they had encouraged
  them to take earlier
• The work benefits for women from World War One
  were short-lived
• By 1919, there would be 650,000 unemployed women
  in Great Britain
• Wages for women who were still employed were also
  then lowered

138
Upper and Middle Class Women

• Womens Police Service
• Womens Patrols Committee of the Nation Union of
  Women Workers
• Womens Emergency Corp
• Womens Volunteer Rescue
• Queen Alexandras Imperial Military Nursing
  Service
• Territorial Force Nursing Service
• Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs)
• VAD---74,000 women
• First Aid Nursing Yeomany (FANY)

139
Motor Ambulance Drivers in France 1917

• Poster from WWI calling on women to do their
  patriotic duty by fulfilling their 'role' in the
  home and industry.

140

Women's Police Volunteers compare notes with a police constable. Imperial War Museum Q31088
141
Motor Ambulance Drivers in France 1917
142
A Woman Ambulance Driver
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Red Cross Nurses
146
Women in the Army Auxiliary
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148

• Womens Army Auxiliary Corp (WAAC) was for
  working and lower middle class women
• Formed in March 1917
• 41,000 women volunteered
• Womens Land Army (WLA)
• Opened to all classes
• Formed in March 1917
• 16,000 women
• Paid less than unskilled male agricultural
  workers
• Overall by end of the war, 260,000 women were
  farming and producing food for the soldiers and
  home front.

149
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150
Working in the Fields
151

• WLA Handbook reminded its members
• that they were doing a mans work, and so youre
  dressed rather like a man, but remember just
  because you wear smocks and breeches, you should
  take care to behave like a British girl who
  expects chivalry and respect from everyone she
  meets.
• The Times in July 1917 described the WLA women
  as
• the land women, bronzed, freckled, and
  splendidly healthy.

152
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153
Munitions Workers
154
Women in Munitions

• 947,000 women were employed in munitions work
• 300 lost their lives to TNT poisoning and from
  explosions in the factories

155

• Munitionettes
• Primarily for lower middle class and working
  class
• Women in worked in the munition factories
• Shift work and very long hours
• Horrible working conditions badly ventilated,
  poorly lit, and overrun by rats
• One women working in a munitions factory in
  Lanchashire walked three miles to and from work,
  worked 12 hour shifts, and shared a room with
  five other women
• Whereas in 1914 there were 212,000 women working
  in the munitions industry, by the end of the war
  it had increased to 950,000.
• Christopher Addison, who succeeded David Lloyd
  George as Minister of Munitions, estimated in
  June, 1917, that about 80 per cent of all weapons
  and shells were being produced by women.

156
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157

• In World War I Britain, about 1 million mostly
  lower-class women worked in munitions jobs.
• They were called munitionettes or Tommys
  sister.
• Unlike nurses, the munitions workers could not
  profess pacifism since their work directly
  contributed to the fighting.
• In fact, in 1918, Scottish women working at a
  shell factory raised money and bought a warplane
  for the air force.
• However, the munitionettes main motivation was
  financial, contrary to the popular belief that it
  was patriotic.
• The women found the wages at first livable and
  later lucrative.
• Compared with domestic work, war work offered
  escape from jobs of badly paid drudgery.
• However, although they earned more than they
  would have doing womens work, the women received
  nowhere near the fortunes they had been led to
  expect when deciding to take war work.139

158
Edward Skinner, For King and Country (1916)
159
Munition Wages by Madeline Ida Bedford

• Were all here today, mate,
• Tomorrow---perhaps dead,
• If Fate tumbles on us
• And blows up our shed.
• Afraid! Are yer kidding?
• With money to spend!
• Years back I wore tatters,
• Now---silk stockings, mi friend!
• Ive bracelets and jewellery.
• Rings envied by friends
• A sergeant to swank with,
• And something to lend.
• I drive out in taxis,
• Do theatres in style.
• And this is my verdict---
• It is jolly worth while.

• Earning high wages? Yus,
• Five quid a week,
• A woman, too, mind you,
• I calls it dim sweet.
• Yeare asking some questions---
• But bless yer, here goes
• I spends the whole racket
• On good times and clothes.
• Me saving? Elijah!
• Yer do think Im mad.
• Im acting the lady,
• But----I aint living bad.
• Im having lifes good times.
• See ere, its like this
• The oof come o danger,
• A touch-and-go bizz.

160
Munition Wages continued

• Worth while for tomorrow
• If Im blown to the sky,
• Ill have repaid mi wages
• In death----and pass by.
• What is the message of this poem?
• What does it tell us about the dangers of the
  work women did during World War One?

161

• The women working in factories began to play
  football during lunch-breaks.
• Teams were formed and on Christmas Day in 1916, a
  game took place between Ulverston Munitions Girls
  and another group of local women.
• The munitionettes won 11-5.
• Soon afterwards, a game between munitions
  factories in Swansea and Newport.
• The Hackney Marshes National Projectile Factory
  formed a football team and played against other
  factories in London.
•  

162
Women At Munition Making by Mary Gabrielle
Collins

• Gaining nourishment for the thoughts to be,
• Are bruised against the law,
• Kill, kill.
• They must take part in defacing and destroying
  the natural body
• Which, certainly during this dispensation
• Is the shrine of the spirit.
• O God!
• Throughout the ages we have seen,
• Again and again
• Men by thee created
• Cancelling each other.
• And we have marvelled at the seeming annihilation
• Of Thy work.
• But this goes further,
• Taints the fountain head,
• Mounts like a poison to the Creators very heart.
• O God!
• Must It anew be sacrificed on earth?

• Their hands should minister unto the flame of
  life,
• Their fingers guide
• The rosy teat, swelling with milk,
• To the eager mouth of the suckling babe
• Or smooth with tenderness
• Softly and soothingly,
• The heated brow of the ailing child.
• Or stray among the curls
• Of the boy or girl, thrilling to mother love.
• But now,
• Their hands, their fingers
• Are coarsened in munition factories.
• Their thoughts, which should fly
• Like bees among the sweetest mind flowers,

163

• Blyth Spartans Munition Girls - Munitionette Cup
  Winners 1918

164

• Vaughan Ladies in 1918

165
Women and girls working at a Scottish sugar refinery. Imperial War Museum Q28345
166

• Hazards
• TNT poisoning
• The chemicals attack the red corpuscles in the
  blood and the tissues of organs like the liver
• Their skin became jaundiced due to the toxin and
  their skins turned yellow
• They became known as Canaries
• Health Effects loss of memory, sight disorders,
  convulsions, delirium, and death
• 109 women died from this

167
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168

• Hazards Continued
• The dope varnish applied to aircraft canvas
  caused many women to collapse unconscious.
• An explosion at the National Filling Factory near
  Leeds killed 35 women in Dec 1916.
• Other explosions
• Nottingham July 1918---35 dead
• East London in Jan 1917---69 dead

169
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170
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171
French Women Factory Workers
172
Working conditions unionism and pay

• Trade unionism proved to be the second legacy of
  the war.
• Female workers had been less unionised than
  their male counterparts.
• This was because they tended to do part-time work
  and to work in smaller firms (which tended to be
  less unionised).
• Also, existing unions were often hostile to
  female workers. World War One forced unions to
  deal with the issue of women's work.
• The scale of women's employment could no longer
  be denied and rising levels of women left
  unmarried or widowed by the war forced the hands
  of the established unions.

173

• In addition, feminist pressure on established
  unions and the formation of separate women's
  unions threatened to destabilise men-only unions.
  
• The increase in female trade union membership
  from only 357,000 in 1914 to over a million by
  1918 represented an increase in the number of
  unionised women of 160 percent.
• This compares with an increase in the union
  membership of men of only 44 percent.

174

• However, the war did not inflate women's wages.
• Employers circumvented wartime equal pay
  regulations by employing several women to replace
  one man, or by dividing skilled tasks into
  several less skilled stages.
• In these ways, women could be employed at a lower
  wage and not said to be 'replacing' a man
  directly.
• By 1931, a working woman's weekly wage had
  returned to the pre-war situation of being half
  the male rate in more industries.

175

• Germany
• In World War I, when the expected quick victory
  turned to protracted war, German women entered
  industrial jobs (about 700,000 in munitions
  industries by the end of the war),
• and served as civilian employees in military jobs
  in rear areas (medical, clerical, and manual
  labor women trained for jobs in the signal corps
  late in the war but never deployed).
• German women won the vote after World War I, and
  some kept their jobs in industry.28

176
German Women Factory Workers
177
Key points The armed forces also employed
women, but the jobs were mainly of a clerical
and domestic nature.
178
The wartime employment of women became a staple subject for humour. Imperial War Museum
179
For Recruitment
180

• Women played an important role in persuading men
  to join the army.
• In August 1914, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald
  founded the Order of the White Feather.
• This organisation encouraged women to give out
  white feathers to young men who had not joined
  the army.

181

• The British Army began publishing posters urging
  men to become soldiers.
• Some of these posters were aimed at women.
• One poster said "Is your Best Boy wearing
  khaki? If not, don't you think he should be?"
• Another poster read "If you cannot persuade him
  to answer his country's call and protect you now,
  discharge him as unfit."The Mothers' Union also
  published a poster.
• It urged its members to tell their sons "My
  boy, I don't want you to go, but if I were you I
  should go."
• The poster added "On his return, hearts would
  beat high with thankfulness and pride."

182

• Baroness Emma Orczy founded the Active Service
  League, an organisation that urged women to sign
  the following pledge "At this hour of England's
  grave peril and desperate need I do hereby pledge
  myself most solemnly in the name of my King and
  Country to persuade every man I know to offer his
  services to the country, and I also pledge myself
  never to be seen in public with any man who,
  being in every way fit and free for service, has
  refused to respond to his country's call."

183
Financing the War
184

• Russia
• During World War I, some Russian women took part
  in combat even during the Czarist period.
• These women, motivated by a combination of
  patriotism and a desire to escape a drab
  existence, mostly joined up dressed as men.
• A few, however, served openly as women. The
  Czarist government had no consistent policy on
  female combatants.
• Russias first woman aviator was turned down as a
  military pilot, and settled for driving and
  nursing.
• Another pilot was assigned to active duty,
  however.32

185

• The most famous women soldiers were the
  Battalion of Death.
• Its leader, Maria Botchkareva, a 25-year-old
  peasant girl (with a history of abuse by men),
  began as an individual soldier in the Russian
  army.
• She managed (with the support of an amused local
  commander) to get permission from the Czar to
  enlist as a regular soldier.
• After fighting off the frequent sexual advances
  and ridicule of her male comrades, she eventually
  won their respect especially after serving with
  them in battle.
• Botchkarevas autobiography describes several
  horrendous battle scenes in which most of her
  fellow soldiers were killed running towards
  German machine-gun positions, and one in which
  she bayoneted a German soldier to death.
• After two different failed attacks, she spent
  many hours crawling under German fire to drag her
  wounded comrades back to safety, evidently saving
  hundreds of lives in the course of her service at
  the front
• . She was seriously wounded several times but
  always returned to her unit at the front after
  recuperating.
• Clearly a strong bond of comradery existed
  between her and the male soldiers of her unit.33

186
Russian Women Soldiers
187

• The battalion was formed in extraordinary
  circumstances, in response to a breakdown of
  morale and discipline in the Russian army after
  three horrible years of war and the fall of the
  Czarist government.
• By her own account, Botchkareva conceived of the
  battalion as a way to shame the men into fighting
  (since nothing else was getting them to fight).
• She argued that numbers were immaterial, that
  what was important was to shame the men and that
  a few women at one place could serve as an
  example to the entire front.The purpose of the
  plan would be to shame the men in the trenches by
  having the women go over the top first. The
  battalion was thus exceptional and was
  essentially a propaganda tool.
• As such it was heavily publicized Before I had
  time to realize it I was already in a
  photographers studio. The following day this
  picture topped big posters pasted all over the
  city.
• Bryant wrote in 1918 No other feature of the
  great war ever caught the public fancy like the
  Death Battalion, composed of Russian women. I
  heard so much about them before I left
  America.35

188

• The battalion began with about 2,000 women
  volunteers and was given equipment, a
  headquarters, and several dozen male officers as
  instructors. Botchkareva did not empha