Programme Outline
This programme focuses on public attitudes to conscription, or 'compulsion' as the press generally referred to it. All the other great European powers had large conscript armies and large reserves of trained men who could be called up. Britain was not so well supplied, and the vast losses of the Great War were a severe blow. The army in 1914 was very small. Volunteers and reservists partially filled the gap. The British Empire in the form of Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians and West Indians all made major contributions. Nevertheless, by late 1915 volunteer recruitment was reaching dangerously low levels and the government felt it had to act.
The introduction of conscription [0.00-4.12]
The programme begins with the introduction of conscription and the controversy in the House of Commons. The Liberal walk-out was not disloyalty to the war effort but a concern about the loss of individual liberty. The issue of the men who had not enlisted being seen as slackers is also important. Here government propaganda, usually willingly disseminated by the press, must have played an important role. Even so, The Women's Dreadnought managed to put up some protest against the measure. The comment from the Daily Mail about the Army's pleasure about the men being accepted anticipates the dreadful situations in 1917 and 1918 when shortages of men forced Medical Officers to send unfit men back to the trenches.
Opponents of conscription and their treatment [4.12-end]
With the full weight of the press against them, those opposed to conscription had little opportunity to express their views and even less chance of being listened to sympathetically. As the reports reveal, the picture was confused by the presence of men who were clearly dodging rather than objecting on grounds of conscience. The attitude of the Socialist papers seems to confirm what historians have recently been suggesting: that the nation was not wholly united during the Great War. On the whole the nation felt that the war had to be fought; however, there were concerns about how well the government was running it. There were also concerns about who was benefiting. Manufacturers made vast profits from government war orders, but when working men threatened strikes to share in some of that wealth they were called traitors by the press.
