Impact of WW1 on British Society

Impact of WW1 on British Society

1. 1. Legislation issued in response to the war: e.g. DORA, Conscription Act,Rationing

   • 16 000 conscientious objector- only allowed if could prove religious membership i.e. Quakers
   • October 1915: Derby Scheme- national register of everyone aged 15-65 with job details and age
     • January 1916: Conscription for single men from 18-41
       • May 1916: Married men now the same
         • April 1918: All men 18-51
   • DORA 8th August 1914: Licensing hours introduced to pubs, newspapers and radio broadcasts censored, food rationed, beer was diluted, BST introduced, mines and railways taken over by the government
     • 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.
     • Seemed like people generally accepted DORA but others see it as very dictatorial
     • Was a governmental response to the issue of internal enemies and spies and as a way of getting everyone behind the war effort

2. 5. Impact of war in terms of casualties/deaths, impact upon the economy, social changes e.g. women in the workplace, industrial agitation during the war (and government response) i.e. impact on trade unionism

   • 745 000 killed, 1.6 million seriously injured
   • Society had to organised so that all resources were channeled into the war effort
   • Back in Britain, 1413 killed in air raids
   • Britain incurred debts equivalent to 136% of its gross national product, and its major creditor, the USA, began to emerge as the world's strongest economy
   • Britain more democratic- before, under-represented groups such as women and working class became better organised and more powerful during the war which encouraged the growth of less deferential attitudes, as did the cross-class experiences of the trenches
     • High percentage of casualties among the landed classes, and the strict class hierarchy of Edwardian Britain disappeared in the immediate post-war years. Although the working class became a more powerful political force, it shrank numerically. Growing numbers of the working population in inter-war Britain were employed in 'white collar' jobs (professional, managerial, or administrative work)
       • The First World War thus marked an important staging post on the road to 'modern' British society
   • The government worked with the trade unions to prevent strikes
   • Civilian casualties - 57 zeppelin bombing raids after 1915, and the German navy shelled Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough

3. 2. Suffragettes and suffragist movement campaigns and attitudes towards war

   • July 1915: WSPU organised a massive rally to demonstrate that women now support the war effort
     • Due to the rally, Mrs Pankhurst met with DLG (minster of munitions) to demand a fuller part in the war
       • Agreements reached: WSPU would suspend their demand for female suffrage for the time being, women would be allowed into virtually all forms of unemployment including munitions production, fair minimum wage rates would be set, on certain types fo work where pay was determined by output- women would receive equal pay to men
   • Women's Land Army set up due to severe shortage of labour, approx 80 0000 women took part
   • Paved the way for more equal rights for women, including more women working after the war and even the first female MP in the early 1920s

4. 3. Reasons why the ROPA of 1918 was passed and to what extent this represented a move towards universal suffrage-likely effects?

   • Need for franchise reform anyway- regarding living conditions which would leave returning soldiers disenfranchised
   • DLG in power- more sympathetic than Asquith
   • Coalition government removed worries about political gains
   • Greater pressure to follow the international trend
   • ROPA increased electorate to about 21 million- 8.4 million were women
   • Britain shocked by Russian Revolution violence- could it risk such a social disorder here? If the suffragettes restarted thier campaign, where would it end?
   • General assumption is that the act was a ‘reward’ for the vital work done by women during World War One. Before the war, society had been suitably angered and horrified by the acts of the Suffragettes – arson, vandalism, attacking politicians, the Derby of 1913 etc.

5. 4. Impact of the Spanish flu 1918

   • Not caused by WW1 but thought that it was spread by soldiers returning home from trenches in N. France
     • Spread from railway stations to centre of cities to suburbs to countryside
   • Hit the UK hardest at end of WW1
   • 20-30 year olds particularly affected
     • disease struck and progressed quickly in these cases
   • 50 million died worldwide and 1/4 of British Empire affected. British Death toll 228, 000
   • An airborne virus, global pandemic