Britain's Conscientious Objectors in WWI Essay

Even though conscription wasn't a law, other ways and methods made men join the army. One method was women shaming their male relatives who didn't join the army . This method was supported the government and would make the men feel ashamed of themselves. Therefore, some of the men would join the army despite not wanting to. Another way that made men join the army was the view of war the men had. When the war had just started, men believed that the war would give them adventure and excitement. This is why there was such high volumes of enlistment

When war first broke out in 1914 the general attitude towards it was patriotism. Many young men grabbed the chance to fight for their country and show the women their braveness, they thought they would come back heroes, however they did not know what happened beyond the cheerful and brave faces seen in the news papers and the blissful time the soldiers had in their letters home. This made many more men go to war. Things gradually changed, death, disease, mud, it had suddenly hit that to fight for your country was not such an honour.

As young men responded to their call of duty and enlisted in the armed services, this left the American war industry with a severe labor shortage. With so few men left to satisfy the labor needs, a call went out to women to fill this void. However, the initial response to this request was not satisfactory . As a result, the government devised a propaganda enriched advertising campaign to motivate the masses of women by appealing to their sense of patriotism as well as telling women their labor efforts would help end the war and bring soldiers home more

In the past conscientious objectors have been imprisoned, executed, and stolen from for what they believe in. During WWII many conscientious objectors were sent to work at mental institutions as doctors, but ended up working as the equivalent to modern day custodians. The mental institutions that were sent to work at were often referred to as “hellholes” because they were overcrowded, there was a horrible stench, there was no furniture, and it consisted of many concrete rooms with half naked humans slumped up against the walls. An account by Charles Lord, a conscientious objector during WWII, says that “you have three men taking care of 350 incontinent patients, with feces and urine all over the floor”. He was sent to work at Byberry, a Philadelphia

Q: What factors besides Patriotism might have motivated so many to sign up so quickly? (*think economic conditions in 1914)

World War one was a war unlike any other before it in history, with trench warfare and chemical weapons the battlefield was foreign to even experienced veterans. It was also at this point in time that nationalism started to become bigger and bigger. Leading to the belief that the citizens of the countries involved in the war had to enlist or due their duty in order to make their family and country proud of them, otherwise they would bring shame to their family and country. For the enlisted men and women, though this perception quickly changed when they were at the front and seeing the war first hand. Those who stayed home though and those who went to the front lines soon become alienated from each other. Creating a huge divide for the enlisted men and women on the front lines and back home, making it difficult for them to fit back in if ever back home. Young men and women who fought in World War I were alienated by the youth and elders back home due to their lack of understanding of the burdens of being on the frontlines.

Many Jews in the 1930s-1940s experienced a time of despair and mistreatment due to numerous factors in the Holocaust and World War 2. This time of despair and mistreatment resulted in the death of millions of Jews, as well as homosexuals and people with disabilities. The rise of Adolf Hitler and Fascism was the main contributor in the fate that fell on millions of Jews. Hitler believed the Aryan race was the supreme race and all others were sub-standard and threatening to his country. The Holocaust is a widely debated topic. Researchers argue that the Allied Forces intervened in the conflict too late, which resulted in mishap for millions of people. The main two Allied forces in this case were the United States of America and Britain. Britain’s

Bread was not rationed, but by law had to be sold by weight and not by ‘the loaf.’ Even so, the government took steps to decrease its consumption further by banning the sale of bread until twelve hours after it had been baked. The government decided that fresh bread was very difficult to cut thinly so, if everyone cut their loaves in thick slices, they would consume more. Additionally, the more appetising taste of fresh-baked bread could encourage people to eat it 'immoderately.’ Plans were put in place to substitute the established white loaf with a 'national loaf' made from wholemeal grain. It is a loaf we are familiar with today but in 1918 many thought the taste and colour unappetising, and some blamed it for a variety of digestive problems.

he World War 1 conflict saw the expansion of volunteers as the war triggered. Alongside the opposition enemy, soldiers had to contend with shortage of food and appalling conditions. The voluntary period saw the first sort of army to be set up. However this set of volunteers were formed into action later during the Battle of the Somme. This was called the Kitcheners army, largely influenced through persuasive poster campaigns. This staggeringly led to over one million men to enlist by January 1915. The major ploy was the idea of the conscription and the effectivness of the legislation, which was largely debatable.

They used propaganda posters to try to get anyone they could to join, from children to adults. For example one poster said “ Wake up America!(Montgomery, 1917) Civilization calls every man woman and child.” Their goal was to motivate everyone, they did want you to sit back and watch. It didn’t matter if you were trained, had money or where you were placed in the social class they needed you. No one wanted to just volunteer to go out and fight when the chance of you seeing your family again was very limited and for that reason recruiting was an issue(Montgomery,

The British free corps was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War 2. The unit was originally known as the legion of Saint George. At no time did it reach more than 27 men in strength. It consisted of British and dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. World War 2 was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 and was fought between the two opposing military alliances the axis and the allies. World War 2 was the deadliest conflict in human history. It resulted in over 60 million deaths. The world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom .On the allies side were the British Common wealth the Soviet Union the United States and the Republic of China and on the axis side were Nazi Germany the Italian social Republic and the Empire of Japan. What makes my topic significant is all the horrible were the Nazi war crimes and the genocide committed by them. The most notable of these is the Holocaust in which millions of people were systematically murdered or died from abuse and mistreatment. This is really why it would have been so unacceptable for British soldiers to switch sides and

Conscientious objectors, those men who objected to fighting on moral grounds were also exempted, and in most cases, were given civilian jobs or non-fighting roles at the front. In May that year a second Act was passed which extended conscription to include married men.

The First and Second World wars as well as the Gulf War were chosen because of the impact each war had on the United Kingdom and because each war happens at a very different point in British history. At the time of World War One, the United Kingdom was facing a potential civil war, making nationalism, and unity a top priority for the British government. Around 8.7 million men in the British Empire served in World War One with over 900,000 men dying. This greatly impacted the United Kingdom, as the generation of men who were of fighting age were later known as the “Lost Generation”. The United Kingdom was still trying to recover from the First World War twenty years later when it found itself pushed into another conflict in Europe. The Second World War left Europe in a worse state than the First World War, with millions of people dead across the globe and major infrastructure destroying, the United Kingdom was deeply affected after the end of the war. Nearly 500,000 British people died in the war,

Throughout history, many individuals would have never thought a horrific war would occur, which was World War 1 (The Great War). Many men was picked to fight during this war, they thought that it was going to be an easy journey. However it did not end up going in the right direction, so it took a left turn based on seeing fellow soldiers die before your eyes, the weather was always wet and muddy, and multiple firearms always pointing at each other. Before the men began their journey into booby-traps of the war, many individuals encouraged them that fighting in the war was fun. However, it was far from fun: many soldiers fought in trenches, many became shell shock, and many saw the world in a much more horrific view when returning back home.

World War II, for must people, comes with particular interests or focuses. My interest was on the battle tactics of General Patton, someone I have looked up to since my undergraduate days. However, this rather large volume did a great job of showing me a different focus during this time, the British perspectives on the war and their assessment of the United States prior to America entrance in to the war in 1941. There is voluminous literature for the period 1937-1941 focusing on political, diplomatic, and economic issues, but none focus on Britain quite like Todman does. He takes facets of World War II and shapes them in a way that lets you not only see the British form, but also what effect that form had on the rest of the world, or how