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The Significant Impact Of The Great War On Great Britain

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A hundred years have passed since the First World War - the most traumatic events in the British history. It is perceived by the British people as the Great War because of its devastating effects on the whole world. Britain had lost more than 720,000 British men and most of them were young and educated males which could become the generation of future leaders. However, the Scottish historian Arthur Marwick argues that even if the war was a tragedy, the most of the changes on the home front were positive and lasting (Marwick, The Deluge: British Society and the First World War 2006). The only way to understand the impact of the Great War on the British society is to understand its cumulative effect on five main areas. First of all, the Great War changed Great Britain’s status of the world’s biggest empire. Secondly, the war transformed the role of government and gave it wide powers to interfere in people’s everyday lives. Thirdly, the war changed the role and status of women in the British society. Ina addition, the war affected the class structure of Britain, particularly the working class. Finally, the Great War influenced the ways of memorialising the dead in the …show more content…

Conscription was necessary because the number of soldiers in the army was decreasing - many people have died on the front. In addition, if at the beginning of the war people were volunteering to join the army, later on, after seeing the causalities at the war people were less enthusiastic to join the army. Therefore, the government needed an extreme action – introduction of the compulsory service to increase the army. The first act – the Military Service Act passed in March 1916 required all unmarried men at the age of 18-41 to join the war. The second act of conscription passed in May 1916 required all men – married and unmarried to join up the war (Conscription: the First World War

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