Edexcel History - Warfare 1854-1929

Defence of the Realm Act (DORA):

• 8th August 1914, on the outbreak of war.

DORA gave the government power to….

• Suppress public criticism.
• Imprison without trial.
• Command economic resources for the war effort.
• Make it illegal to publish any information which would be beneficial to the enemy.

Munitions of War Act:

• May 1915.
• Strikes and lockouts prohibited.
• Wage rates safeguarded, can’t fluctuate.
• Trade unions had to allow dilution.
• Profits limited in “controlled industries”.
• No worker could refuse a new job, if unemployed.
• No worker could refuse overtime, paid or not.

Mining Industry:

• The most essential fuel in terms of powering the country and maintaining the British economy and war effort.
• The Coal Strike 1915
• Mediation over wages failed, strike in force 14 July
• 200,000 welsh miners went on strike
• 20th July, government gave into their demands for local payment increases. 

Railways:

• Government owened.
• 12,500 women in 1914, 65,000 working on the railways by 1918

Shipping:

• December 1916, government had requisitioned 50% of merchant ships and all large passenger liners
• 1918, all merchant ships requisitioned 

Agriculture:

• Rationing put in place Janurary 1918
• January 1917, women's land army founded
• price of bread doubled over the wartime

Dilution

• The attempt to put unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the places of skilled worker.
• Trade unions couldn’t go against it because of DORA.
• Cause of a class conflict.
• Wages reduced in some occupations.

Military Life

• Initially Britain only sent out 100,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) because the war was meant to be over by Christmas.

The Somme:

• 1st July – 19th November 1916.
• Britain suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day.
• Britain suffered 420,000 casualties across the whole battle (many from across the Empire).
• Germany lost 500,000 casualties – more than Britain.
• German machine guns tore the British forces apart.
• Britain learnt vital tactical lessons.
• Tanks used for the first time, successful although got stuck in poor conditions.
• Creeping barrages were used for the first time (men walking behind a line of bombardment fire).
• Counter-battery fire used, don’t shot till the opposition shot first.

The break of the Hindenburg Line:

• September 1918.
• 46th North Midland division.
• Broke the Hindenburg line at St Quentin Canal.

Morale:

• Trench rotation system, no more than 2 days in firing line at one time.
• Tobacco cheap and widely available.
• Sports.
• Entertainment put on.
• Go to the Estaminet (French bar/shop) – buy food, **** and watery beer.
• “Pal’s battalions”.

Discipline:

• Death penalties still in operation, 346 out of 5,700,000 were executed during WW1. 37 – murder, 266 – desertion.
• Death penalty stopped mutinies through fear, experienced in the French army.
• Field punishments, humiliating, test of character.
• Send back to barracks from trenches.
• No pay.
• Could be Court Marshalled.

Recruitment

• 12 million men in Britain in 1914.

• The main aim was to avoid recruitment but it was inevitable as casualties on the Western front mounted.
• No conscription in 1914 to preserve British liberal values.

Initial recruitment:

• August 1914 – December 1914, 1.2 million enlisted.

• Kitchener’s call for men to enlist.
• 2.5 million copies of 110 posters published in the first year of war.
• Men formed “pal’s battalions”.

Conscription:

• January 1916 – Conscription of single men.
• May 1916 – Conscription of married men.
• Many faked their age to join (e.g. 17 to 18).
• Many were unfit or effected by malnutrition.
• Doctors would still pass them through the assessments.
• “If you are fit enough to work, you can sign up”.
• Nestle offered men 4 weeks’ wages and a job when they came back if they signed up.
• Allowed people to not fight if they: conscientiously objected, unfit, in “starred” occupations (e.g. mining).

Pressure to sign up:

• Peer pressure – “pal’s battalions”.
• Order of the White Feather, women would send objectors white feathers to show their cowardness.
• Public propaganda.
• Some would be financially better off in the army.
• Caused conscientious objectors.

Conscientious Objectors:

• 1914 – No Conscription Fellowship (NCF) formed.
• 16,500 men claimed conscientious objection.
• Men who objected had to still take up a non-combat role or they were imprisoned.
• 3,300 in non-combatant corps.
• 3,000 did ambulance work.
• 4,000 did forced labour in Britain (under the Pelham Committee).
• 1,500 were imprisoned.

• Humiliation in the press and from society.
• Lost the right to vote.
• Tribunals to see if people were genuine conscientious objectors.

Further battle notes:

• It was a “war of attrition”.
• A stalemate was inevitable because of the “race to the sea”.
• Trench warfare along the Western front.
• Machine guns, gas and tanks were used for the first time.
• Aircraft used for the first time to spy over enemy lines.