In What Way Were Ordinary British Civilians Affected by the Ww1
In what way were ordinary British civilians affected by the war?
By the time the 1st world war broke out in 1914 many ordinary British civilians were affected in many aspects. Some of these aspects were conscription, rationing, censorship and DORA. The aim of this essay is to analyze in what way ordinary British civilians were affected by the war. In order to do so I will analyze the different aspect that affects them.
To begin with in 1914 the government passed the Defense of the Realm Act which came to be known as DORA. It gave the government a lot of power over the people. It allowed them to take any building, land or industries which were important for the war effort. Also they could control what the public knew about the war by censorship. They took control of the coal industry so that the mines would be only used to support the war and not to profit the owners. Moreover they made illegal writing letters in code, spreading rumors about the war, using a camera without a permit, buying binoculars, feeding bread to dogs, poultry, pigeons or horses etc. In 1915 there were bigger problems for the government. The war became a stalemate so it was hopeless planning for such a war. New soldiers had to train with wooden sticks because there weren’t rifles for everybody. They didn’t have the equipment and munitions they needed for a war, that’s when the “munitions crisis” began. It became a national scandal that’s why a coalition government was established. So they would all work together and support the war effort. Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions. Lloyd George introduced some measures to “deliver the goods”. One of the problems was that there were few skilled workers, and the government wanted them to stay where they needed them rather than going were they could get a better pay. Apart from that, unitions said that the government was making big profit out of the war and couldn’t understand why workers could not do so as well. Lloyd had an idea that was
By the time the 1st world war broke out in 1914 many ordinary British civilians were affected in many aspects. Some of these aspects were conscription, rationing, censorship and DORA. The aim of this essay is to analyze in what way ordinary British civilians were affected by the war. In order to do so I will analyze the different aspect that affects them.
To begin with in 1914 the government passed the Defense of the Realm Act which came to be known as DORA. It gave the government a lot of power over the people. It allowed them to take any building, land or industries which were important for the war effort. Also they could control what the public knew about the war by censorship. They took control of the coal industry so that the mines would be only used to support the war and not to profit the owners. Moreover they made illegal writing letters in code, spreading rumors about the war, using a camera without a permit, buying binoculars, feeding bread to dogs, poultry, pigeons or horses etc. In 1915 there were bigger problems for the government. The war became a stalemate so it was hopeless planning for such a war. New soldiers had to train with wooden sticks because there weren’t rifles for everybody. They didn’t have the equipment and munitions they needed for a war, that’s when the “munitions crisis” began. It became a national scandal that’s why a coalition government was established. So they would all work together and support the war effort. Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions. Lloyd George introduced some measures to “deliver the goods”. One of the problems was that there were few skilled workers, and the government wanted them to stay where they needed them rather than going were they could get a better pay. Apart from that, unitions said that the government was making big profit out of the war and couldn’t understand why workers could not do so as well. Lloyd had an idea that was
Bibliography: - Child John; Hodge Tim and Taylor David. Understanding History 3. Heinemann. (DORA) -Mc Nall burns Edward. Western Civilization. Norton and company-INC -New York 1973 (conscription) -Censorship. Sea your history, discover the 20th century Royal navy and its people. Royal naval museum. http://www.seayourhistory.org.uk