How did people living in the Home Front contribute to the war effort in World War One?
World War One was one of the most catastrophic wars, that Britain had to be thrown into. Although Britain’s armies did a reasonable job, it wasn’t enough anymore due to unrestricted warfare. The enemy could simply attack them at anytime, anywhere. The enemy was now not only attacking Britain’s armies, they were attacking the cities in ways like zeppelin bombings. Not only did the armies need help, so did the public left behind- so war work had to set in, and everyone had to lend a hand. The government had to set new regulations, for example rationing and women had to produce weapons and aircraft for the soldiers. Going back to rationing, food supplies were going short. German U-Boats were sinking merchant ships delivering exported food to Britain. This meant food supplies got smaller and smaller for the country, at one point there was only enough to feed the country for six weeks! Eventually, the merchant ships were guarded by various means like convoys, mines, airplanes, etc. but as the food supply was so small at the time, rationing had to be introduced. You could only have a set amount of food, which could be purchased with tickets. This meant fairer amounts of meals for everyone, and presumably this meant the soldiers could have more food too. Some people tried to break this system, but it mostly worked still.
Now that nearly all the men had gone, except for a couple of men who had to do essential jobs, or just didn’t want to join the war and conchies (which will be mentioned later), women had to do the work. At first women only did office jobs, nothing really physical, but eventually they had to go onto more war-oriented lines of work. Some were miners; some were nurses, factory workers, farmers, aircraft manufacturers- but they still managed to care for their children and do the everyday chores as well, of course. A group of women (The Order of the White Feather) went around with white feathers, sticking them in men’s caps to show a sign of cowardice. As people were not immediately forced to war, the women tried to convince them that ‘either you go to war, or be a stupid coward and stay here.’ Conscientious Objectors, or ‘Conchies’ as they were nicknamed, refused to go to war as they thought it was wrong to go to war and kill. Eventually, conscription was introduced so ANYONE who was male and over 18 was forced to go to war, as less and less people wanted to lose their lives on the battlefield- people got smarter, but the government got harsher. Going back to the subject of children, the government created propaganda to make various points about the war. Maybe to make the enemy look bad, or to tell wives to let their husband go to war, or to convince you to join as a soldier. There were many ways they did this, through different types of media. They did it in posters, films, books, radio…even on children’s toys and comics! This was to convince children, when they grew up to be soldiers too. As well as showing that their dads were fighting for a good cause, and making it seem like the enemy was completely evil and stupid- generally giving the British a good image and the enemy (Triple Alliance), a bad one. The government also censored newspapers and other media, so it only showed good news and wouldn’t give any vital information for the enemy, if they got their hands on a newspaper or saw/heard another source. This would not only raise morale for the public, it would keep them safer as the enemy would be more ignorant- at the cost of letting the public being more ignorant as well.
People had to work together, to stay safe from the enemy, for example black-outs. They had to work together to keep the British troops going, by creating weapons and food for them. They had to work to together to do everything in general. The war brought people together, whether they liked it or not. In a way it was a good thing, it gave the country a good ‘team-spirit’. It gave women more rights after the war, when the war was over it was a relief for the country making everybody happy. Although people were grumpy and unhappy about the war, in the end it did do them good. Everybody had to contribute toward the war, and work hard to keep the country going on to fight and survive. Although, the war ruined lives and caused many deaths, it also helped Britain become a better place- if not a bit harshly.
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