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Britain's army originally consisted of 250,000 men.
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Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State of War, was informed at least 1 million were needed so there was a huge government campaign to get young men to enlist.
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Recruitment posters, pamphlets, patriotic speeches by politicians, and the setting up of recruitment offices in every town helped drive this campaign.
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By the end of the first month 500,000 men enlisted, and by March 1916 2.6 million men had enlisted in 'Kitchener's army'. This showed the effectiveness of government propaganda.
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Men joined up in 'Pals Battalions'.
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They enlisted because they felt it was their duty to the nation, they wanted to protect their country and family, they were persuaded by recruitment posters, they didn't want to be seen as cowards and generally public pressure (suffragettes went round giving men white feathers as a sign of cowardice for not enlisting), they felt war would be exciting and adventurous, and they wanted to escape from their mundane life or dead-end jobs
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750,000 men died in the war and many were mentally scarred. As casualties increased, replacement was needed but volunteer numbers dropped.
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Volunteer system was seen as unfair and it damaged agriculture and industries as miners and farmers joined. So in January 1916 conscription was introduced, meaning all single men between 18 and 41 had to join the army (later extended to married men) This may be seen as evidence that gov. propaganda wasn't effective.
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Conscientious objectors were people who didn't believe in war for moral, religious or political reasons and didn't want to fight. They were seen as unpatriotic and cowardly, evident by their derisive nickname 'conchies'.
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They had to appear in front of a tribunal to prove their reasons were genuine and not out of cowardice.
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If they convinced the tribunal they had to participate in non combat activities such as driving ambulances and essential war work e.g. mining. If they didn't do this they could be imprisoned and 1,500 objectors were imprisoned.
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If they didn't convince the tribunal, they had to join the army. If they didn't they could be shot
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Total casualties due to air raids = nearly 5,000 (I know the numbers below don't add up to this but its because I haven't mentioned all the raids etc)
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December 1914, German battleships shelled towns such as Scarborough and Whitby killing over 100 people.
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January 1915, first air raids by German Zeppelin airships. Dropped bombs on East Anglian towns. There were over 50 raids killing over 500 people.
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1917 German Gotha bombers made nearly 30 raids killing over 800 people.
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