Transcript WW1 - DCumminsEnglish

The British government
wanted to encourage
men to enlist for war.
They said the war
would be safe, hardly
any fighting, a good
lark and over by
Christmas.
A picture of soldiers going
‘Over the Top’
They used advertising
posters to encourage
this idea!
The reality of ‘going over the top’ was
very different!
How the uniform and equipment changed
after just three weeks in the trenches…
Posters always
showed men ready
and willing to fight.
They never showed
the boredom of the
trenches or actual
fighting taking place.
Why do you think the
government showed
no fighting?
No smiling and relaxed faces…
No clean uniforms…
Their equipment is scattered
everywhere…
Boredom and sleep are
obvious…
The soldiers had very
little decent food,
and what food they
had was often
attacked by rats.
These rats were the
size of small rabbits
and badgers because
they had fed on the
decomposing bodies
of dead soldiers.
Recruitment
► Initial
recruitment
used posters,
leaflets, etc. to build
an army quickly
► What is the message
of this poster?
► How would this
poster encourage
men to join the
army?
Recruitment
► Initial
recruitment
used posters, leaflets,
etc. to build an army
quickly
► What is the message
of this poster?
► How would this poster
encourage men to
join the army?
Recruitment
► Initial
recruitment
used posters,
leaflets, etc. to build
an army quickly
► What is the message
of this poster?
► How would this
poster encourage
men to join the
army?
Conscription
►
►
►
►
►
Voluntary recruitment was
decreasing, but the demand
for troops was increasing
Voluntary recruitment didn’t
share the burden between
all parts of society (the poor
people suffered more)
Conscription introduced in
1916
All men aged 18-40 had to
register
They could be called up to
fight at any time
Conscription
► Conscientious
objectors opposed the war for
political or religious reasons
► They refused to fight, and were imprisoned – or
executed – for doing so
► Others helped the war effort, but not through
military action
 Field hospitals
 Stretched bearers
Rationing
► In
1917 voluntary
rationing began, led by
the royal family
► In 1918 compulsory
rationing began




Sugar
Butter
Meat
Beer
Propaganda and Censorship
► All
news was tightly
controlled (censorship)
► Reports aimed to:
 Maintain morale
 Encourage civilians to
support the war effort
 Create hatred and
suspicion of the enemy
► Newspapers,
radio
broadcasts, films and
even board games
were used
Propaganda and Censorship
► It
is hard to measure how effective
propaganda was
► BUT
 Support for the war was reasonably constant
►
Only really changed with the enormous causalities at
the Battle of the Somme in 1916
 People read lots of newspapers, and watched
the films, so they were being exposed to it