britians attitude to 1914-18 war

Question 1

who did war break out between in 1914

Answer 1

• austria & germany on one side
• russia & france on the other

Question 2

who did britain enter an entente with

Answer 2

• france in 1904
• russia in 1907

Question 3

limitations with an entente

Answer 3

not formal alliance & no binding military agreements made

Question 4

what caused considerable division in the cabinet over the question of entering the war

Answer 4

• secrecy of edward grey’s diplomacy since 1905
• uncertainty of britain’s diplomatic position
• liberals strong non-interventionist traditions in foreign policy

Question 5

what caused the government & parliament to become in favour of war

Answer 5

germany’s rejection to britian’s demand that belgian independence be honoured

Question 6

what created ordinary people more favourable of war

Answer 6

naval race with germany

Question 7

britians defence expenditure 1906-1914

Answer 7

risen from £35 million to £91 million

Question 8

what was much of the defence expenditure spent on

Answer 8

dreadknoughts (battleships)

Question 9

evidence for public’s inclination towards war

Answer 9

before conscription in 1916, 3+ million men had voluntarily enlisted

Question 10

whilst much of the public favoured war, what still happened

Answer 10

conscientious objectors
- receive white feathers (cowardice)
- condemnation from most of public

Question 11

what happened to conscientious objectors

Answer 11

went before enquiry board to prove sincerity of beliefs
- could be made to serve in non-combat role

Question 12

how many conscientious objectors registered

Answer 12

around 16,000

Question 13

what was the war defined as

Answer 13

war of attrition

Question 14

experience of men in trenches

Answer 14

• too many killed directly or died from wounds/exposure in shell holes
• attempts at rescue rare (would die)

Question 15

attitude of labour party to war

Answer 15

• serious divisions:
• many supported due to sense of patriotic duty
• worried if didn’t support (as majority of public did), may damage party beyond recovery (eg. henderson, leader of party in 1914)
• strong pacifists (eg. ramsay mcdonald - resigned as leader of LP in commons in 1914)
• marxist element = condemned war as capitalist conspiracy against workers
• became involved in no-conscription fellowship
• tried to organise disruptive strikes in war industries during war

Question 16

attitude of conservative party

Answer 16

• ‘patriotic party’
• supportive of declaration of war
• liberals may have been supportive to due to party-political calculation not for national honour