British Depth: Home War front

Question 1

How many men immediately signed up to fight in WW1?

Answer 1

500,000

Question 2

How many men had signed up to fight by March 1916?

Answer 2

2.5 million

Question 3

When was conscription introduced?

Answer 3

1916

Question 4

What were ‘conchies’?

Answer 4

Conscientious objectors

Question 5

What did ‘conchies’ do?

Answer 5

They refused to fight for humanitarian or religious reasons

Question 6

What did ‘conchies’ do for the war?

Answer 6

They usually did non-combatant work (e.g ambulance driving etc) but some were absolutists

Question 7

What were absolutists?

Answer 7

They were people who refused to have anything to do with the war- they were sent to labour camps or prison

Question 8

What were the three ways in which Britain was attacked in the war?

Answer 8

Air, Naval and Zeppelin (bombing raids)

Question 9

In total how many zeppelin raids were there? How many people were killed by them?

Answer 9

57 raids, 564 killed and 1370 injured

Question 10

What did DORA stand for?

Answer 10

Defence Of the Realms Act

Question 11

Who was conscripted?

Answer 11

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 40

Question 12

Why was conscription introduced?

Answer 12

The number of volunteers in the army was falling- December 1915 had the lowest number of recruits since the war’s beginning

Question 13

When was DORA passed?

Answer 13

1914

Question 14

What powers did DORA give the government?

Answer 14

Taking over businesses/land/industries and censor what people knew about the war

Question 15

What year did the munitions crisis occur?

Answer 15

1915

Question 16

Who was the munitions crisis exposed by?

Answer 16

The Daily Mail

Question 17

Who was made minister of munitions?

Answer 17

David Lloyd George

Question 18

How many women signed up to work in industry in 1915?

Answer 18

100,000

Question 19

How many women were initially given industry jobs in 1915?

Answer 19

5000

Question 20

Why did trade unions resist women working in industry initially?

Answer 20

They knew that women didn’t work for as much pay- so thought they would become more well employed than men and there wouldn’t be jobs left post-war

Question 21

What did Lloyd George do to prevent trade unions resisting women’s employment in industry?

Answer 21

Gave men and women equal pay and promised not to keep women on after the war

Question 22

What organisation was set up in 1917?

Answer 22

The Women’s Land army

Question 23

What was happening to food as the war progressed?

Answer 23

In April 1917 German U-boats were sinking 1/4 of British merchant ships

Question 24

What extreme did the food shortage reach?

Answer 24

In April 1917 Britain had only 6 weeks of wheat left

Question 25

When was voluntary rationing introduced?

Answer 25

May 1917

Question 26

Why did many workers go on strike in 1917?

Answer 26

Their wages were too low for the increasing price of food

Question 27

What happened to food supplies pre-rationing?

Answer 27

Supply was dangerously low, and the rich bought more food than needed and hoarded it, whereas the poor could barely afford anything

Question 28

When was compulsory rationing introduced?

Answer 28

early 1918

Question 29

What foods were rationed?

Answer 29

sugar, butter, meat and beer

Question 30

How did the government control bread prices?

Answer 30

In Nov 1917 they introduced the 'nine-penny loaf'

Question 31

How did the Royal family try to support rationing?

Answer 31

They declared that they would reduce their bread consumption by 1/4 and reduce use of flour (May 1917)

Question 32

When were journalists (even then only approved ones) first allowed at the front?

Answer 32

November 1916

Question 33

Despite the issues of the first months of the war, what were people at home told?

Answer 33

Only British victories were reported or heroic resistance

Question 34

When British battleship Audacious was sunk what happened?

Answer 34

When it was sunk (in Oct 1914) it was simply not reported

Question 35

After the war what happened to the 'paper barons' - the heads of British newspapers?

Answer 35

The leading 12 were given knighthoods for wartime services

Question 36

What happened to newspapers that were anti-war or posted balanced views on the war?

Answer 36

They were initially tolerated but as the war continued pacifist papers (eg Tribunal) were shut down, and socialist ones (eg Daily Herald) were monitored

Question 37

What did censors examine in 1916?

Answer 37

38,000 articles, 25,000 photographs and 300,000 private telegrams

Question 38

What did leading authors do to support the war?

Answer 38

They (HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling) signed a Declaration by Authors in support of the war

Question 39

What was the 'Red Book'?

Answer 39

A five-volume explanation of Britain's justification in going to war- made by Oxford University. 50,000 copies were sold

Question 40

How many war films were produced?

Answer 40

240 between 1915 and 1918 (few of which were actually commissioned)

Question 41

Who created the most famous propaganda films?

Answer 41

The British Topical committee for War Films- a group of film companies who made and sold film to the War Department

Question 42

What were the most famous war films?

Answer 42

The Empire (approx. audience of 9 million) and The Battle of the Somme (showed real footage mixed in with staged footage) -had been shown in 2000/4500 cinemas in the country after only 3 months of release

Question 43

How many people were reading daily newspapers during the war?

Answer 43

Over 1/2 of the country's population- and this number increased through the war

Question 44

How many conchies actually were there?

Answer 44

It was in reality a very small proportion, about 16,000 out of about 8 million who were conscripted