Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Attitudes to War in Britain
- War - An Adventure?
- 1914 - enthusiasm for the war
- Most people felt positive
- "Fighting will be an adventure"
- "It's right to fight for your country"
- "It'll be over by Christmas.
Britain will win easily"
- Government Ignorance
- Letters from soldiers were censored
- Reporters rarely allowed to see battles
- Newspapers censored from 1914
- No photos containing dead soldiers
- Casualty figures weren't available from the government
- Attitudes Changed
- As the war went on, people found out more
- 1500 civilians killed in bombing raids
- No obvious successes on the Western Front up until 1918
- The government could hide casualty figures, but not the deaths
of family members or returning blind and crippled soldiers
- Rationing was difficult and taxes
increased - people became sick of it!
- Propaganda
- Encouraged men to fight e.g. 'Your Country Needs You'
- Some aimed abroad to encourage US military involvement
- September 1914 - War Propaganda Bureau
produced pamphlets to encourage German-hatred
- Ministry of Information produced films
like 'the Battle of the Somme' (1916)
- Very realistic - could have been seen as anti-war
- 1917 - National War Aims Committee tried to
improve moral using speeches and literature