Changing Attitudes of Civilians on the British Home Front

When war broke out in August 1914, there was great excitement amongst the British civilians, who greeted the war with enthusiasm and patriotic fervour.

There were cheering crowds as men rushed to enlist. The widespread view was that the war would be over before Christmas 1914 and that the soldiers would be marching home victorious in no time.

The fear that the war would be over before they had even had the chance to be involved caused many young men to become disgruntled. They were led to believe through their education, their government and the press that the war would be a fun yet noble and exciting adventure. They became caught up in the appeal of the military life, the uniforms and patriotic songs- whilst all the while being drilled with the view that serving their country was a great cause and personal honour. The government of Britain, who only had a small army as they normally relied on their navy, needed to increase its defensive force and encouraged volunteer enlisters further by introducing the idea of the “Pal’s Battalion”- where young men from the same town/sporting group/area, enlisted together

Nationalism was everywhere throughout Europe, with the civilians a

When the war ended, the civilians on the home front were relieved and celebrated openly. The label of ‘The war to end all wars’, expressed the hope of the public to see these atrocities never occur again. Nationalism was no longer favoured- Pacifism and Internationalism had taken its place.

At the same time civilians on the home front were sacrificing economically and socially. The combination of increasing economic hardship, along with the terrible impact of the ever increasing casualty lists, affected every family. War weariness had struck.

Before World War One, the major wars of history were generally fought between two countries only as most alliances never took place to a large degree. The wars that were fought usually only lasted a year or in some cases only a few months before an outcome were reached. Generally there was no large amount of casualties and the wars only consisted of a few battles over a period of time with large breaks in-between.

The new weaponary, was yet to be used on a wide scale and therefore the tactics remained unchanged-they were no longer relevant. Due to the backward tactics, the war produced hundreds of thousands of casualties in the first few months.

However, World War One was unlike any war the world had ever experienced.

Soon, the government realized that powers of the film and other texts relating to the war could turn public opinion against them, and censored most aspects of the news, films and letters from soldiers that could create a less appealing side to the war. As the casualties began to increase

Some topics in this essay:
World War, Attitudes Civilians, Battle Somme, German U-boats, Wilfred Owen, civilians home front, home front, German Zeppelins, civilians home, little gain, world war, battle somme, british civilians, Pacifism Internationalism,