Military Recruiting and the British Labour Force during the First World War

1984 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Dewey
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Recruiting ◽  
Compulsory Military Service ◽  
The First World War ◽  
British Labour ◽  
The Government ◽  
First World

During the First World War, Britain was obliged for the first time for over a century to raise a mass army. Initially, this seemed to raise no insuperable problem; by the end of 1914, slightly over one million men had enlisted. Thereafter, however, civilian enthusiasm waned, and the government had to employ other means to stimulate the flow of recruits – alteration of the military service age limits and, later, the introduction of compulsory military service. Taken together, voluntary recruiting and conscription permitted the raising and maintenance of a mass army. By the time of the armistice on 11 November t 1918, almost five million men had entered the army, and a further half million had entered the two other services.

scholarly journals NATIONAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES OF VASYL PROKHODA IN POW CAMPS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 203-212
Author(s):  
Nataliia KRAVETS
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Military Service ◽  
First World War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
World War ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
Russian Army ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Government ◽  
First World

The article deals with the national-cultural activities of Vasyl Prokhoda in the POW camps in Austria-Hungary during the First World War. First of all, the stages of military service in the Russian army on the eve and during the Great War have been clarified (1912 – beginning of service in the 51st Lithuanian Regiment in Simferopol; 1913 – courses of the reserve ensigns; November 1914 – the rank of ensign; the Austro-Hungarian front of the First World War; winter 1914–1915 – participation in the Carpathian Operation of the Russian Army, captivity). Special attention is paid to his staying in the POW camps (Josefstadt, Liberec, Brux (Most), Theresienstadt (Terezin), stages of his national identity evolution. It stated that the formation of V. Prokhoda's national identity was facilitated by various factors: first of all, acquaintance with K. Kuril, program documents of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, creation of Ukrainian libraries, choirs, drama clubs in the camps, reading of works by T. Shevchenko, M. Vovchka, etc. The author also investigates the public activities of V. Prokhoda in the POW camps, his contribution to the organization of Ukrainian life there, highlights living conditions in the camps (according to his observations), as well as specifics of inter-ethnic relations against the backdrop of events of the Russian Revolution 1917. The perception and attitude of nationally conscious Ukrainians (prisoners of war), in particular, V. Prokhody, to the creation of the Ukrainian Central Rada, its I and II Universals, the resolutions of the first military congresses in Ukraine, the Bolshevik coup in Russia in October 1917, compared to the estimates of these events by Russians (prisoners of war). The circumstances that opened the possibility of forming Ukrainian divisions of prisoners of war and sending them to disposal of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in the first half of 1918 were clarified. The last months of V. Prokhoda's staying in the POW camps under conditions of his health deterioration, the circumstances of his returning to Ukraine after the coup of P. Skoropadskyi are presented. Keywords Vasyl Prokhoda, national and cultural activity, POW camps, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

scholarly journals Socio-economic situation in Vienna during the First World War 1916–1918.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-182
Author(s):  
Rashid A. Nadirov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
First World War ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Food Crisis ◽  
World War ◽  
The People ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Government ◽  
First World

This article addresses the problem of socio-economic status of the Austro-Hungarian capital Vienna in the second period of the First World War - 1916-1918. Much attention is paid to the consequences of the war: the food crisis, the deficit, the rise in prices for basic necessities, speculation, protests, etc. It shows the transformation of the mood of the Viennese society in the conditions of the growing economic crisis. The food issue directly affected the quality of life of the residents of the capital, who were in difficult wartime conditions, and largely influenced their attitude to the current government. In this study, the task was to analyze the relationship between the government and the people and to find out why the people of Vienna, who had initially been patriotic and united around the monarchy, had joined the opposition by 1916. The author concludes that the food crisis, against the backdrop of the inaction of the government, which has used only the practice of prohibitions and restrictions on the civilian population, has become a key factor in exacerbating protests and leading to the overthrow of the political regime and the collapse of the monarchy.

African American Soldiers in World War I

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M. Nagel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
African American Soldiers ◽  
First World

In the midst of the long black freedom struggle, African American military participation in the First World War remains central to civil rights activism and challenges to systems of oppression in the United States. As part of a long and storied tradition of military service for a nation that marginalized and attempted to subjugate a significant portion of US citizens, African American soldiers faced challenges, racism, and segregation during the First World War simultaneously on the home front and the battlefields of France. The generations born since the end of the Civil War continually became more and more militant when resisting Jim Crow and insisting on full, not partial, citizenship in the United States, evidenced by the events in Houston in 1917. Support of the war effort within black communities in the United States was not universal, however, and some opposed participation in a war effort to “make the world safe for democracy” when that same democracy was denied to people of color. Activism by organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) challenged the War Department’s official and unofficial policy, creating avenues for a larger number of black officers in the US Army through the officers’ training camp created in Des Moines, Iowa. For African American soldiers sent to France with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), the potential for combat experience led to both failures and successes, leading to race pride as in the case of the 93rd Division’s successes, and skewed evidence for the War Department to reject increasing the number of black officers and enlisted in the case of the 92nd Division. All-black Regular Army regiments, meanwhile, either remained in the United States or were sent to the Philippines rather than the battlefields of Europe. However, soldiers’ return home was mixed, as they were both celebrated and rejected for their service, reflected in both parades welcoming them home and racial violence in the form of lynchings between December 1918 and January 1920. As a result, the interwar years and the start of World War II roughly two decades later renewed the desire to utilize military service as a way to influence US legal, social, cultural, and economic structures that limited African American citizenship.

The Scottish Soldier and Scotland, 1914–1918

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hew Strachan
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Poetry ◽  
Literary Representation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Local Impact ◽  
Big Cities ◽  
First World

This chapter addresses Scottish military service during the First World War, showing how from having underperformed before the war, Scotland overperformed during the war’s first two years. Particularly striking was how many recruits came from agricultural backgrounds, although in absolute terms the big cities still contributed more men. As the Territorial Army (TA) was the principal Scottish route into the army, the battle of Loos in October 1915 had an enormous local impact: this was Scotland’s equivalent of the Somme. Every Scottish infantry regiment was represented, and both the 9th and 15th Scottish Divisions were TA Lowland Divisions. From Loos came the literary representation of the war, especially Ian Hay’s The First Hundred Thousand and John Buchan’s war poetry. The effect of the First World War, with Scottish infantry regiments raising twenty-plus battalions, was to disseminate those regimental identities much more widely across Scottish society. An enhanced Scottish identity was created, and it emerged in a military context. Overwhelmingly this identity was set within the context of the Union and the empire.

“Mourning Hurray”: a Historical and Poetic Commentary on the Literary Page of the Futurists in the Newspaper Nov’

2021 ◽  
pp. 456-487
Author(s):  
Ruslan A. Poddubtsev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
First World War ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Critical Responses ◽  
First World

This work is a detailed commentary to the futurists’ literary page “Mourning Hurray” (“Traurnoe Ura”), which was published in November 1914 in the Nov’ newspaper. Newspaper versions of texts are compared with later versions from collected works and poetic features are revealed. The historical background of the publication is restored and the poets’ attitude to military service during the First World War are clarified. Critical responses given by Nov’ publicists are considered and the discussion between V. Mayakovsky, N. Raevsky and A. A. Suvorin is described. The commentary makes it possible to look at the page “Mourning Hurray” as a complete artistic statement.

From Soldier to Peasant? The Land Settlement Scheme in East Sussex, 1919—1939

1998 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-462
Author(s):  
Carol A. Lockwood
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
World War ◽  
Land Settlement ◽  
City Life ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Demobilized Soldiers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
First World

The English rural myth suggested that being close to the rhythms of nature, as opposed to being immersed in the irritations and pollution of city life, would create a settled, healthy, content, and loyal population. By the inter-war period the rural myth depicted an appealing image of self-sufficient, independent peasants living an uncomplicated lifestyle based on agricultural pursuits. In the aftermath of the First World War this picture of a golden countryside was popular and admired by social reformers, members of the government, and the general public. The coalition government incorporated this myth into its post-war social legislation and created in 1919 a land settlement scheme for newly demobilized soldiers aimed at establishing a new base of smallholding agricultural workers to populate the countryside. The myth may have been appealing, but it turned out to be economically not self-sustaining and politically it got little more than lip service. A myth cannot be attained through mere legislation. This article examines the land settlement scheme in East Sussex during the inter-war period and argues that even in an area seemingly well-suited to such a program, the scheme was neither practical nor successful in its attempt to put the myth into practice.

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