The British Cabinet and the Ministry of Defense

1949 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Henry Donaldson Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
World War ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Cohesive Group ◽  
Important Trend ◽  
Armed Services ◽  
First World

The announcement in October, 1946, that in future a single Minister of Defense will sit in the British cabinet, and that the ministers of the three armed services will no longer be of cabinet rank, marks the culmination of a long and important trend in Britain's governmental organization. It is also of interest as the present British answer to advocates of a merger of the Navy, Army, and Air Force. To see the full meaning of this step, it is necessary to refer to two closely related problems of long standing: the question of the size of the cabinet and that of what is broadly known as imperial defense.From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the British cabinet, originally ten or eleven in number, increased to about fourteen or fifteen in the 1870's and 1880's. By the end of the century, however, increase of governmental services and multiplication of departments raised the normal size of cabinets to nineteen or twenty, and after the first World War to twenty or even twenty-two. Since the cabinet as such functions as a committee, it has been frequently pointed out that the present size is too large for prompt and decisive deliberation; and the experience of two great wars has shown without question that large-scale planning and the coördination of the innumerable interlocking aspects of a national war effort require a much smaller and more cohesive group. The existence around the premier of an inner circle of three or four ministers, among whom many of the most important decisions are made, is as old as cabinet government, but cannot be satisfactory for modern needs.

The role of nitrogen in transforming British agricultural productivity production prior to and during the First World War

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-609
Author(s):  
John Martin
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Coal Gas ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
War Effort ◽  
First World

This paper explores the reasons why artificial or mineral sources of nitrogen, which were more readily available in Britain than in other European countries, were only slowly adopted by farmers in the decades prior to and during the First World War. It considers why nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia, a by-product of coal-gas (town-gas) manufacture, was increasingly exported from Britain for use by German farmers. At the same time Britain was attempting to monopolise foreign supplies of Chilean nitrate, which was not only a valuable source of fertiliser for agriculture but also an essential ingredient of munitions production. The article also investigates the reasons why sulphate of ammonia was not more widely used to raise agricultural production during the First World War, at a time when food shortages posed a major threat to public morale and commitment to the war effort.

The Italian Empire and the Great War

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanda Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Italian Experience ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Global Status ◽  
Global War ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

The Italian Empire and the Great War brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy’s decision for war in 1915 built on its imperial ambitions from the late 19th century onwards and its conquest of Libya in 1911–12. The Italian empire was conceived both in conventional terms as a system of settlement or exploitation colonies under Italian sovereignty, and as an informal global empire of emigrants; both were mobilized in support of the war in 1915–18. The war was designed to bring about ‘a greater Italy’ both literally and metaphorically. In pursuit of global status, Italy endeavoured to fight a global war, sending troops to the Balkans, Russia, and the Middle East, though with limited results. Italy’s newest colony, Libya, was also a theatre of the Italian war effort, as the anti-colonial resistance there linked up with the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and Austria to undermine Italian rule. Italian race theories underpinned this expansionism: the book examines how Italian constructions of whiteness and racial superiority informed a colonial approach to military occupation in Europe as well as the conduct of its campaigns in Africa.

scholarly journals The Austro-Hungarian occupation regime in Serbia and its break-down in 1918

Balcanica ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 107-133
Author(s):  
Dimitrije Djordjevic
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

This paper discusses the occupation of Serbia during the First World War by Austro-Hungarian forces. The first partial occupation was short-lived as the Serbian army repelled the aggressors after the Battle of Kolubara in late 1914, but the second one lasted from fall 1915 until the end of the Great War. The Austro-Hungarian occupation zone in Serbia covered the largest share of Serbia?s territory and it was organised in the shape of the Military Governorate on the pattern of Austro-Hungarian occupation of part of Poland. The invaders did not reach a clear decision as to what to do with Serbian territory in post-war period and that gave rise to considerable frictions between Austro-Hungarian and German interests in the Balkans, then between Austrian and Hungarian interests and, finally, between military and civilian authorities within Military Governorate. Throughout the occupation Serbia was exposed to ruthless economic exploitation and her population suffered much both from devastation and from large-scale repression (including deportations, internments and denationalisation) on the part of the occupation regime.

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.

British Air Force slang. Influence of the First World War

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-23
Author(s):  
Peter J. Mitchell ◽  
Andrey A. Andrakhanov ◽  
Egor V. Trusov
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
First World War ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
World War ◽  
Huge Number ◽  
World War One ◽  
Linguistic Support ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

World War One had an impact not only the development of international relations throughout the 20th century, but also led to the creation of air forces of different countries. More than 30 countries participated in the First World War. The British Empire, which fought on the side of the Entente, was one of them. During the First World War, the importance of the Air Force increased. It played a decisive role in gaining dominance amidst the aerospace. Aviation, which tasks included aerial reconnaissance and bomb attacks, evolved significantly. A huge number of new experimental military equipment have appeared. All of this produced a huge number of military slang terms. In this study, we will examine the slang terms that appeared in the slang of the British Air Force during the First World War, classify them and make a conclusion about the influence of the First World War on the development of military slang terms. During the training of specialists in the linguistic support of military activity, the topic of military slang remains understudied, which is why interpreters have difficulties in translating slang units. Therefore, the studying of this phenomenon can improve the skills of military interpreters and allow them to avoid major mistakes in their professional activity.

War work on the home front: the Central Sphagnum Depot for Ireland at the Royal College of Science for Ireland, 1915–19

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Cullen
Keyword(s):  
Royal College ◽  
First Aid ◽  
Home Front ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
World War ◽  
Easter Rising ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Hospital Ships ◽  
First World

Immediately after war was declared with Germany, emergency classes in first aid and ambulance work were organised in the Royal College of Science for Ireland (RCScI) in Dublin. By 1915 the College had two Voluntary Aid Detachments Red Cross groups who met hospital ships from the Western Front bringing casualties to Dublin hospitals. They were also provided aid to casualties of the Easter Rising. The women’s VAD also organised and managed the Central Sphagnum Depot for Ireland. Sphagnum moss had been found to have medicinal and absorbent properties and was known as a safe, reliable surgical dressing, making it a perfect replacement for increasingly scarce cotton wool in hospitals and dressing-stations during the First World War. As war casualties mounted, demands for this moss as a field-dressing increased. Between 1915 and 1919, over 900,000 dressings were dispatched to various theatres of war. This chapter assesses the work of the women who voluntarily involved themselves with the central depot by organising moss collection, sterilisation, packaging and dispatching. It also pits this Irish contribution to the war effort against Ireland’s increasingly turbulent political backdrop.

scholarly journals The Finest Feats of the War? The Captures of Baghdad and Jerusalem during the First World War and Public Opinion throughout the British Empire

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Fantauzzo
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Press ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Post War ◽  
First World

In March and December 1917 the British Empire won two much-needed victories in Mesopotamia and Palestine: Baghdad and Jerusalem. Both cities were steeped in biblical and oriental lore and both victories happened in a year that had been otherwise disastrous. Throughout the British Empire the press, public, and politicians debated the importance of the two successes, focusing on the effect they would have on the empire’s prestige, the Allies’ war strategy, and the post-war Middle East. Far from being overwhelmed by the ‘romance’ of the fighting in the Middle East, the press’s and public’s response reveals a remarkably well-informed, sophisticated, and occasionally combative debate about the empire’s Middle Eastern war effort.

Interwar Crises and Europe’s Unfinished Empires

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Stanard
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Civilizing Mission ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

The period 1914–45 represents the height of European overseas empire even as seeds were sown hastening imperialism’s demise. Colonies were ‘unfinished empires’ in the process of becoming, although frequent resorts to violence in the colonies indicated the limits of Europe’s grasp. Although many emerged from the First World War dubious about European so-called civilization, the civilizing mission survived and flourished, suggesting Europe’s enduring self-confidence. Development became a dominant discourse while the Great Depression quickened colonial exploitation. Emigration and settlement on expropriated lands slowed relative to Europe’s rapid expansion in the 1800s, yet formal colonialism proceeded apace, with few exceptions. Development and exploitation led to forced or voluntary migration of colonial subjects on a large scale. Cold War ideological competition was ‘exported’ to much of the colonial world. Non-Europeans used networks to claim their rights and attack European colonial rule, and they and the colonies influenced Europe, which developed various ‘colonial cultures’.

Australian and New Zealand women teachers in the First World War

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Kay Morris Matthews ◽  
Kay Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
First World War ◽  
Women Teachers ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
World War ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
First World ◽  
At Home

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the contributions of women teachers to the war effort at home in Australia and New Zealand and in Egypt and Europe between 1914 and 1918. Design/methodology/approach Framed as a feminist transnational history, this research paper drew upon extensive primary and secondary source material in order to identify the women teachers. It provides comparative analyses using a thematic approach providing examples of women teachers war work at home and abroad. Findings Insights are offered into the opportunities provided by the First World War for channelling the abilities and leadership skills of women teachers at home and abroad. Canvassed also are the tensions for German heritage teachers; ideological differences concerning patriotism and pacifism and issues arising from government attitudes on both sides of the Tasman towards women’s war service. Originality/value This is likely the only research offering combined Australian–New Zealand analyses of women teacher’s war service, either in support at home in Australia and New Zealand or working as volunteers abroad. To date, the efforts of Australian and New Zealand women teachers have largely gone unrecognised.

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