Similar to the French populace, British society has frequently been depicted as being immensely enthusiastic about the outbreak of war in 1914. Yet Gregory argues that ‘the evidence for mass enthusiasm at the time is surprisingly weak’. This misleading portrayal of British society was fuelled by the memoirs of politicians, in particular Lloyd George. Writing almost twenty years after the outbreak of the First World War, the Chancellor at the time recalled how the crowds behaved in London after the announcement of war on 4 August, he wrote ‘hundreds were buying Union Jacks...the crowds cheered...with extraordinary fervour. It was a scene of enthusiasm unprecedented in recent times’. By depicting the war as being greeted with great zeal Lloyd George justified the decision to enter the war and shifted the burden of blame from the shoulders of the politicians.
In Britain, volunteering to fight has frequently been cited as evidence for war enthusiasm. It is striking that nearly 2.5 million men volunteered to fight in the British army. However this does not mean …show more content…
The day after The Times article, Andrew Buxton, a banker, told his sister ‘I know you don’t want me to enlist, but I cannot help thinking it my duty’. People in Britain certainly supported the war, but they did so not out of war enthusiasm and jingoism, but out of duty. It is important to draw the distinction that just because British society supported war does not mean they were enthusiastic for war. A sense of duty and defending one’s county played a large role in how British society responded to the outbreak of war. Walter Hare recalls why he fought. ‘There was an army opposed to us and we didn’t want them to get into England, and we thought the best way to stop them was to keep them where they were, in France’. Although we know there was no German plan to invade Britain, this defensive motive was genuinely felt by
In Britain, volunteering to fight has frequently been cited as evidence for war enthusiasm. It is striking that nearly 2.5 million men volunteered to fight in the British army. However this does not mean …show more content…
The day after The Times article, Andrew Buxton, a banker, told his sister ‘I know you don’t want me to enlist, but I cannot help thinking it my duty’. People in Britain certainly supported the war, but they did so not out of war enthusiasm and jingoism, but out of duty. It is important to draw the distinction that just because British society supported war does not mean they were enthusiastic for war. A sense of duty and defending one’s county played a large role in how British society responded to the outbreak of war. Walter Hare recalls why he fought. ‘There was an army opposed to us and we didn’t want them to get into England, and we thought the best way to stop them was to keep them where they were, in France’. Although we know there was no German plan to invade Britain, this defensive motive was genuinely felt by