Between 1914 and 1918, government control over people’s lives increased. Some of the sources support the view that this was because of the need to feed the people, but other sources suggest different reasons. The government enhanced the control over people’s lives, in order to stabilise the country and to put order in a time of war, so that the strengthening of the inner positions of Britain would gain them advantage on focusing on the war. Since the 8th August 1914, with the establishment of DORA, the law was designed to help prevent invasion and to keep morale at home high. Even though, this distanced the British government from the true Democratic ideals, because of censorship or the oppression of principle human rights; that led to order and control and prevented disturbances from happening. Source C is useful to present the increase of British government’s control over people. It displays a propagandistic poster published to intimidate and obligate people to ration their food supplies. Its aim is to scare people into following the rules. During 1916 and 1917 German U-Boats had sunk many British ships that imported food and since Britain is mostly a dependent country upon imports, that led to 6 weeks shortage of food supply. Even the royal family declared that it had started rationing. First the government introduced voluntary rationing, besides since it was voluntary, the people didn’t consider it a serious matter. That is why in 1918, the government had to bring rationing obligatory to everyone. The government fined and prisoned all the people that didn’t respect the authorities. Fines like £50 or £72 for the shopkeepers would have been a lot of money in those days. That is why this source reflects that the government needed to harshen the rules due to the critical food situation. Source F also represents the need of the government to have control over people’s lives. Since, the agriculture was really poor in Britain and the German had blocked the import of food supply to Britain, the government decided to promote agriculture,
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The first source A is associated to censorship and propaganda. Because of DORA’s harsh restriction laws, many newspapers were closed and Britain also placed significant emphasis on atrocity propaganda as a way of mobilizing public opinion against Germany during World War I. This shows that the government took control in order to keep a high morale in people, to not demoralise the country and not to allow people to know what was going on. While in source B, the cartoon which is also a form of propaganda, is trying to say appeal to the munitions workers through patriotism. Due to the Munition Crisis in July 1915, the army was short of shells and bullets and Lloyd George wanted to create a positive perception of the war, in order to encourage workers to work hard in the name of their country. The cartoon wants British munition workers to have no holidays. Therefore, the government is taking control of public media, so that their issue and requests are effective. Whilst, in source D and E, we can understand that there were possibilities of strikes from Trade Unions workers for their low wages and no holidays. That is why the government also took in control many workshops, so that the workers would be obligated to follow and obey the authorities. The government’s duty was not to allow the country to collapse, by holding tightly the reins of the
The first source A is associated to censorship and propaganda. Because of DORA’s harsh restriction laws, many newspapers were closed and Britain also placed significant emphasis on atrocity propaganda as a way of mobilizing public opinion against Germany during World War I. This shows that the government took control in order to keep a high morale in people, to not demoralise the country and not to allow people to know what was going on. While in source B, the cartoon which is also a form of propaganda, is trying to say appeal to the munitions workers through patriotism. Due to the Munition Crisis in July 1915, the army was short of shells and bullets and Lloyd George wanted to create a positive perception of the war, in order to encourage workers to work hard in the name of their country. The cartoon wants British munition workers to have no holidays. Therefore, the government is taking control of public media, so that their issue and requests are effective. Whilst, in source D and E, we can understand that there were possibilities of strikes from Trade Unions workers for their low wages and no holidays. That is why the government also took in control many workshops, so that the workers would be obligated to follow and obey the authorities. The government’s duty was not to allow the country to collapse, by holding tightly the reins of the