Reasons for People's Objections to World War I

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Reasons for People's Objections to World War I

As the war progressed, more and more soldiers were needed to help out

in the war to replace the large amounts of soldiers with casualties,

as the amounts of volunteers were declining each month. There were

many men who were eligible to fight but were not volunteering, so

conscription had to be introduced to keep the numbers of soldiers

great enough to defeat the Germans. In January 1916, The Military

Service Act was introduced.

All unmarried men and widowers without children or dependants between

the ages of 18 and 41 were all forced to join the war. This Service

Act did not apply to unmarried men who were in reserved occupations,

the people who were the sole supporters of a household, those with

medical disabilities or men who objected to the war on moral grounds,

who had to claim exemption. This Act later proved to be flawed as it

was based on the unreliable National Register which did not include

large numbers of men who were not traced. On May 3rd 1916,

conscription also applied to all men regardless of their marital

statuses, between the ages of 18 and 41. Universal conscription had

then become a fact when Britain started using conscription like all of

the other countries involved in the war.

Conscription being brought about started a general resistance by some

people, who claimed they could not fight on the grounds of conscience

- these people became known as conscientious objectors. The

conscripts who tried to claim exemption had to plead their case before

a Military Tribunal, who would decide whether they would be free from

military service. The tribunals had...

... middle of paper ...

...cing the barbed wire, which could easily

tear their skin with a slight move of their heads.

The ‘conchies’ received no sympathy from ordinary civilians, only from

soldiers. One conscientious objector received moral support from five

soldiers who were arrested, they each told him to stick to his beliefs

and not give in to those who are giving him orders. The civilians

gave no sympathy or support as they were shown the conscientious

objectors as weak cowards, who were willing to let other men fight for

their freedom, without even assisting in any shape or form. Members

of military tribunals would try and break them down, forcing them to

join, by insulting them. They would say comments like “You are

nothing but a shivering mass of unwholesome fat…” or “A man who would

not help to defend his own country is a coward.”

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