'For King and Country'

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This essay will look at how adequately the motive ‘For King and Country’ drove men to enlist and fight in the Great War. Dedication to the monarch and jingoism was a huge motive in this period of time. Often this was more of a reason to fight than more than any other. People expressed a sense of nationalism that perhaps isn’t seen as much in Britain today. Along with the drive to fight in honour of the sovereign and Britain there are numerous other factors that encouraged men to join the army such as propaganda, unemployment, conscription and peer pressure. Some incentives could have affected the men’s decisions more than others. Certain individuals were not supporters of the Royals and therefore refuted the very idea of encountering near death on the battlefield in honour of the King. There were also reasons that persuaded men to opt out of engaging in battle leading them to bear negative criticism that labelled them cowards. If anything this led men to scorn the notion ‘For King and Country’ feeling their personal reasoning for not taking part was irrelevant and unimportant. What was deemed to be a great encouragement for one man to join the armed forces was not for another and the reasoning behind many men’s decision to enlist differed from their comrades. In some incidents men lacked any motivation at all and it was the mere case that they were called upon and requisitioned to join in the conflict.

Britain did not have conscription at the start of the war and for some ‘For King and Country’ was not a large enough sentiment for them to enlist so it was necessary for the Government to find other ways and means to encourage the men of Britain to sign up to join the army and fight for their country. One of those was propaganda. ...

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... Cambridge University Press (2005)

Meyer, Jessica, Men of War, Masculinity and the First World War in Britain. Great Britain, Palgrave Macmillan (2009)

Flynn, George, Conscription and Democracy: The Draft in France, Great Britain and the United States. West Port, Connecticut, Greenwood Press (2002)

Ferro, Marc, The Great War 1914-1918. London, Western Printing Services Ltd (1973)

Strachan, Hew. The First World War. Great Britain, Simon & Schuster UK Ltd (2003)

Hamilton, F Richard, Herwig, H Holger. Decisions for War, 1914-1917. New York, Cambridge University Press (2004)

Online resources

The First World War Poetry Digital Archive. Available from http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/item/3303?CISOBOX=1&REC=5 Accessed 10th January 2014

Lost quotations. Available from http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/queries/lostquotes/?id=875 Accessed 13th January 2014

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