The British Working Class and Enthusiasm for War, 1914-1916

by Silbey,David

• ISBN13: 9780415350051
• ISBN10: 0415350050
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Millions of men volunteered to leave home, hearth and family to go to a foreign land to fight in 1914, the start of the biggest war in British history. It was a war fought by soldier-citizens, millions strong, most of whom had volunteered willingly to go. They made up the army that first held, and then, in 1918, thrust back the German Army to win the Great War. The British 'Tommy' has been lionized in the decades since the war, but little attention has been made in the literature to what motivated the ordinary British man to go to France, especially in the early years when Britain relied on the voluntary system to fill the ranks. Why would a regular working-class man leave behind his job, family and friends to go to fight a war that defended not British soil, but French? Why would a British man risk his life to defend places whose names he could pronounce only barely, if at all? This book answers why, in the words of the men who were there. Young and old, from cities and country, single and married,they went war willingly and then carried their experiences of being a part of the Great War, and why they chose such a difficult and dangerous path.

Author Biography

David Silbey is an assistant professor of European History at Alvernia College, Reading, PA.

Table of Contents

List of tables	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
The rush to colours, business as usual, and the coming of conscription: August 1914 to May 1916	15	(23)
Currents within the flood: who were the volunteers?	38	(11)
`A sense of the round world': the workers, Britain, Europe, and the empire	49	(20)
`The monotony of the trivial round': enlistment and the escape from domesticity	69	(13)
`Money was the attraction': enlistment and economic motives	82	(22)
`We were being patriotic. Or young and silly': enlistment and allegiance	104	(21)
Conclusion	125	(7)
Notes	132	(38)
References	170	(16)
Index	186