Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The war that did not end all wars
- 1 Going to war
- 2 Defining the enemy: Atrocities and propaganda 1914–1915
- 3 From spectatorship to participation; From volunteering to compulsion 1914–1916
- 4 Economies of sacrifice
- 5 Redemption through war: Religion and the languages of sacrifice
- 6 The conditional sacrifices of labour 1915–1918
- 7 Struggling to victory 1917–1918
- 8 The last war?
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
1 - Going to war
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The war that did not end all wars
- 1 Going to war
- 2 Defining the enemy: Atrocities and propaganda 1914–1915
- 3 From spectatorship to participation; From volunteering to compulsion 1914–1916
- 4 Economies of sacrifice
- 5 Redemption through war: Religion and the languages of sacrifice
- 6 The conditional sacrifices of labour 1915–1918
- 7 Struggling to victory 1917–1918
- 8 The last war?
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
Summary
It is the achievement of Bloch and Norman Angell to have shown that even a successful conflict between modern states can bring no material gain. We can now look forward with something like confidence to the time when war between civilised nations will be considered as antiquated as the duel, and when the peacemakers shall be called the children of God.
G. P. Gooch, The History of Our Time: 1885–1913The fourth of August 1914 caused no great burst of patriotic fervour amongst us. Little groups, men and women together (unusual, this) stood talking earnestly in the shop or at the street corner, stunned a little by the enormity of events. But soon public concern yielded to private self interest.
Robert Roberts, The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the CenturyJingoism and war enthusiasm: the myth of 1914
The predominant interpretation of the war is clear on one point: the British people went to war because they wanted to. According to Arthur Marwick, ‘British society in 1914 was strongly jingoistic and showed marked enthusiasm for the outbreak of war.’ Images of cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace, of long lines outside recruiting offices, of soldiers marching away singing ‘Tipperary’ dominate folk memory.
The major sources for the idea of mass enthusiasm had obvious reasons for promulgating the idea. For wartime pacifists the war was irrational, and therefore support for the war was irrational.
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- Information
- The Last Great WarBritish Society and the First World War, pp. 9 - 39Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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