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Great Britain and the First World War

Warfare has always been deemed one of the most gruesome themes in human history;
however, the first world war changed the publics outlook on combat, especially those in
European nations. Not one person at the time could have predicted the amount of destruction or
the casualties after the Great War. With over 30 million
military casualties and millions of civilians dying of disease and
wartime violence, there was no way nations like Britain would
ever be the same afterward (Imperial War Museum, 24 July).
Before the war began, Britain existed peacefully, but not
always amicably with its European neighbors. Most of its affairs
were concerned with maintaining its colonial strongholds all over
the world. Over 40 percent of the worlds
merchant ships flew the British flag and
were protected by the massive Royal Navy
and every fourth person on Earth owed allegiance to the British crown
(Imperial War Museum, 24 July). After a series of events, Europe was at
war and the continent was divided by the end of 1914. Britain was
divided about whether or not to involve themselves in the war until the
German invasion of Belgium in August of 1914 (Imperial War Museum,
24 July). Soon, hundreds of thousands of men enlisted due to recruiting
efforts and anti-German propaganda (see on left). There was social
pressure for both men and women to help support the war effort.
A recruiting poster used in
Many had believed that the war would end quickly, but the South Africa for the war
combination of more modern military technology and a lack of effort. 136,000 troops enlisted
communication between the generals and front lines exhausted the army
quickly. Generals claimed to grasp the danger and intensity of modern weapons and warfare, yet
not many understood what it would be like that this scale because they still believed that fast-
moving and brave troops would be enough for a triumph (Imperial War Museum, 24 July).
Unfortunately, there was absolute deadlock on the Western front by the
end of 1914. The terrible casualties caused by open warfare had created
an entirely new style of combat: trench warfare. Soldiers on both sides
had dug trenches, which can be described as wide, tumbledown, and
much too shallow in many places, in order to protect themselves from
enemy firepower on the western front (Goodbye to All That, pp. 192).
As the war progressed, thousands were dying of injuries from
German snipers, machine guns, artillery, and poisonous chlorine,
mustard, and phosgene gases. Some innovation had been utilized to
adjust to this new style of warfare, including periscopes to see above
trench walls without being easily spotted, gas masks (see picture on the right) and steel helmets
to protect the heads of soldiers while under enemy fire (Imperial War Museum, 24 July).
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New methods of protection were not enough to ensure victory for the allied or central
powers. The only method of advancing was raiding the other trenches to take enemy lives and
information, but this was a deadly method of merely advancing only hundreds of yards (Imperial
War Museum, 24 July). This grim chance of survival kept morale incredibly low among British
and French soldiers. In his autobiography, Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves talks about his
fellow soldiers singing the lines The coal-box and shrapnel they whistle and roar, I dont
want to go to the trenches no more while they were in between battles. For those fighting, it
seemed like there was no end
Things were not easy for the civilians back at home. By January of 1915, the German
military began using airships for strategic bombing on British cities, which sparked an unrivaled
horror in the British population (Imperial War Museum, 24 July). Food shortages became
common once the Germans had begun their 1917 naval campaign using U-boats to sink allied
and neutral supply ships to make Britain surrender. In turn, voluntary and later compulsory
rationing had been set in place on butter, lard, margarine, sugar, and meat (Imperial War
Museum, 24, July). To continue the war effort, over 563,000 women joined the industrial work
force because so many of the able-bodied men left to go fight. Factories also took on refugees,
volunteers from throughout the British empire, children over twelve, and men too old for
conscription (Imperial War Museum, 24 July). This left
a long-lasting strain on the morale of the British people
on the home front, but also changed the social
dynamics of the nation.
Even after the signing of the Treaty of
Versailles in June of 1919, the war did not end for
many of those who fought. People back on the home
front rejoiced and wrote poems talking about how
everybody was singing and rejoicing, but many
Facial injury from shrapnel and reconstruction
using rib cartilage and pieces of skin veterans believed that everybody did not include
them (Goodbye to All That, pp 278). Many veterans
brought back extensive injuries, especially from shrapnel, which would blow off limbs and parts
of faces, and mustard gas, which would blister skin all the way down to the bone (Imperial War
Museum, 24 July). Many men, like the one pictured above, had to sustain injuries that would
have ended in a fatality in previous wars.
The pain and grief, however, was immeasurable. Millions of families had lost their sons,
fathers, brothers, and cousins and the soldiers that did come home had also lost their friends and
brothers in arms. Many of the soldiers suffered from shell shock or what is now known as
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and other emotional disturbances. The Great War
left a lasting impression on the British for decades to come.
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The Importance and History of HMS Belfast

The HMS Belfast was a town class, light cruiser built for the Royal Navy in 1936 and
launched in 1938 with its twin ship the HMS Edinburgh. By 1939, it had been officially
commissioned for the Royal Navy to protect trade during the German blockades during the
second world war. It was almost immediately called into service to impose a maritime blockade
on Nazi Germany. After only two months on the water, the ships hull hit a magnetic mine,
causing it to shoot eight feet up in the air (HMS Belfast, 24 July). There were few casualties and
the damage to the Belfasts hull was severe enough to have it out of action for three years until it
could return to the fleet in 1942.
The ships hull was refit with technological improvements and enhancements like a beam
to make the HMS Belfast more stable and impressive (HMS Belfast, 24 July). The
impressiveness of the HMS Belfast was not just because it was the heaviest and most powerful
cruiser in the Royal Navy, but the technological advances it contained onboard. It was also
incredibly powerful because of its 12x6 inch guns mounted on each side that could fire fourteen
miles away at a desired target (HMS Belfast, 24 July). The HMS Belfast also had some of the
most advanced radar equipment connected to its fire control system.
This played a vital role when protecting the arctic convoys, which were the supply route
to Russia throughout the war (HMS Belfast, 24 July). The ship delivered over 70 convoys to the
northern ports of the Soviet Union between August of 1941 and May of 1945 (HMS Belfast, 24
July). This series of convoys was Britains way of ensuring its surplus of goods and ammunition
would stay with its allied power against the enemy forces. Had the Soviet Union left the war
effort, Great Britain would have to face a strong Nazi Germany by itself on continental Europe,
so losing such a valued ally in the East would have jeopardized their ability to win the war. The
entire operation functioned more as a political power play versus a military action because they
wanted to use self-enhancement, or displaying the strengths and surpluses of a group to set
themselves apart from another group (Strangers in a Strange Land, Douglas Massey).
The HMS Belfast was also used during the Korean War for the United Nations and was
later modernized in the late 1950s. It officially returned to Belfast for the last time in 1963 and
became a museum on the Thames by the end of 1978 (HMS Belfast, 24 July).

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Great Britain and the First World War

The Importance and History of HMS Belfast

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