User:Katharina Bratvogel

Scotland—Influences of the First World War

During the First World War from 1914 to 1918 Scotland and its society had to suffer a lot. Nevertheless there were remarkable effects in society, economy and politics. It was in 1914 when Scotland was plunged into the first of two World Wars which influenced the whole Europe and cost many lives. Over 500 000 Scots fought in the Great War that was a tenth of the adult male population. In the end one in four never came back. It has to be pointed out that no other country except Serbia and Turkey made a bigger sacrifice.

Overview

At the beginning, everybody expected the troops to be back at Christmas when they left for Flanders shortly after the declaration of war on 4 August 1914. Nobody could know at this time that it would be Christmas 1918. The statistics of the loss of men are remarkable. To give a few examples, there is Mons in 1914 where 1000 Royal Scots Fusiliers were reduced to 70. During the second battalion Scottish Rifles were cut down from 900 to only 150. However, the tragedy did not only take place in Flanders’ fields but also on the beaches of Gallipoli, in Macedonia and Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt, on the high seas and, for the first time in history and consequently as an entirely new place of war, in the air. Indeed, the Great War turned out to be the first conflict between states in which Scots were confronted by attack from the skies. Although the War was largely fought on the land the movement of ships was very important during the War because the Allies were enabled to bring in the vital resources.

Self-mobilisation

20000 men came to the recruiting office in Glasgow’s Gallowgate until August and more than thousand employees of Glasgow Corporation’s Tramways Department formed in a few hours an entire battalion of the Highland Light Infrantry, the city’s local regiment. The entire Watsonians XV enlisted in their city’s regiment and many more young men joined the pals battalions which were whole groups of men from the same town and the same slums. It has to be emphasized that many men joined the army together with friends, neighbours and colleges. It was this private loyalty that let these so called pals battalions join the army. The pals battalions consisted of the middle and working class. The system of voluntary registration of the first half of the War turned out to be an impressive expression of social self-mobilisation. As most of these men showed readiness and even eagerness, almost nobody had to be compelled in those days. Even the employees of the Earl of Wemyss in East Lothian did not have to be compelled although those men formed an example of the phenomenon that registration often took place in order to keep jobs. Many men were frightened to lose their employment if they were not ready to take part in the War. However, the main reason for the great participation was the occasion of adventure and the chance to escape the slums and the poverty. It also has to be remarked that the men were paid, 7s a week for a single man und up to 22 s for a married man with four children. Furthermore, everybody should be back by Christmas. Some men even did not leave Scotland because in May 1915, 217 men of the 7th Royal Scots died in a train crash near Gretna Green. The social structure of the Army differed from that of the whole society as the army almost only consisted of members of the middle class. That had different reasons. It was easier for men of the middle class to leave their working places without risking the existence of their families. Furthermore, many workers were needed in the weapon industry. Many workers also had a minimum standard of physical fitness so that they were rejected. Because of the terrible conditions in the working places the army had to renounce many men who were just too weak to fight in the War. That is why the upper and middle class of society were strongly affected by the War.

Social and economic situation

The Great World War affected not only the men who left their country to fight for it but also civilians. One terrible occasion was the news of the 500 men of Glasgow’s Boys Brigade who had formed the 16th HLI in 1914 and who fell on the first morning of the Somme two years later. Many civilians died from attacks from the skies. Furthermore there was an increase in influenza epidemics. The War created the conditions which could turn local diseases into worldwide epidemics. Nevertheless, there has to be remarked that the War had remarkable demographical effects. Some social classes experienced demographical advantages as the life expectancy increased from 1911 to 1921 and fewer children died. During the War, mothers and children had more to eat in comparison to the time before 1914. The nutrition was distributed more equally. It may sound ridiculous but the society became more healthy. Social injustice decreased and the life expectancy increased after 1914 in all social classes. The main reason was the improvement of nutrition as the wartime economy was successful in distributing the nutrition. The Great War did not only affect individual families but the entire Scottish people. However, the War also turned out to have its good points. The bitter political wrangling of the opening years of the century was temporarily halted. Furthermore, the heavy industries of the Central belt profited of the War as there was a huge demand for guns, ships and trains, tanks, submarines, airplanes and cars. In Scotland there was soon the biggest concentration of war production in the U. K. Also women went to work in the factories. Their activities were very different as they made shells or controlled bus tickets on the trams, for example. Although the women’s work was necessary, the skilled engineers were afraid of their employment prospects in the longer term. Accommodation soon increased and the landlords asked for rents by over 20 per cent. This was too much for the wives of the men who fought at the front. That is why they began to demonstrate against the demands and barred their doors to the rent-collectors. The situation reached its peak when in November 1915 the Govan shipyard workers showed their anger by downing tools. They marched on the court where the rent-defaulters were appearing and many more blocked the streets around. As a consequence the trial collapsed and by Christmas the Government abolished rents for the rest of the war. The great Glasgow Rent Strike has marked British social history as this was the first time a British Government listened to direct popular protest.

The political changes

Some people regarded the unrest as the efforts of pacifists strangling to undermine the war effort. Indeed, there was growing anti-militarist sentiment when the conflict increased and the full horror of the war reached the people left at home. The unrest even became worse when people remarked that the whole progress of the war was being grossly mismanaged and that the factory owners were making profits. However, this sentiment was not driven by pacifism but by a determination by the workers to improve their lot. Even before the war workers had started to show their frustrations. To give an impressive example, there has to be kept in mind the demonstration at Singer’s sewing machine factory in Clydebank in 1911 when the entire workforce of 12 000 men demonstrated against their low pay and their bad living conditions which were one oft the worst in Europe at that time. The War brought the grievances more into focus. The Liberal Government even enforced the delicate situation when they drastically curbed the few rights the workers already had. The Munitions of War Act 1915 allowed unskilled men and women to do the jobs of skilled men and forbid those same skilled men to leave one employer for another. This was indeed a difficult pill to swallow as the condition remembered of slavery in the eyes of many men. The Liberals which had been the party of the working class so far lost the voices of their ancient supporters. The disillusioned workers in the munitions factories and shipyards turned towards socialism. Men like David Kirkwood, John Maclean and James Maxton saw no future in Liberalism. They formed the Clyde Workers’ Committee in 1916, known as Red Clydeside. The Government was worried and took Maclean to Edinburgh. Only a short time later, Maclean went to prison in Peterhead for sedition and incitement to strike. However, the idea of Maclean and his supporters could not be stopped. The course the war was taking convinced more and more men of their decision to support the cause they espoused, that was improved pay and working conditions, better housing and peace through negotiation. They were even rewarded for their pains. For example, there was an official recognition by a Royal Commission report into the vexed area of housing that something had to be done urgently to address the social problem of overcrowding. In the following year another Reform Act introduced the right to vote to the remaining 40 per cent of adult male population and to certain women for the first time. In order to illustrate the position of the patriotic loyalists of the “Red Clydesiders” during the war with Germany attention has to be paid to the declaration of David Kirkwood MP, Baron Bearsden himself: “I was too proud of the battles of the past to stand aside and see Scotland conquered.” That feeling of pride in the past which revealed in the actions of Scots from every class or sex endured during the dark years of War and was finally rewarded by peace in 1918.