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328 Pages·2006·19.09 MB·English

THE CONSCRIPTION

CONTROVERSY IN

GREAT BRITAIN

0 0 ­

R.J.Q. ADAMS & PHILIP P POIRIER
Despite the efforts of Lord Roberts's
National Service League-and the covert
support of the army-mandatory service was
considered an extremist's nostrum in the
years before August 1914. With the unpre­
cedented manpower demands of the First
World War, a bitter conflict erupted
between voluntarists and conscriptionists
among British statesmen-settled only after
the collapse of voluntary recruiting and the
passage of the National Service Acts in
1916. For the remainder of the conflict
Britain's leaders struggled with the question
of how best to use these broad new powers
both to send enough men to the trenches
and to keep enough back to make munitions
and necessary consumer goods. By 1918
Britain stared into the bottom of the
manpower barrel.
For a note on the authors, please see the back flap

THE CONSCRIPTION CONTROVERSY IN GREAT
BRITAIN, 1900-18
Also by R. J. Q. Adams
ARMS AND THE WIZARD: Lloyd George and the
Ministry of Munitions, 1915-16
Also by Philip P. Poirier
THE ADVENT OF THE LABOUR PARTY

LEONARD HOBHOUSE'S THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

(editor)
The Conscription

Controversy in Great

Britain, 1900-18

R. J. Q. Adams
and
Philip P Poirier
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
© R. J. Q. Adams 1987
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published 1987
Published in the United Kingdom
by The Macmillan Press Ltd.
Published in the United States and Canada
by the Ohio State University Press
Printed in Hong Kong
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adams, R. J. Q. (Ralph James Q.), 1943­
The conscription controversy in Great Britain,
1900-18.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Military service, Compulsory—Great Britain—

History—20th century. I. Poirier, Philip P.,

1920- II. Title.

UB345.G7A65 1987 355.2'2363'0941 86-16181

ISBN 0-8142-0430-9
To Susan and Carole