Attitudes to the war

It is easy to criticise the way the government treated conscientious objectors and made life very difficult for them. But 80 per cent of those who appeared before a tribunal were excused military service. The right of an individual to refuse to fight for his country had been accepted, and at a time when victory was far from certain. Britain remained a democracy and proved that it could wage a successful war without trampling on the rights of its citizens.

At first glance it might seem that the British people by 1916 were growing tired of the war. And once the people on the 'home front' grow hostile to a war, military collapse usually follows. The question is whether the British people were turning aganist the war in large numbers or whether civilian support remained solidly behind the war effort.

Neil Demarco: Britain and the Great War; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 29