Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
Easy. Workers' militia. Next!
Would you have fought for your country in World War One?
- Thread starter Kevbad the Bad
- Start date
And whether to pronounce British Expeditionary Force as B E F or BEF
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
Boeuf surely?
Knowing what I do now; no, knowing what I probably would have then; yes.
The question reminds me of the whole "if you were born in Victorian Britain..." idea. I'd be packed into a slum house with 10 others in the same bed, not lording it up.
The question reminds me of the whole "if you were born in Victorian Britain..." idea. I'd be packed into a slum house with 10 others in the same bed, not lording it up.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Fighting for Ireland wasn't very fashionable until the 1916 rebels were executed. I'd like to think I'd have at least, cheered for the end of Empire, though.
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
Since this thread started I've thought about it a little more. If I'd been with the German part of the family, I would probably already have been at sea with my great grandfather, taking advantage of his position. My mother is half Danish so I'd possibly have been neutral then, unless they were in S Jutland, which seems possible.
If I'd been with my father's side of the family I'd either have been in Spain or Canada. If Spain, I'd have been neutral, so not have joined up. If Canada I'd have waited till being called up.
ETAgiven my grandfather was a Newfie I'd almost certainly ended up going to war.
If I'd been with my father's side of the family I'd either have been in Spain or Canada. If Spain, I'd have been neutral, so not have joined up. If Canada I'd have waited till being called up.
ETAgiven my grandfather was a Newfie I'd almost certainly ended up going to war.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
True enough, but fighting for King and Country wasn't so popular in Ireland either. There were lots of volunteers, particularly amongst the Protestant community, but even there the % joining up was a good deal lower than on the mainland. And Ireland never saw conscription.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
I don't know your politics (anarchist? socialist? Lefty?) but if you're an awkward radical type nowadays you probably would have been back then. In which case you would have been a minority, or seemed like one at times, but you wouldn't have been alone. If you could withstand the pressure to volunteer initially you'd have had the time, even, to emigrate to avoid conscription. Some did just that.
The thing is, once people had joined up to fight in that war, there was certainly no guarentee of them necessarily being an obdient and loyal subject. It's my understand that there was a fair amount of dissent within the ranks.
libcom.org
[Mass refusals, disobedience, mutinies, strikes and out-right rebellion were all part of the British armed forces experience in WW1[7]These were all fairly explicit events and to a certain extent these hidden narratives are becoming part of the historical record despite the attempts of contemporary military censors and government ‘D’ notices on the press as well as the 100 year rule in suppressing military documents. Subsequent post-war collective memory loss related to dominant patriotic ideologies served to smother these events even further, but in the 1960s/70s a critical historical reappraisal of WW1 began, marked in the cultural sphere by the biting satire of the musical ‘Oh What a Lovely War’[8]. This reassessment of WW1 led to a series of historical and sociological examinations of the ‘life in the trenches’ in the succeeding decade. Some of these works provide a new and interesting angle on the subterranean (but at the same time mass) collective tactics British (and German) soldiers used for avoiding combat.]
Why Blackadder Goes Forth could have been a lot funnier
A fascinating look at Tommy Atkins' hidden tactics to avoid combat on the western front in World War I, or why ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ could have been a lot funnier (and more subversive)…
[Mass refusals, disobedience, mutinies, strikes and out-right rebellion were all part of the British armed forces experience in WW1[7]These were all fairly explicit events and to a certain extent these hidden narratives are becoming part of the historical record despite the attempts of contemporary military censors and government ‘D’ notices on the press as well as the 100 year rule in suppressing military documents. Subsequent post-war collective memory loss related to dominant patriotic ideologies served to smother these events even further, but in the 1960s/70s a critical historical reappraisal of WW1 began, marked in the cultural sphere by the biting satire of the musical ‘Oh What a Lovely War’[8]. This reassessment of WW1 led to a series of historical and sociological examinations of the ‘life in the trenches’ in the succeeding decade. Some of these works provide a new and interesting angle on the subterranean (but at the same time mass) collective tactics British (and German) soldiers used for avoiding combat.]
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Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
If you fought for Canada chances are you'd be billeted where I walk the dog most mornings: Witley Camp - Wikipedia Apologies if you tread in her shit.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
There is no "mainland"
I'm not sure that I'd have had the information, though.
In the early 1900s, a theoretical version of me doesn't have the Internet and probably not even a library, so I'm not sure that these tendencies would have really been nurtured to the extent they have now, if that makes sense?
You can probably call me an anarchist in the sense that I think we should self-regulate. I haven't really found any political ideology that really seems to "work" for me, just a bunch of suboptimal outcomes.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
by 1914 62% of the population of england lived within a library authority area
so probably yes a library
I think it'd exist, I'm just not sure I'd use it; basically get that initial spark.
A bit like how most people just sort of end up doing what their parents do.
Kaka Tim
Half Arsed and Slapdash till I Die
My grandad was an irish republican so refused to join the British army. Instead he somehow managed to join the American army instead and served as a dispatch rider, riding a harley Davidson. Would love to find out more about the hows and why's of this but hes been dead over thirty years.
His radicalism doesnt seem to have survived long though as He ended up working in the British civil service and being a massive tory.
His radicalism doesnt seem to have survived long though as He ended up working in the British civil service and being a massive tory.
davesgcr
Reading books
They were in WW2 - my father started in 1938 at the age of 14 and in 1942 being 18 signed up to joint the RAF. This was stopped immediately on pain of arrest. So he stayed down the mines No restrictions in WW1 , ditto for railwaymen.
Found this. More on mutinies at the time of the First World War:
libcom.org
Mutinies 1917-1920 - Dave Lamb
Solidarity's excellent pamphlet on mutinies in the British armed forces towards the end of World War I.
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