RECRUITMENT AND

CONSCRIPTION WWI
AUSTRALIA EXPERIENCE X BRITISH
WHAT IS CONSCRIPTION?

• Conscription is the policy of forcefully enlisting citizens of a country to

join in the armed forces or to train as part of a 'reserve' force. This is not
the same as voluntary enlistment, when men and women choose to join the
army, navy or air force as part of a regular or permanent force.
• Conscripts are not part of a regular or permanent army, and mostly return
to being citizens after they have completed their service.
 COMPULSORY RECRUITMENT

• 1903 Act allowed the government to conscript men into the armed forces to defend Australia in the event of a war.
But it did not allow for men to be conscripted to serve overseas.
• Unlike the other countries engaged in World War I, conscription was not introduced in Australia. All the
Australians who fought in World War I were volunteers.
• Prime Minister Billy Hughes made two attempts to introduce conscription: two conscription referenda were held
in 1916 and 1917. Both lost to the 'no' vote. Feelings on the issue ran high and bitterly divided the community.
While many politicians favoured conscription, it was strongly opposed by many in the community
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT41P9VjdVU
 PEOPLE'S REASONS FOR BEING EITHER PRO OR
ANTI-CONSCRIPTION VARIED:
• Support for conscription usually originated from a sense of loyalty to Britain, which was seen as the Motherland,
outrage at Germany's attack on Belgium and France or out of fear for Australia's safety if Britain lost the war.
Women were encouraged to shame their male relatives into joining the army.
• Some young men wanted to join the army for adventure and excitement. Unions tended to be anti-conscription,
because they feared their jobs would be taken by foreign labour or women.
• Being anti-conscription was not the same as being anti-war: some of the men already at the front, themselves
volunteers, were anti-conscription, because they did not want to fight alongside men who did not want to be there.
They considered it could affect their morale and ability to fight cohesively.
• Other people, often women, were against war itself. An Anti-Conscription League was formed and the Women's
Peace Army, a movement driven by the indomitable Vida Goldstein, mounted a fierce campaign against the war
and conscription.
 ON 28 OCTOBER 1916, THE NATION WAS ASKED:

• Are you in favour of the government having in this grave emergency, the same compulsory
powers over citizens in regard to requiring their military service, for the term of this war, outside
the Commonwealth, as it now has in regard to military service within the Commonwealth?
• The referendum was narrowly defeated, with 1,160,033 votes against and 1,087,557 votes in
favour. On a state basis, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia voted a majority
against conscription, while Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Federal Territories
voted in favour of conscription.
• In the ensuing political fall-out, the Labor Party split and Hughes formed a breakaway party
called the Nationalists.
 2ND REFERENDUM

• Are you in favour of the proposal of the Commonwealth Government for reinforcing the
Australian Imperial Forces overseas?
• The second referendum was also defeated, with 1,181,747 votes against compared to
1,015,159 votes in favour.
• Australia, South Africa, and India were the only participating countries not to introduce
conscription during the First World War.
• https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/videos/australians-reject-conscription-first-world-war
 SHOULD AUSTRALIA IMPLEMENT
CONSCRIPTION TODAY?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9uN2Arr6qM
• Australia must seriously consider reintroducing conscription to boost its troop numbers in the face of a looming
“all-out war” with Russia, a defence analyst says.
• Rapidly rising global tensions in eastern Europe and the Middle East threaten to “drag Australia into an orbit of
an open confrontation”, Dr Alexey Muraviev, Associate Professor of National Security and Strategic Studies at
Curtin University, said.
• He added it may be “time for Australia to consider another uncomfortable subject — the return of national
service”.
 PROS AND CONS

• Despite a growing risk of war in the Indo-Pacific region, compulsory military service would prove
incredibly unpopular politically and would lack the broader social licence necessary to sustain it.
• The presence of modern technology such as drones and the possibilities offered by semi- and fully-
autonomous battlefield weapons may reduce the need for very large armies.
• Any attempt to implement conscription would be subject to substantial controversy and testing
against contemporary non-discrimination legislation and human rights standards.
• To meet future challenges, Australia will have to spend a greater proportion of its GDP on Defence
and focus that spending on the areas of greatest challenge to Australian security – notably the
protection of sea lines of communication and the management of smaller scale crises in the near
region.
PROS AND CONS

• Although national service and conscription can be easily conflated, there are key
differences. National service schemes do not necessarily have a military dimension and
they are not always compulsory. National service may form part of broader civic missions
ranging from environmental restoration, social assistance programs or disaster relief and
recovery.
 WRITING ACTIVITY

• What are the pros and cons of making citizens of a country serve in the military?
 THE ENTRY OF U.S ON WWI

• Class watches the YouTube video on ‘The Lusitania | The Great War’ (03:49) and students
complete the following questions in their workbooks:
• What happened to the Lusitania?
• Did the British have any ulterior motives? If so, what?
• What position did the sinking of the Lusitania put the U.S. in?
• Was Germany justified in the sinking of the Lusitania?
• To what extent was Britain responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania?
 QUESTIONS – CONTINUING…

• Could the United States have remained neutral in this situation?

• Students read information about the impact of the entry of the United States from the
textbook and complete source analysis questions, then the questions below:
• What was the traditional foreign policy of the U.S.?
• How did German unrestricted submarine warfare affect the U.S.?
• What impact did the entry of the U.S. have on:
• The morale of the Allies and of Germany?
• Fighting on the Western Front?