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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION IN |
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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | CONTEXT | INDEX | SITE MAP |
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The exact number of men who said 'NO' and refused to be conscripted in the 1914 -18 war in Britain is unknown. Until recently, based on an estimate made in 1922, 16,000 men has been the generally accepted figure.
In recent years diligent research has increased that number which is expected to reach some 20,000. Our own 'Objecting to War' project is also uncovering new information about the lives and experiences of these men which adds to the richness of our understanding of the times they lived in. These men and their supporters, often wives and girlfriends, and men not eligible for recruiting, came from all walks of life. Resisting the siren voice of the military that ensnared hundreds of thousands of their compatriots, their reasons for resisting varied as did the intensity of feeling and commitment. As a consequence of these varied feelings and the capriciousness of the Tribunal system many spent years, often in solitary confinement, in gaols around the country, while at the other extreme others put on a uniform but refused to carry guns. In between the men struggled to explain to themselves as much as to others the meaning of the extraordinary situation they found themselves in and their responses to it. Just 21 years after the signing of the Armistice and just six weeks before Britain entered into another catastrophic war the last memorial for the dead of the 1914-1918 war was unveiled in Britain. The ten million wasted lives, the millions injured, the 50 million dead in the flu pandemic which in all probability started in the sprawling British military camp in Etaples. |
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