The War that Changed the Social Order in Great Britain

[Goldberry]

World War I is, I think, and often neglected subject because it is eclipsed by WWII. However, I think that the thing that impresses me so much about WWI, is that afterwards, things were never the same again.

One example of this is Britain's social order. The country had such a rigid class structure up until the time of the Great War, and then all the men fought side by side in the war. Upon returning home, many of the upper class gentlemen realized how little difference there was between them and people from the lower classes. They found they could no longer keep such a superior attitude toward men with whom they had fought side by side.

I don't know why, but this has always been very interesting to me. A war that we so often forget, changed so much in the world.

[Dave]

Upon returning home, many of the upper class gentlemen realized how little difference there was between them and people from the lower classes.

There is a flipside to this, maybe. The ordinary people realised that their duty to their country as administered by the inept ruling classes had been cruelly abused. Before WWI I think ordinary people's sense of duty was blind - they would have believed , for example, the "Home By Christmas" nonsense. After WWI, people might think twice. Remember also in Glasgow, just after the war, hungry unemployed Glaswegians had guns turned on them by police. Either way, I agree, we were never the same again.

[wallstreeterww]

Well at least those were the good lessons that came out of that war(if there is ever something good that comes from any war). People are people no matter how much money they have or dont have.

[mikandrews]

have you ever watched blackadder?
It may be purely takin the p*** but actually is kind of exactly what your talking about, Lieutenant George Private Baldrick strangely looking up to captain blackadder, very funny, but you can imagine it being just like that, with both upper class and working class troops having the fair share of idiots!

[jasmor58]

Yes, things did change. However, the Class system is still alive and well in Britain today!
Jasmor58

[brianw]

There would seem to be a major social upheaval following almost all national traumas.

I know it wasn’t a war, but three hundred or so years ago, following the “Black Death”, those field workers (surfs) who survived the plague found themselves in much increased demand to bring in the local landed gentry’s crops and were able to sell their efforts to the highest bidder; possibly the basis of the “market economy”.

A similar thing happened after the first war; the decimation of the male population and the women of the nation being unwilling to give up their new found financial and political freedoms gained while doing the work which would ordinarily have been done by the men. This “difference of opinions” no doubt hardened the Suffragette movement ultimately resulting in the vote being given to married women at first, then women in general.

It all happened again after the second war, in more or less the same way, possibly culminating in the social upheavals witnessed during the 1960s. It wasn’t just about the great music!

It looks like the major social changes come to fruition after about fifteen years the seeds have been sown.