Recruitment To The British Army During The First World War
At the start of 1914 the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men including reserves, of which around 80,000 were regular troops ready for war. By the end of World War I almost 1 in 4 of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined, over five million men. Of these men 2.67 million joined as Volunteers and 2.77 million as conscripts (although some volunteered after conscription was introduced and would most likely have been conscripted anyway). Monthly recruiting rates for the army varied dramatically.
Read more about Recruitment To The British Army During The First World War: August 1914, Volunteer Army, 1914-15, Conscription, 1916-18
Famous quotes containing the words british, army, world and/or war:
“I think there’s a difference between a gamble and a calculated risk.”
—Edmund H. North, British screenwriter, and Lewis Gilbert. Captain Shepard (Kenneth More)
“Olivia Dandridge: You don’t have to say it, Captain. I know all this is because of me. Because I wanted to see the West. Because I wasn’t, I wasn’t army enough to stay the winter.
Capt. Brittles: You’re not quite army yet miss, or you’d know never to apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is not the utmost brightness of the ideal world soothing to us, while the lightest shadows of the physical world annoy?”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives, that it is inside ourselves.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)