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It was the month of May.

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The spring of 1915 was running out.

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The spring offensives became summer
battles. There was no end in sight.

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00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,680
Nothing like this war
had ever been seen.

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00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:39,760
It defied prophesy,
defeated understanding
and had escaped man's control.

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00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:49,040
For nine months now, every
human endeavour had gone awry.

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00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:54,680
For nine months, all man's reason,
all his ingenuity, all his science

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00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:00,840
had produced destruction
beyond imagining
and sacrificed millions of lives.

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00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,960
1,000 years of civilisation
seemed to be visibly crumbling.

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00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,400
The insatiable guns
incessantly demanded new victims.

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At sea, underwater weapons struck
at the roots of a sailor's courage.

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00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:43,040
On land, the use of gas, poisoning
the very air that men breathed,

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seemed to reduce to nothing
bravery, enterprise and skill.

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Not only soldiers, awaiting the
dire chances of each day in squalid
trenches, felt the war's impact -

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00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:03,160
it reached into every village
and street, with its demands
for guns, for shells, for men.

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00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:08,600
It uprooted tradition. It brought
pain, hardship, opportunity -

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above all, change.

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00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,960
Now Britain's years
of tranquil security were over.

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The awakening of her people
was brutal.

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It took the form
of a munitions scandal.

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News broke
of the army's shortage of shells.

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The Times quoted Sir John French,
commander of the British forces:

23
00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,280
"The want of an unlimited supply
of high explosive

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"was a fatal bar to our success."

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The mass-market Daily Mail
deepened the sense of shock

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by attributing the famine to
the nation's idol, Lord Kitchener.

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This was sacrilege, yet
the British were becoming uneasy.

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For months, their best manhood had
poured into the recruiting offices.

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It was Kitchener's own summons
they answered -

30
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the towering hero of legend,
K of K, Kitchener of Khartoum.

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00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:19,480
Surely, he could not have sent the
army into battle without shells?

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The shell scandal was only part
of a deeper unease about the war.

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Lloyd George,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote:

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"There was a sense of revolt
against the attitude
of the Government

35
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"and what was regarded
as its leisurely
and take-for-granted attitude

36
00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,920
"in dealing with
vitally serious matters -

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"matters of life and death
to the whole of the allies,
to the British Empire

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"and to hundreds of thousands
of gallant young men,

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"who had offered their lives
to their country."

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On May 26th,
Britain's leadership changed.

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CHEERING

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Asquith remained, but his
government was now a coalition of
Liberals, Conservatives and Labour.

43
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And there was another innovation.

44
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"The Prime Minister has decided
a new department shall be created

45
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"to be called the Ministry of
Munitions, charged with organising
the supply of munitions of war."

46
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"Mr Lloyd George has undertaken
the formulation and direction
of this department."

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For the moment, the mood of 1914
resurfaced amid the facts of 1915.

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Italy declared war on Austria and
crowds packed the streets of London

49
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to cheer Italians going home to
join up. Cheering was not enough.

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00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:53,760
Five days into his new appointment,
Lloyd George was rousing the nation
to face reality.

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00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:59,480
"We are fighting against the best-
organised community in the world -

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"the best organised,
whether for war or for peace,

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"and we have been employing
too much the haphazard,
go-as-you-please methods,

54
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"which would not have not enabled
us to maintain our place as a
nation, even in peace, much longer.

55
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"The nation now needs
all the machinery
that is capable of being used

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"for turning out
munitions or equipment,

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"all the skill
that is available for that purpose,

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"all the industry, all the labour

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"and all the strengths,
power and resource of everyone
to the utmost."

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War had outgrown battlefields.

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It had become the test
of a nation's technology.

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"The making of a shell case
involves the metal trades,

63
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"blast furnaces, steelworks,

64
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"iron and steel foundries, forges,

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"stamps, locks and dyes,

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"rolling mills, rod and wire works

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"and behind them, the colliery
and the iron-ore quarry.

68
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"It requires factories

69
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"and these in turn require
machinery-covered electrical plant,

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"factory equipment
and machine tools,

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"engines, pumps, turbines,
road and rail transport,

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"boiler-making and constructional
engineering work.

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"The explosives for filling and
propelling the shell from the gun

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"involve the output of chemical
works, dye works, gas works

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"and a great deal of very careful
laboratory experiment,
investigation and testing."

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Germany lacked none of those.

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Her industry, like her army,
was organised on the grand scale.

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Her growth had been based on
science and a ruthless exploitation
of new ideas.

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Before 1914, her chemistry supplied
Britain with dyes for dresses
and aspirins for headaches.

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Now Britain needed
her own chemical industry.

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There was an explosives famine.

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Without them, a shell was, as Lloyd
George said, "a harmless vase".

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Equally,
it was harmless without a fuse.

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There were more than 50 parts
in a shell fuse,

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parts that had to work
as accurately as clockwork.

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It was the big
German clock and toy industries

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that made the fuses
for the Jack Johnsons

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which crashed
on the British trenches.

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But in Britain, industries capable
of mass-producing fuses were few

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and her equipment was out of date.

91
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While Kitchener recruited
the new armies,

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Lloyd George created new industry.

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On May 27th, he walked into his
office at the Ministry of Munitions

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00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,160
to attack his colossal task.

95
00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:22,720
"There was a table -
I forget whether
there were one or two chairs -

96
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"but by the orders of the Board
of Works, there was no carpet.

97
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"I believe I had a greater struggle
over getting a carpet

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"than I had over getting
£50 million for munitions.

99
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"I said to my assistant,
'Look at that table.

100
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"'Look at those two chairs.'

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"'Yes?' he said.
'What is the matter with 'em?'

102
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"I said, 'Those are
the Ministry of Munitions'."

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In France, the problems at home
were even worse.

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A sixth of her industry
lay in German hands.

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Mobilisation had drained France
of fit men.

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More than a million of them
had already been killed,
wounded or posted missing.

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Behind the army zone,
France was now a country of women,
old men and children.

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Women delivered the post and papers.

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They drove the massive machines
that watered the Paris streets.

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They swept its ancient gutters
free of refuse.

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Frenchmen who idolised womanhood
had to get used to seeing women

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in unnatural and unromantic jobs.

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The women farmed the rich soil
with the same love as their menfolk.

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But they didn't have
the strength and skill.

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Land produced less food

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and prices began to go up.

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Only the first are served.

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Fruit and vegetables are still
in good supply, but dearer
than last year.

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Prices are much higher
than last year.

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Cabbages cost 60 centimes each.

121
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Other grocery prices
are increasing by leaps and bounds.

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Corbie market's increase is 300%.

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The burden of shortages
and rising prices fell heavily
on France's poor families.

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Many were trying to live
on a soldier's pay, or even worse,
on a widow's pension.

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But the nation was still welded
together by the patriotic flame
of the Union Sacre.

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The French solved the problem
of munitions with the same courage

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that created victory on the Maune.

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This nation of individualists
submitted to government control.

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By 1915, industry sent the army
most of the munitions it needed.

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Women were the key to success
in the factories.

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They adapted to this delicate work
which they seemed to be suited to.

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Many have accepted dangerous jobs,
like the handling of fuse detonators.

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Today, shells have been almost
entirely finished off by women.

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All working hard, many with
serene looks on their faces.

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Some, on the other hand, look grim.

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They are probably thinking
they are helping to avenge
some dear victim of the war.

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00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:18,120
A few hundred miles away, German
women worked with equal devotion.

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The Germanic empires were
a beleaguered fortress.

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The British blockade cut them off
from US wheatlands

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and Argentine beef.

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Behind the German and Austrian
troops on enemy soil,

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life was becoming grimmer.

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Since January,
bread had been rationed.

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It now included potato flour.

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People who had come from Berlin
said no signs could be seen
of a war there.

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They must be blind.

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Bread cards are not the only
visible sign of war.

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Did you ever see a private soldier
accepting a few orderlies
in Unter Den Linden in peacetime?

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It's full of them now, not very
warlike in their clothing, carriage
and appearance. Many are wounded.

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All of them feel and act
as the chief person of the drama -

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as well they might.

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Vienna remains a city of pleasure,

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00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,640
but in its dark suburbs,
misery is on the increase.

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The mothers wring their hands
beside the beds of their children,

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because their young lives are
threatened by enteritis caused
by eating the horrible war bread.

156
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The bread ticket did not favour
fair shares - it was not meant to.

157
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I had no difficulty anywhere in
getting all the wheat bread I wanted.

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My class did not have to eat
war bread.

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00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:01,840
The British knew nothing
of the horrors of occupation,

160
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,240
of casualties in hundreds
of thousands.

161
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,120
But their cost of living
was rising fast.

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Bread was tuppence three farthings.

163
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,280
It's now fourpence ha'penny per loaf!

164
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The price of meat for baking doubled
in price, that of the cheapest cuts
for boiling trebled.

165
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I hardly know how to make ends meet.
I have five children with another
due in June.

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We eat less, and have pawned things
to make up the difference between
prices before the war and now.

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That can't go on.

168
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In Britain, too, the burden of war
fell most heavily on the poor,

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including the families of soldiers.

170
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,760
Times was very hard.

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I only had 12 and six a week,
so I couldn't go out and spend
like anyone else.

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I used to sit at night

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and try to do a bit of reading
or sewing,

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to pass the time away.

175
00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,440
It was very hard,
and my mind would wander.

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00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:18,160
I'd wonder what he was doing,
if he was thinking about me.

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00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,880
I'd wonder how he was going on
and when I would see him again.

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Things like that.

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00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:31,440
A private's pay was small,
and so were the allowances
for a wife and children.

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Any official delay in payment
meant a trip to the pawnshop.

181
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:43,240
Death or mutilation in the country's
service could mean utter poverty
for the hero's family.

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00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,760
A warrant issued by Kitchener said:

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00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:53,960
A pension or gratuity for
the dependents of a deceased soldier
shall not be granted as a right.

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00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,440
It shall not be granted,
or continued,

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00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:03,040
when the applicant is unworthy,
in the army council's opinion,

186
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:09,680
or unless the soldier's services
were, in their view, such as
to justify the award.

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00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,040
To the British upper classes,

188
00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:23,080
the war was something to read about
in the papers or on a poster.

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00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:27,120
The town is vibrant with the call
to arms.

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00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:31,320
Posters appeal for recruits
on every hoarding,

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00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:36,360
on shop windows, on omnibuses,
tramcars and commercial vans.

192
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:43,240
First, it was strange to see officers
in uniform on omnibuses and trams,

193
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,760
but the novelty of it
has long since worn off.

194
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,960
The cartoons of Bruce Bairnsfather,

195
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:55,000
serving in France,
appeared in The Bystander.

196
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,480
They created a new national image -
Old Bill,

197
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:04,920
a long-suffering soldier whose
sour humour rose above every danger.

198
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,480
Oh, star of Eve,

199
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:12,120
whose tender beam falls
on my spirit's troubled dream.

200
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:18,200
Give it a good hard 'un, Bert.
They fizzle a bit first
if they're gonna explode.

201
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,640
Well, if you know of a better hole,
go to it.

202
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,240
Hey, what was that, Bill?
Trench mortar. Ours or theirs?

203
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:32,160
To think that it's the same
dear moon that's looking down on him.

204
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,920
This moon will be the death of us!

205
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,680
Well, Alfred, how are the cakes?

206
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:45,800
As Old Bill bestowed his advice
on young Bert, the newcomer,

207
00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:50,160
the worse the danger,
the funnier the joke became.

208
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,760
Soldiers laughed at the cartoons.
Others found them reassuring.

209
00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,680
The reality was a long way away.

210
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,160
They didn't know what it was like.

211
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:07,520
When I talked about it, my father
would argue points of fact
he couldn't have known,

212
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,280
because he wasn't there.

213
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:16,040
That was the approach of the public
at large - they didn't know.

214
00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:20,800
They hadn't any conception -
how could they?

215
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:27,880
They knew people came back on leave
covered with mud and lice, but they
didn't know what danger we were in.

216
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:32,720
They felt the war
was one continual cavalry charge,

217
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:37,760
that one spent all day chasing
Germans or them chasing us.

218
00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:44,600
Had they realised the strain
of sitting waiting for something
to drop on one's head,

219
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:49,560
they wouldn't have seen it as war -
just play.

220
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,880
The idea was that England
couldn't lose.

221
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:59,480
Officers on leave noted how little
the middle class had been touched
by war.

222
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:04,520
In spite of the number
of men in uniform in the streets,

223
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:10,400
the indifference to and ignorance
about the war was remarkable.

224
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,960
The universal catchphrase was,
"Business as usual."

225
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,240
Against the
background of "business as usual"

226
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,080
Lloyd George toured the
country to see conditions himself

227
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:34,720
and drive on the Industrial
Revolution providing shells
and guns for the troops.

228
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:39,240
He used all his personal magic -
all his ruthlessness.

229
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,040
In 1915, I drove Mr Lloyd George

230
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,720
when he was Minister of Munitions

231
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,560
on his munitions tour of Wales.

232
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,800
Going from town to town.

233
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,760
When we arrived
at Newport in Monmouthshire

234
00:20:55,760 --> 00:21:01,200
just as he got out of the car
someone in the crowd shouted out,

235
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,560
"Why don't you send out some guns?"

236
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,320
Instantly he replied,

237
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,600
"Why don't you come and help?"

238
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,240
While Lloyd George
was touring the country,

239
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,000
inspecting, persuading, energising,

240
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,840
the British mood was changing.

241
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:26,440
They were grimmer - resolved to
defeat Germany no matter the cost.

242
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:31,520
The violence of war
had begun to touch them too.

243
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:42,360
On May 7th, Britain was stunned by
news that the great liner Lusitania

244
00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:47,000
had been torpedoed and sunk
with the loss of over 1,000 lives.

245
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,280
SEAGULLS CRY

246
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:04,400
Survivors arrived at Liverpool with
stories of the ship's last moments.

247
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:10,520
There was a dull, thud-like,
not very loud explosion.

248
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,600
As I ran up the stairs,
the boat was already heeling over.

249
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:21,000
Just after I reached the deck,
a stream of steerage passengers
came rushing up from below.

250
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,800
They fought their way
into the nearest boat.

251
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,760
They were white and terrified. They
were shrieking. There was no order.

252
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,760
The strongest got there first.
The weak were pushed aside.

253
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,920
No children
could have lived in that throng.

254
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,800
A mass grave was dug for the
victims in the Irish town of Cork.

255
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:47,600
Indignation at this act of German
frightfulness crossed the country.

256
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,560
There was another side to the story.

257
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:56,400
The ship was carrying a consignment
of rifles and shrapnel shells.

258
00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:02,680
Her Captain ignored Admiralty
instructions on avoiding dangers.

259
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,040
The German government had advertised

260
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,880
in New York papers that passengers
travelled at their own risk.

261
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:21,400
Nevertheless, anti-German riots
exploded in big industrial towns.

262
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,720
Any shop with a German-sounding name
was good for looting and smashing.

263
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,320
GLASS SHATTERS

264
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,000
CROWD SHOUT

265
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,640
Groups began to form.

266
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,360
Somebody rushed round and said

267
00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:42,480
Keppel's butchers shop had been
broken into by a crowd of women

268
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,320
and all the eatables stolen.

269
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:49,080
I happened to be
walking down this street

270
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:55,120
and from nowhere came a great
rush of women in clogs and shawls.

271
00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:57,960
They stood outside the drapers shop,

272
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,680
shouting and shaking their fists.

273
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:06,120
An old woman
stepped forward out of the crowd

274
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:10,080
and threw a tin can at the window.

275
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,840
It bounced off harmlessly.

276
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,440
That might
have been a signal of command.

277
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:23,360
The others threw their shawls back,
produced bricks they'd hidden,

278
00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:28,360
and a fusillade of these
missiles crashed into the window.

279
00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:31,960
Not even women were spared.

280
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:39,000
A frightened German woman came out
into the street eager to get away.
Her nervousness attracted attention.

281
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,080
Harpies jeered at her.

282
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,720
Tweaked at her hat.
Grabbed at her purse.

283
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:54,200
Air raids sharpened the hatred of
the home fronts towards the enemy.

284
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,880
For the first time in history,

285
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:02,680
bombing from the air threatened
cities far from the battlefield.

286
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:08,200
Women and children were killed.
French, German and now British.

287
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,800
The zeppelins first came to
England on the 19th January 1915.

288
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,440
On 31st May they bombed London,

289
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,080
capital of the Empire,
for the first time.

290
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,160
Behind their indiscriminate progress

291
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,600
the raiders left
homes wrecked and lives shattered.

292
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:49,120
The word non-combatant
had lost its meaning.

293
00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,080
The rage against Germans mounted,

294
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:55,640
even those who
were naturalized British subjects.

295
00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:02,200
A hate campaign was worked up
by John Bull - a magazine with the
largest circulation in the country.

296
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,880
"By this time
we begin to know our Hun.

297
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,640
"The Hun is always the same.

298
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,440
"Yes. Always the true son of Cain.

299
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,160
"The man of blood.

300
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,040
"Though his skin is white,
his heart is black.

301
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:22,440
"Every employee of the state,
in government or the services

302
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,240
"of German birth or parentage
should be forced to resign.

303
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,560
"The innocent
must suffer with the guilty."

304
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:34,360
In every country at war, hatred
seems natural, even reasonable.

305
00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:39,320
The enemy was portrayed as
an ogre of horrifying monstrosity.

306
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,160
Or as a discomfited clown.

307
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:47,000
Dark neuroses lurked beneath
the surface of civilian patriotism.

308
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,960
Yet the patriotism was real enough.

309
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,720
It inflamed
the hearts of women as well as men.

310
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,520
It could be unpleasantly hysterical.

311
00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:03,720
There were women who tried to
force men into the services by
every device of scorn and blackmail.

312
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,960
I went to the music hall
in civilian clothes on my leave.

313
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,560
Whilst lined up outside,

314
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,600
a lady came along.

315
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,560
She was about 35.

316
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,560
She put a white feather into my hand.

317
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,400
I looked at it, felt very disgusted.

318
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,960
There wasn't much
I could do about it.

319
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:33,040
As well as being given white feathers
there was another method of approach.

320
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,840
You'd see a girl coming towards you

321
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:40,880
with a smile on her face and you'd
think, "It's someone who knows me."

322
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,800
When she was about five or six paces
from you she would suddenly freeze

323
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:50,080
and walk past you with
a look of utter contempt and scorn.

324
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,280
If she could have spat,
she would have done.

325
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,240
It was more hurtful than a feather.

326
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,840
It made you curl up and you
couldn't reply as she'd gone on.

327
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,480
Thousands of other women

328
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:08,320
found an outlet in
Lloyd George's munitions programme.

329
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,560
They came from domestic service,

330
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,680
mills and shops, mostly.

331
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,720
A lot of very young girls were there

332
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,840
and young married women

333
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:26,840
who had come principally
to help keep their homes together

334
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,120
when their husbands were away.

335
00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:34,600
Also many of them felt that
they were helping the war effort.

336
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,240
More and more women
took over from men

337
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,960
as this Industrial Revolution
gathered speed.

338
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:46,800
By the end of 1915 there were
73 national munitions factories,

339
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,840
as well as the armaments firms and
all the privately-owned industries

340
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:53,880
converted to war work.

341
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,000
American machines and
British improvisation

342
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,760
were the tools
for Lloyd George to achieve success.

343
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,400
The skilled craftsman
was replaced by the machine minder.

344
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,560
Victorian methods
gave way to mass production.

345
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,040
In the closing months of 1915,

346
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:19,080
the national factories combined
output was 200,000 shells -
nearly all of a lighter nature.

347
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,400
In the following year
their total output

348
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,200
was nearly seven million,

349
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,840
more than half of which
was medium and heavy shell.

350
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,680
Not only in munitions
did women take the jobs

351
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,440
that had traditionally been for men.

352
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,440
They repaired gas holes.

353
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,640
They shovelled coal
into the retorts that made the gas.

354
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,440
Heavy work. Hot and dirty.

355
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:50,600
# She's a lassie from Lancashire

356
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,160
# Just a lassie from Lancashire

357
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,840
# She's a lassie I love so dear... #

358
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,680
The first women conductors
appeared on buses and trams.

359
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,840
Middle class girls left their
sheltered life in the home

360
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,680
and worked as clerks in offices
or became nurses.

361
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,360
For women,
the war marked a social revolution.

362
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:31,000
# When the clouds roll by,
I'll come to you

363
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:38,440
# Then the skies will seem more blue

364
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:47,480
# Down in Lovers Lane, my dearie

365
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,920
# Wedding bells...#

366
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:57,960
It was terribly hard, terribly
monotonous, but we had a purpose.

367
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,960
We meant to do that work and we did.

368
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,600
There wasn't a drone in the factory.

369
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,480
Every girl worked
and worked and worked.

370
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,120
I didn't hear one grumble.

371
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,240
And I hardly ever heard,
or know of one that stayed out

372
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:18,160
because she had her man in mind,
and we all had.

373
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:24,280
I myself was working
with sailors' wives

374
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:30,920
from three ships that sank,
and it was pitiful to see them.

375
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,600
If anyone had a letter from France,
we just read it.

376
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,440
We got to know all
the girls' sweethearts or husbands.

377
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,280
We got to know
all their Christian names.

378
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,960
We'd say, "How's Tommy?", "How's
Dick?", "Have you heard from him?"

379
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:57,440
Some would shed a tear, which meant,
you know, what had happened to them.

380
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:01,880
Wages were good and some
of the public resented this.

381
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,640
They thought the girls
were forgetting their place.

382
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:11,480
We, as munition workers, were
heartily disliked by the public.

383
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:16,920
People would look at you and say,
"Huh! One of those munition workers."

384
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:21,960
Anything derogatory that could be
said about you was said about you.

385
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,600
It was very uncomfortable sometimes.

386
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,440
And, um, I think, as a rule,

387
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:32,280
the idea was that you made such
enormous amounts of money,

388
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,840
and other people didn't.

389
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:41,320
The most dangerous work
was filling shells with explosive,
or making the explosive itself.

390
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,360
The clothing we wore was fireproof,
the shoes were fireproof,

391
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:52,800
and every time we went out
to a meal we had to take all our
fireproof clothing off

392
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,840
and put on outdoor clothing, which
took time from our dinner hour.

393
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,680
We were searched when we returned
in case of cigarettes and matches,

394
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,320
or pins, etc.

395
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,160
Once or twice we heard
that so-and-so had gone.

396
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:12,600
Perhaps she'd made a mistake
and her eye was out.

397
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,160
But there wasn't any big explosion
all the time I was there.

398
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:22,080
We sang, we made the little pellets.
Very innocent looking,

399
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:27,520
but had there been the slightest
grit in those pellets, goodbye.

400
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,640
We got home
and we had a lovely, good wash.

401
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:38,560
And, believe me,
the water was blood red,
and our skin was perfectly yellow,

402
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:43,400
right down through the body,
legs and toes and toenails even,

403
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,000
perfectly yellow.

404
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,240
These women were called canaries.

405
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:56,200
Their devotion was essential
to the success of Lloyd George's
armaments programme.

406
00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,880
They were also the cause of one
of the toughest problems in 1915.

407
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,120
The men, the trade unions,
saw them as a threat.

408
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:09,760
A threat to privileges built up
painfully over decades

409
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,200
and jealously guarded.

410
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:18,600
Unskilled women working machines
were a threat to traditional
craft skills and methods.

411
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:23,440
They were a threat
to the future livelihood of men.

412
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:28,080
Employers could make
huge profits out of the war.

413
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:35,200
The unions fought hard against
the introduction of unskilled
workers. Dilution, it was called.

414
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:42,240
Resolved: that we refuse to
entertain the proposal to allow the
introduction of semi-skilled workers

415
00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:45,080
on work done by qualified mechanics.

416
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,080
Resolved: that no woman
shall be put to work a lathe,

417
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:54,360
and if this is done the men will
know how to protect their rights.

418
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:59,080
Each month of 1915
the number of strikes rose

419
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,920
from 47 in February to 63 in May.

420
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:08,960
The disputes over dilution took
place again a history of 100 years
of bitter industrial struggle.

421
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:14,000
For the first time, the trade unions
no longer represented the underdog.

422
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,680
Now, there was full employment.

423
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:20,120
The workers were essential
to the national effort.

424
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:26,560
For the first time,
cabinet ministers negotiated
as equals with trade unionists.

425
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,080
It was yet another revolution.

426
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:34,920
It took a firm promise
that pre-war methods
would be restored at the peace.

427
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:41,000
Together with an
act of Parliament controlling
the whole field of arms production,

428
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,440
before the trade unions
accepted dilution.

429
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,320
To Lloyd George,
drink was another enemy,

430
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:54,360
insidiously undermining
his campaign for higher production.

431
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,000
Beer could be bought all day.

432
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,840
Was this not a peril to efficiency?

433
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,480
Was it not a cause of absenteeism?

434
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,520
A new war regulation limited
pub opening hours.

435
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:13,160
And so life was changed
in yet another way by the need
for shells and guns.

436
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:19,680
A slow business, a hard task
to uproot the habits of a nation
steeped in tradition,

437
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,720
over-affectionate
towards old customs.

438
00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:27,960
Yet the King, symbol of one of
Britain's most revered traditions,

439
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,480
helped the change forward.

440
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,520
He toured the industrial areas
without fuss or pomp,

441
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:39,840
to persuade the workers that they
were performing national service.

442
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:44,960
"Without shells, we cannot
hope to win," he told them.

443
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:51,400
As an example, he signed
the pledge, and alcohol vanished
from the Royal household.

444
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:56,040
He visited the wounded
and the homes of their families.

445
00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:02,880
The King spared no effort
to bind the people and monarchy
together by shared experience.

446
00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:14,720
But the impatient war
was clamorous with needs.

447
00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:19,480
Soldiers paid with their lives when
design or manufacture faltered.

448
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:24,920
The money was raised by five
shillings a week for everybody.

449
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,560
Then they introduced a bonus system.

450
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:32,600
You filled so many shells, and
after that amount had been filled,

451
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:36,680
you got a bonus
for how many more you filled.

452
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:41,520
This was a very bad thing really,
because it led to carelessness.

453
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,040
People were not careful,

454
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:49,280
the shells would come back to us
as either too heavy or too light.

455
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:56,040
And that was, of course,
a very bad thing because they might
fall short when they were fired.

456
00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:03,080
Our high explosive for 18 pounders
is so unreliable that we cannot
use it in large quantities.

457
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:08,200
We have lost 36 guns in a month
by premature explosions.

458
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:14,800
This represents the highest
percentage of bursts suffered
by any side in this war.

459
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:22,240
Even by the end of the year most of
the shells were the result of orders
placed under the war office system,

460
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:24,800
which Lloyd George had so attacked.

461
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,080
A third of them came from US
and Canadian factories.

462
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:36,320
Not until 1916 could Lloyd George's
programme produce war material
in overflowing abundance.

463
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:41,560
Nevertheless, the British were
rousing themselves.

464
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:47,000
Civilians and soldiers, industrial
as well as military might,

465
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,800
the Allies were moving
into total war.