“When it was announced at 3pm on August 5th, 1914, that the fledging nation of New Zealand was going to war on the other side of the world, patriotic young men cheered and rushed to sign up and do their duty”.
That passage is hogwash and reflects the sad decline in print media standards. A mere three decades back when our newspapers had informed back-room staff, it could never have been published.
Here are the facts.
What was noteworthy about young men’s response in both Australia and New Zealand in 1914, was that they were subject to the first ever polls conducted in both countries, in this case as to their motives for volunteering. And in both countries they overwhelmingly declared that they viewed signing up as an opportunity to “travel and see the world”. Patriotism never came into it.
If that sounds odd bear in mind that in 1914 both Australia and New Zealand, compared to today, were very simple economies.
18 year olds were living lives of long hours manual labour drudgery and almost certainly had never been more than a mile or so from their homes, and then rarely. So too back then the proportion of our population living in rural districts and toiling on farms was possibly a hundred times greater than today with the current relentless growth of large cities, attractive for their superior life-styles and variety of employment opportunities.
But far from seeing the world they found themselves living a hellish existence in trenches.
When word of this nightmare reality reached home, by 1916 despite white feathering, young men sensibly refused to enlist. There was talk of conscription but thanks to the trade unions in concert with the Catholic church, this was successfully resisted.
Mindful of that history, the advent of the 2nd World War, despite being a more virtuous mission, saw our governments take no chances and immediately introduced compulsory conscription.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
If that sounds odd bear in mind that in 1914 both Australia and New Zealand, compared to today, were very simple economies.
18 year olds were living lives of long hours manual labour drudgery and almost certainly had never been more than a mile or so from their homes, and then rarely. So too back then the proportion of our population living in rural districts and toiling on farms was possibly a hundred times greater than today with the current relentless growth of large cities, attractive for their superior life-styles and variety of employment opportunities.
But far from seeing the world they found themselves living a hellish existence in trenches.
When word of this nightmare reality reached home, by 1916 despite white feathering, young men sensibly refused to enlist. There was talk of conscription but thanks to the trade unions in concert with the Catholic church, this was successfully resisted.
Mindful of that history, the advent of the 2nd World War, despite being a more virtuous mission, saw our governments take no chances and immediately introduced compulsory conscription.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
i would be interested in the wording of the questionnaire. A huge sense of duty was instilled in young men before and for years after WW1. Was one of the question options "urged by tribal elders to give them political clout." In any modern conflct main volunteers should be maori as no conqueror woud be as pliant and indulgent as the present colonists.
Sir Bob is right in so far as the primary motive early in WW1 for enlisting was the want for travel and adventure. By 1916 the reality was that the war had become a slaughter.
But he is wrong in claiming that there was no conscription in that war. In August 1916, the Military Service Act empowered the government to conscript men aged between 20 and 45 for military service at home or abroad. The infant Labour Party resisted, with some members, including WW2 P M Peter Frazer, being imprisoned for sedition.
By contrast, Australia did not have conscription for overseas service in either war.
You missed an opportunity there Bob for a grammatical barb; it should be fledgling or fledgeling nation; not fledging, as there is no such word.
In the 1920s shoolboys were told about the sentry at Pompeii who stayed at his post until buried.And of the boy at Jutland who remained by his open gun on deck after it had been wrecked,. He was recognised with some major award (post humus) Dont know to what extent it motivated WW2 soldiers but with a maori takeover looming i woud not volunteer to ward off Chinese.
I recall as a wee lad asking my grandfather why he volunteered to join the army in WW1. He answered that the Hun had “gone mad, and had to be stopped”. He made no mention of going on an adventure. On the other hand, my father (a rural lad) joined the army in WW2 more for a sense of adventure. That changed as he absorbed the experience of the conflicts in Greece, the Middle East and Italy. Still, he put four years into it. Interestingly, he always separated the Germans from the Nazis, when relating war stories to me.
Have we learned anything from those awful conflicts? Sometimes I wonder.
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