The advent of industrialized warfare in World War I levied vast and extraordinary demands upon Great Britain's civilian population, drastically altering the circumstances of the post-Victorian generation and creating a new type of home front. From the earliest stages of the massive recruiting campaign in 1914 to the Armistice in late 1918, the war not only consumed the resources and abilities of the civilian population, according to Alan G. V. Simmonds, but also created a new relationship between the public and Britain's decision makers. Unlike its earlier manifestations, twentieth-century warfare would embroil the entire nation. In describing Britain's home front during the Great War, Simmonds, who teaches modern history at the University of Hull, has incorporated much recent scholarship as well as primary source materials and has created a work that is illuminating, readable, and enormously useful in its clarity. In addition, he explodes some of the common mythologies about the war.

One of the first issues facing Britain in August 1914 involved the desperate need for troops, because, as the new secretary of state for war, Lord Kitchener, warned the cabinet in the first week of hostilities, the conflict would last at least three years and require a million men. The recruitment campaign that was so quickly set up was overwhelmingly successful in attracting men for the “New Armies,” though not necessarily, as has been the historical tradition, because of patriotic fervor or the lasting influence of prewar paramilitary boys' clubs. Simmonds cites research arguing instead that unemployment increased as war broke out and disrupted trade, so many working-class men rushed to join up because they needed jobs. After the initial flood of volunteers, the newly formed Parliamentary Recruiting Committee had to turn to public relations in its most boisterous forms—advertising and entertainment—in order to keep enthusiasm alive. Music hall performances, public lectures, posters, pamphlets, and heavy-handed methods of psychological blackmail came under the purview of government committees that worked to keep the volunteers coming.

Military manpower was not the only pressing need, however. At the onset of the war, few people—certainly not the politicians, the crowds of military recruits, or the civilians who cheered them onward—imagined that the nature of warfare had changed so drastically that it would be difficult for munitions manufacturing to keep pace with the battlefield expenditure of matériel. This rapidly turned out to be the case, however, and it became impossible for the government to hide the truth of outdated and inefficient methods of supply. The newspapers' exposure of the severe shells shortages in 1915 seriously compromised the reputation of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's Liberal administration with the outraged public. The ensuing “Shells Scandal” forced Asquith into a coalition government with the Conservatives in order to stay in power, but by late 1916, political wrangling over conscription, military aviation, Ireland, and the national budget had made it additionally clear that Asquith was not going to be able to lead the wartime nation effectively, and he resigned. David Lloyd George, who had most recently organized and run the new Ministry of Munitions, replaced Asquith as prime minister.

The desperate necessity of producing more supplies for the war effort and the depletion of skilled workers, who left the workplace for the battlefield, created a scarcity of labor that threatened Britain's war effort. Industry came to depend upon the inclusion of women workers, though, as Simmonds points out, contemporary statistics on the numbers of women “entering” the workforce during the war are misleading. Women did become increasingly present in the factories, but the Board of Trade's contemporary reports of an increase from 3,276,000 working women in 1914 to 4,935,000 in 1918 (129–30) focused solely upon industrial jobs and failed to include those who had worked in domestic service, family businesses, or other industries. Actually, only a relatively small percentage of these women comprised new workers. The major change to women's jobs was the availability of higher wages and steadier employment.

Maintaining public support and cooperation during the war was challenging for British officialdom, because every new privation in food or fuel, every new expense in taxation, and every report of losses influenced the mood of the population. Britain's newspaper proprietors and journalists operated alternately as allies and adversaries, depending upon the issue, and the public relied upon the press for most of its news about the conduct of the war. This meant, as well, that the press often recycled the public's version of events, fostering xenophobia, encouraging the suspicion of spy activity where there was none, circulating spurious atrocity reports much older than the war itself, and casting aspersions upon politicians and generals. Ultimately, the press had to be brought to heel as part of the propaganda and publicity apparatus, and a Ministry of Information was created in early 1918, replacing the piecemeal efforts of various predecessors and operating under the direction of the press magnate, Lord Beaverbrook. The necessities of modern warfare institutionalized the official use of propaganda as a way to shape public opinion during the course of the conflict.

After the war ended, returning to the Britain of the Edwardian era was impossible, though some elements in the nation longed to do just that. Conversely, most promises of social reform proved to be just as implausible as reconstructing the past. Instead the postwar years were disappointing for many, in that workers, women, and demobilized soldiers found that their service had not earned them the rewards or even the respect they had hoped for, nor was the old social hierarchy intact. Simmonds points out that while we still mourn the millions who died in the Great War, the home front of World War I has never achieved the veneration and esteem lavished upon the home front of World War II. The author's up-to-date account is highly recommended for general or specialist interest and for all college and university libraries.