The Defence of the Realm Act

Aims:

• Identify the purpose of the Defence of the Realm Act.

• Examine some of the restrictions placed on peoples’ lives during the war.

The Home Front

During the First World War, Britain was ‘fighting’ a war on two fronts:

• On the Western Front, soldiers were directly involved in fighting the war from the trenches.

• On the Home Front, ordinary British people (civilians) also had an important role to play.

The Home Front

During the course of the war peoples’ lives changed dramatically as the whole country worked together to win the war:

The Home

Front

PropagandaDORA

Food Shortages

Women At War

Conscription

Censorship

The Defence of the Realm Act 1914

• This was a law passed in August 1914 and gave the government new powers to introduce whatever restrictions were necessary to protect the country.

• DORA immediately changed people lives in a number of ways

The Effects of DORA

DORA allowed the government tointroduce various restrictions:

• direct labour (tell people to work in certain vital industries)

• order a blackout at night• censor the press

Think…Why would the government believe that the following restrictions were necessary?Discuss your thoughts with the person(s) beside you

• No-one was allowed to give bread to horses or chickens

• No-one was allowed to use invisible ink when writing abroad

• No-one was allowed to light bonfires or fireworks• The government introduced British Summer Time

to give more daylight for extra work• Opening hours in pubs were cut, beer was

watered down and customers in pubs were not allowed to buy a round of drinks

• No one could own homing pigeons without permission.

The Effects of DORA

If you had been a British civilian during the First World War which restriction would you have disliked the most?

Remember to give a reason for your

answer!!

Managing Weapons Production

• The British government had to ensure that there were enough munitions being produced in the UK to keep the war effort going.

• It the early stages of the war there were huge shortages of shells which was effecting the armies ability to fight.

• In response to this shortage THE MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS was created to oversee wartime production.

Managing Weapons Production

David Lloyd George was the new Minister of Munitions. He had the power to:

• Take over factories• Set up new factories• Take over land to build new

factories.• Control supplies of coal• Control the railways

The Munitions Industry