Conscription in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada during the Second World War

Bibliographic Data

ID12733014
AuthorsDavid Littlewood (0000-0001-6612-7889, Massey University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume18
Issue4
Publication date2020-03-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1478-0542 • E-ISSN: 1478-0542
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/hic3.12611
OpenAlexW3009400274
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

During the early stages of the Second World War, the governments of Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada each adopted sweeping powers to conscript men into their respective armed forces. When conscription was subsequently extended to encompass productive as well as military activities, and made applicable to women as well as men, it quickly became a web that entangled every aspect of wartime life. However, the existing historiographies have focused largely on the political and institutional dimensions of these measures or have assessed their impacts by reference only to certain groups within society. Relatively little has been written about how populations as a whole were affected by conscription and how people from various walks of life responded to its many impositions. While a few scholars have started to upset these trends by producing wide‐ranging social and cultural analyses, even their works have remained almost totally confined within national frameworks

Economic history · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · World War II · Australian History and Society · Canadian Identity and History · History · Law · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

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