When Britain entered the First World War on August 4th 1914, there were reasons to believe that the tide of enthusiasm for the conflict and rush of young men to join the colours experienced elsewhere in Britain might not take place in Wales. Welshmen had displayed an historic ambivalence towards the British army and the lack of recruits from Wales resulted in historic Welsh Regiments traditionally looking to England to fill their ranks; The Royal Welsh Fusiliers were not dubbed “The Birmingham Fusiliers” for nothing. Welsh nonconformism and Liberalism were powerful forces with a hostility towards militarism. Working class militancy and class conflict, as recently evidenced in the Cambrian miners’ strike, was another factor which appeared to cast doubt upon the likelihood of a national outbreak of war fever. Yet on the outbreak of war doubts evaporated overnight and Wales was swept by a tide of support for a war in which 280,000 Welshmen served and approximately 35,000 died.
The most prominent figure in the campaign for volunteers was Lloyd George, but politicians, union leaders, church ministers, civic leaders, academics and the press overwhelmingly joined the campaign for recruits. Cheering crowds saw off troops heading to join the British Expeditionary Force to France and there was an outbreak of enthusiastic local meetings. In Briton Ferry virtually every man of eligible age joined the forces, the Tylorstown Silver Band joined en-bloc and in the Rhondda miners’ agent David Watts Morgan promoted the formation of a “pals’ brigade.” The press encouraged competition over recruiting between communities and in August the recruiting offices in Cardiff and Swansea simply could not cope with the numbers coming forward.
By the end of September fourteen “Service” battalions of volunteers had been formed by Welsh Regiments; a proportion of these recruits were English and many Welshmen joined regiments in England (See The Devonshire Regiment- The Welsh Connection). Lloyd George had envisaged a Welsh Army Corps and a Welsh Division (The 38th) was founded in November 1914, commanded by Liberal MP Sir Ivor Phillips. A National Executive Committee was established to oversee the task and within a year had raised a division plus a further Brigade. This was followed in 1915 by the creation of a Brigade of Welsh Guards.
Recruits came overwhelmingly from Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire, as did half of all of those killed. The press were critical of rural counties where able young men were allegedly more reluctant to come forward, yet the final death toll suggests that in some rural counties a larger proportion of eligible men joined the forces than from the industrailised south; compared with the size of their male population Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire suffered twice as many killed in the war.
Why did Wales respond to the outbreak of the First World War with such enthusiasm? Lloyd George and others reminded Welsh people of their military tradition; resistance to the Normans, defiance at Harlech and the bowmen of Crecy, but the decisive factor was the plight of Belgium. The reason given for Britain entering the war was the German invasion of Belgium. This was a small country like Wales, now apparently defenceless in the face of aggression from its powerful, bullying neighbour. Lloyd George declared that the war was one, “fought on behalf of five foot five nations.” There were a minority of dissenters opposed to the war, Keir Hardie being perhaps the most notable figure, and there were scenes of mob hostility towards those perceived to be anti-war or have German connections. However, Wales was overwhelmingly behind the conflict.
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