OPINION — They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. More than 110 years ago, that proved truer than anyone could have believed.
By 1915, World War I was in its second year. The Great War’s ghastliness was marked by trench warfare and disease, plus near-suicide-level attacks into machine-gun emplacements protected by barbed-wire entanglements. Not to mention the poison gas attacks. It was a battlefield nightmare far beyond anything mankind had ever experienced.
Consequently, the number of men stepping forward to serve in the British army was declining sharply. The burst of patriotism that had initially filled British ranks was rapidly fading. September’s recruiting numbers were less than half of January’s; by December, they were even lower. Britain was forced to pass legislation implementing a draft in January 1916.
