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by Richard Batten (Author)
Explores the role of local elites in shaping patriotism and wartime mobilization in rural and urban Britain.
This is an original interpretation of domestic patriotism and limitations of wartime mobilization in rural and urban communities of the British Home Front at a local level from 1914-1918. It is a critical examination of the wartime role of the local elite as 'superintendents of patriotism'. The reader is immediately drawn into the riveting human and social interest with an account of 'khaki fever' leading to 'moral panic' resulting from the attraction of military uniforms and a perceived need for elite guidance and control while expanding mobilisation. Author is a local writer and commentator, with rare local sources with national relevance, he defines the local elite groups as 'provincial patriots', a hugely patriotic class who compared their patriotism with that of the local populace. They were the elite 'police-men and women' of patriotism and who tried to enforce their concept of patriotism and code of ideal conduct in wartime on the local population and to further mobilisation. They served on tribunals set to deal with appeals against enlistment following conscription, and elite pressure could be decisive. These attempts to mobilise for military service met with limited success and 'humanitarian' mobilisation in the of philanthropy was widespread. The essential national role for agriculture and fishing - very much part of Devon and most of the country - continued as essential and the military contribution continued. The book uses Devon as a case study but reaches out to the whole United Kingdom in total war and with similar examples in Europe, notably France and Germany. It shows the tensions between elites - landed gentry and urban professionals - and the local populations, rural (mostly) and urban. The 'provincial patriots', if not their families, were above military service age. The study analyses orthodox views about mobilization, dissent, and domestic patriotism on the Home Front in the First World War and roles of local elites. There was, no doubt, flocking to the colours, but also resistance and alternative forms of patriotic contribution.
