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Conscription, also known as the draft in American English, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. [1] Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names.
Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the viewer in order to recruit soldiers for the American Army during World War I, 1917-1918 Sheet music cover for patriotic song, 1917. The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act (Pub. L. 65–12, 40 Stat. 76, enacted May 18, 1917) authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription.
By mid-1915, the war was lasting longer than had been anticipated and the British military required more recruits; 'Derby's scheme' was a survey to determine how many could be obtained, via the use of appointed canvassers visiting eligible men at home to persuade them to 'volunteer' for war service.
Georgia provided the most volunteers per capita out of any state in the union before conscription and had the highest portion of pro-British newspapers before the US entry into the war. There were five competing newspapers which covered the region of Southeast Georgia , all of whom were outspokenly Anglophilic during the decades preceding the ...
World War I draft card. Lower left corner to be removed by men of African ancestry in order to keep the military segregated. Following the U.S. declaration of war against Germany on 6 April, the Selective Service Act of 1917 (40 Stat. 76) was passed by the 65th United States Congress on 18 May 1917, creating the Selective Service System. [10]
One of the immediate effects of conscription was the biggest protest demonstration Britain had seen since the 1914 anti-war protests. [33] Thousands marched from London's East End to Trafalgar Square, where they listened to speeches from Sylvia Pankhurst and a Glasgow councillor who reported that engineers had come out on strike along the Clyde ...
The First World War began with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia on 28 July 1914. After other states had joined in in support of one side or the other, the impending German invasion of Belgium was considered to justify the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declaring war against Germany on 4 August. [6]
Conscription was extended to married men in May 1916. [24] By January 1916, when conscription was introduced, 2.6 million men had volunteered for service, a further 2.3 million were conscripted before the end of the war; by the end of 1918, the army had reached its peak strength of four million men. [6]