DORA & Anti-War feeling

Success Criteria…  I will be familiar with how the British people felt about DORA  I will investigate anti-war feelings  I will read about anti-war activists and how they were treated  I will draw my own anti-war poster.

Opposition to DORA  At first, people accepted the need for greater control by the government to win the war. However, as the war progressed many got tired of DORA’s restrictions.  People complained about the pettiness of DORA. e.g. some people had to give up homing pigeons when the government feared the birds might be used to carry messages to Germans or not being able to fly a kite without permission in case it was a signal to German spies.

DORA – Show Me Board Task  On the next page you will be shown 10 DORA regulations but which ones are true or false.  As each comes up write the answer on your ‘show me board ’

Defence of the Realm Act: Which are the real ones? YOU MUST NOT: 1. Loiter under a railway bridge 2. Write a letter in invisible ink 3. Buy binoculars without official permission. 4. Fly a kite that could be used for signalling. 5. Speak in a foreign language on the phone. 6. Ring church bells without permission. 7. Whistle in the street after 10pm for a taxi. 8. Travel alone in a railway carriage across the Forth Rail Bridge. 9. Push a handcart at night without a white light on the front and a red light at the back. 10. Eat sweets in the classroom.

 Many objected to early pub closing times and reducing the alcohol in beer and whisky.  More seriously, people objected to DORA undermining civil liberties and freedoms that had taken years to achieve e.g. workers being able to strike to improve working conditions, or being able to protest or criticise the war.  Strikes broke out in Glasgow’s shipyards in 1915 and 1916 in protest

 Some felt that the government was using its powers to silence any opposition or anti-war opinion.  DORA gave the government the right to imprison people without trial.  If you broke one of DORA’s laws and did go to trial there were no juries.  Protests were reported in newspapers as unpatriotic e.g. striking Glasgow shipyard workers in 1915 were accused of threatening the lives of soldiers on the front line.

The government acted in a heavy handed manner:  The government shut down anti-war newspapers such as the Labour Party’s Forward newspaper.  Glasgow trade union leaders who organised strikes or were arrested, put on trial and some were sentenced to be exiled in Edinburgh or even Dundee!

Famous Scottish Anti-war protestors James Maxton John MacLean James Maxton John MacLean Both were schoolteachers who were sacked from their jobs and then put in prison for organising strikes and anti-war protests.

Government action 1. The government were accused of being heavy handed with anyone who was against the war – what does this mean? 2. Name 3 punishments the government used against anti-war movements or protestors? 3. Class discussion: Do you think the government was wrong to act this way, be ready to defend what you say in a class discussion.

Anti-War Poster  Imagine you were a young man or woman living in Glasgow in  You have heard about the slaughter of British soldiers at the Battle of the Somme  You want to organise an anti-war protest meeting in George Square.  You must draw a poster that shows the slaughter and asks people to attend your meeting.

Success Criteria…  Am I familiar with how the British people felt about DORA?  Am I aware of anti-war feelings?  Do I know how some anti- war activists were treated?  Have I drawn my own anti- war poster?