"Questions for you professor, seeing as you have such a grasp of the subject:

1. Why if everyone thought is was a bloody good idea to go fight the Hun did the government put out so much propaganda.

2. Why did they then introduce conscription." Asks Raggytash

In answer to your first question, between August 1914 and December 1914 over 1,200,000 men volunteered to join the British Army during a period where the British Expeditionary Force [80,000 strong out a total Army strength of 440,000] came close to being wiped out in Belgium and in France. So great was the response for men that the Army recruiting centres and training depots were completely overwhelmed. As to propaganda? All of the combatant nations churned out propaganda Raggy and do please go back to your examples and give us dates for them - because at the moment you are trying to put the incorrect idea across that they all date from August 1914. The propaganda campaign was not only targeted for home consumption - it was directed at countries that were so-far "neutral" primarily the United States of America in an attempt to convince THEIR politicians and populations of a need to become involved.

In answer to your second question. In 1914 Britain had a professional army of 440,000 men, by 1918 that Army had expanded to some 3,000,000 men [During the course of the war 2.6 million men volunteered and 2.7 were conscripted - all who joined the fight on the British side from Ireland, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and India - were ALL volunteers], to undertake such an expansion in time of peace would have been difficult enough for any organisation, to do it in time of war when your forces are being hard pressed makes those difficulties ten times more daunting. The fact that it was accomplished and that the British Forces not only remained intact but went from being seen as "a contemptible little army" to the armed force that represented the greatest danger to the Germans on the western front indicates just how well led and trained Britain's first citizen army was. On the other hand since Napoleonic times France, Prussia(latterly Germany), Austro-Hungaria and Russia all had possessed citizen armies that relied on mass conscription. In 1914 the British Army had only light field artillery, the Germans had extremely good medium artillery to support initial attacks, the French had excellent field artillery and the thing that saved them in 1914 the best heavy artillery in the world. So Britain had to design, build and create all medium and heavy artillery, Haig "junked" two thirds of his cavalry divisions to create the Machine Gun Corps and the Royal Tank Corps - by 1916 when conscription was introduced the British Army needed men and needed to be able to assign those men to where they were needed - much easier with conscripts than with men who volunteer for service in a particular Regiment, Corps or Service. So in introducing conscription Britain just joined the rest.

No mutinies at the front during the entire course of the war, no riots or strikes at home during the entire course of the war, the same cannot be said for the Germans, the French or the Russians. That too indicates that most of the people of Britain, her Commonwealth and her Empire supported the Government in the struggle.