Evaluate the extent to which total war undermined established political authority in the period circa 1900 to 1945.
Excerpts from historical sources. Cuts are marked with ellipses, and words in brackets were added for clarity.
Document 1
Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act, law passed by the British Parliament, November 1914.
His Majesty in Council has power during the continuance of the present war to issue regulations for securing the public safety and the defence of the realm . . . and may by such regulations authorise the trial by courts-martial . . . and punishment of persons committing offences against the regulations and in particular against any of the provisions of such regulations designed . . . to prevent the spread of false reports or reports likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty . . . . It shall be lawful for the Admiralty or Army Council— (a) to require that there shall be placed at their disposal the whole or any part of the output of any factory or workshop in which arms, ammunition, or warlike stores or equipment . . . are manufactured; (b) to take possession of and use for the purpose of His Majesty's naval or military service any such factory or workshop or any plant thereof . . . .
Document 2
Sol T. Plaatje, Black South African journalist and general secretary of the South African Native National Congress, Native Life in South Africa, book published in London, 1916.
But, in point of fact, black men are required by the Union Government to proceed to the front as Government wagon drivers, driving provisions and ammunition wagons . . . . In these capacities they are exposed to all the risks and horrors of the war, yet even if they are shot, they must not, under any circumstances, be mentioned in the casualty lists, nor must they carry arms, lest their behaviour should merit recognition . . . . Suppose the services of these muleteers [wagon drivers] were recognized in a combatant capacity, some one might get it into his head to ask: "Why should loyal fighting taxpayers be debarred from the rights of the franchise that are liberally bestowed on white rebels [Afrikaners who rose against the government in 1914] and their relations, some of whom are said to contribute nothing towards the upkeep of the State?" So then to refuse these Natives the right to carry arms in defence of the Empire, and to send them to the front without arms, is to deprive such inquirers of this and similar arguments.
Document 3
Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, Order No. 1, issued to the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison, Russia, March 1917.
The Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies has resolved: 1. In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons, . . . and on the vessels of the navy, committees from the elected representatives of the lower ranks of the above-mentioned military units shall be chosen immediately. . . . 3. In all its political actions, the military branch is subordinated to the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and to its own committees. 4. The orders of the military commission of the State Duma shall be executed only in such cases as do not conflict with the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. 5. All kinds of arms, such as rifles, machine guns, armored automobiles, and others, must be kept at the disposal and under the control of the company and battalion committees, and in no case be turned over to officers, even at their demand.
Document 4
General Syrian Congress, resolution presented to the King-Crane Commission, an American fact-finding commission sent by the Paris Peace Conference, Damascus, July 1919.
We ask absolutely complete political independence for Syria . . . . Considering the fact that the Arabs inhabiting the Syrian area are not naturally less gifted than other more advanced races and that they are by no means less developed than the Bulgarians, Serbians, Greeks, and Roumanians at the beginning of their independence, we protest against Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, placing us among the nations in their middle stage of development which stand in need of a mandatory power. . . . We do not acknowledge any right claimed by the French Government in any part whatever of our Syrian country . . . . we would not have risen against the Turks, with whom we had participated in all civil, political, and representative privileges, but for their violation of our national rights . . . since we have shed so much blood in the cause of our liberty and independence.
Document 5
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader, open letter "To Every Englishman in India," 1920.
In my humble opinion no Indian has co-operated with the British Government more than I have for an unbroken period of twenty-nine years of public life . . . . I put my life in peril four times for the sake of the Empire . . . lastly, in fulfilment of my promise to Lord Chelmsford at the War Conference in Delhi, I threw myself in such an active recruiting campaign in Kaira District involving long and trying marches, that I had an attack of dysentery which proved almost fatal. I did all this in the full belief that acts such as mine must gain for my country an equal status in the Empire. . . . But the treachery of Mr. Lloyd George and its appreciation by you, and the condonation of the Punjab atrocities have completely shattered my faith in the good intentions of the Government and the nation which is supporting it.
Document 6
Millicent Garrett Fawcett, president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, memoir of the campaign that won some British women the vote in 1918, published 1920.
The war revolutionized the industrial position of women. It found them serfs and left them free. It not only opened to them opportunities of employment in a number of skilled trades, but, more important even than this, it revolutionized men's minds and their conception of the sort of work of which the ordinary everyday woman was capable. . . . Every successive Minister of Munitions, and almost every other Minister, spoke enthusiastically of the extraordinary value to the nation of women's work. . . . At this time—1916, 1917—conversions of important public men and of newspapers came in, not by twos and threes, but by battalions. . . . Our feeling about all this was, not that women had changed, but that the public attitude towards them and appreciation of them had changed.
Document 7
Visual source
British Ministry of Information, poster titled "Together," 1939.
Ministry of Information, 1939 (Imperial War Museum, Art.IWM PST 3158). Wikimedia Commons, public domainDescribe the image
A color poster with the single word "TOGETHER" in large letters across the bottom. Above it, seven men in the uniforms of different forces of the British Empire march side by side, rifles on their shoulders, beneath a large British flag. They include a Black African soldier in a slouch hat, an Indian soldier in a turban, a soldier in a sun helmet with a corporal's stripes, an airman whose shoulder patch reads "Canada," soldiers in the broad-brimmed hats of Australian and New Zealand troops, and a sailor whose cap band reads "H.M.S. Victory." All face the same direction.
How it's scored
1 ptThesis or claim. A historically defensible thesis that establishes a line of reasoning, in one or more consecutive sentences in the intro or conclusion.
1 ptContextualization. Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt: events, developments, or processes before, during, or after the prompt's time frame.
2 ptsEvidence from the documents. One point for accurately describing the content of three documents. Two points for using the content of at least four documents to support the argument.
1 ptEvidence beyond the documents. Use one specific, relevant piece of historical evidence that appears in none of the documents, and explain how it supports the argument.
1 ptAnalysis and reasoning: sourcing. For at least two documents, explain how or why the point of view, purpose, historical situation, or intended audience is relevant to the argument.
1 ptAnalysis and reasoning: complexity. Demonstrate a complex understanding: explain nuance, consider multiple variables, analyze both similarity and difference, or qualify the argument with evidence that cuts against it.
