From the archive: Deliverance
Janet Scott concludes her series on Friends and the first world war
On the afternoon of Monday 11 November 1918 David Lloyd George, the prime minister, announced in the House of Commons that ‘the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind’ had come to an end that morning. He added: ‘I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.’
The ending of the war caused great rejoicing. On 15 November 1918 the Friend wrote:
Our hearts are full. There can be but one common feeling of profound thankfulness for our deliverance from the nightmare horror which for the past four years and three months has rested on the world. That was a true instinct which sent statesmen and all sorts and conditions, on the announcement of peace, to worship and thanksgiving. The gigantic events of the past few days are scarcely realisable in their full significance. As we look back to that day in August, 1914, it seems almost beyond belief that changes in the face of Europe so momentous could have become accomplished facts in so short a period. One after another thrones have disappeared, in one country after another the Red Flag has been waved and the peoples are coming into their inheritance.
However, there was a great task ahead:
The hour has struck for that rebuilding of the world to which we have looked forward as the issue of the war. The most urgent duty, resting on the shoulders of those who hold the power, is to see that the peoples of all the nations are fed. The appeal of the German people… on the ground of imminent starvation, cannot be ignored…
Scarcely less urgent is the duty to arrange for the Peace Conference. We have seen in Russia the results of delay in settlement. The future in Germany and other lands depends greatly on an early adjustment of the great issues that are still more or less open.
The prime minister was quoted with approval:
“We are waging no war against a people. We do not seek a yard of real German soil… We have no designs on the liberties of the German people. We wish them well rid of all their oppressors, for they are the oppressors of Europe as well. But we mean to secure beyond doubt the freedom of our own people.”
Celebrations
Armistice Day was celebrated in Quaker boarding schools. The following account, from Ayton School, appeared in the 6 December edition of the Friend:
As soon as news of the signing of the armistice reached the School, the flag was hoisted [and]… all set out together for a long walk. After dinner, a short meeting was held in the meeting-house. The passage was read in which the prophet looks forward to the day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”…
Later an oak sapling… was planted in the corner of the cricket field… [with] a bottle containing a copy of the Gazette… coins, and a record that this tree was planted on Armistice Day.
War’s toll
On 29 November the Friend published the approximate figures presented to the House of Commons for the total of British casualties, including those relating to troops from ‘the Dominions and India’:
The total number of deaths from all causes, including over 80,000 men who were missing and whose deaths have been assumed for official purposes, is nearly 740,000. The total number of men wounded is upwards of 2,000,000; missing, including prisoners, nearly 360,000.
The total of dead, wounded and missing came to just under 3,050,000. Of these, more than 2.7 million casualties were in France. The number of commissioned officers included in the figures was 142,634. The Friend on 29 November continued:
The toll is the heaviest ever paid by the British race. But severe as are the losses, they can hardly be compared with those suffered by… Serbia. According to the recent statement… one-half of Serbia’s male population has perished in the war.
The United States, as the Friend noted, had only been in the fighting line during the last months of the war. Its casualties reached nearly a quarter of a million. The Friend also reported:
The figures of German losses… indicate 1,580,000 killed, and 260,000 missing and untraced; besides 4,000,000 wounded and 490,000 prisoners of war – a total of 6,330,000 war casualties…
There are the vital losses sustained by France, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Roumania, not to speak of other countries on which the burden has been less.
The total loss of life to the world has been such as perhaps no man ever previously dreamed of happening in the space of four years; and we can well imagine that future generations will look back in amazement and ask how it was possible for reasoning beings to pour out of their most precious treasures so lavishly in the attainment of objects which, with patience, might have been otherwise achieved.
It will be noted that these figures do not include civilian casualties.
Going forward
With the cessation of hostilities, attention turned to the future. The Friend on 22 November reported that at Meeting for Sufferings held on 15 November:
Joan M Fry… thought that the right time had come to approach the Government and ask for the release from prison of conscientious objectors… The release of these men, some of whom have suffered terribly, would now be at a time of national exultation, and might be more difficult later. There was general agreement… and the Clerk accordingly drew up a minute asking for the release of all conscientious objectors.
The release of conscientious objectors began in 1919, starting with those who had been imprisoned for two years or more.
The Friends’ Ambulance Unit began to look into disbanding itself. The Friend, on 22 November, detailed some observations that had been made:
There is great need for continued service abroad in connection with relief and reconstruction, and though it may be impracticable to carry out such work under the Unit… it is hoped to make arrangements with the Friends’ War Victims’ Committee or the Aide Civile Belge for the effectual organisation of such work. As soon as negotiations are completed, notice will be given as to the return home of men serving abroad…
The threat
An article by John S Hoyland, writing from India, appeared in the Friend on 20 December. He reported:
We have been fighting the influenza epidemic hard, and without intermission, for nearly three weeks now. On the average, over 5 per cent of the population has been killed off in this district…
Joseph Malcomson writing from Sri Lanka in the same edition, said:
The outbreak has been the worst of any kind that I have known… the death rate in Colombo last week was over 63 per thousand.
The death notices in the Friend for November included a significant number caused by influenza or pneumonia following influenza.
Disillusion
By mid-1919 it was evident that the widespread joy at the end of the war had evaporated. On 6 June the Friend quoted the beginning of the Yearly Meeting epistle:
We live in days of disillusionment.
Despite relief at a cessation of hostilities, and, for many, the joy of homecoming, minds are dwelling on disappointed hopes and the emptiness of great phrases on which men have built their faith.
The Armistice has not brought peace. Victory has not brought liberation. The spontaneous self-sacrifice of the “war to end war” has been succeeded by the cruelty of starvation to enforce peace.
There was much work still to do!
