Millions of men volunteered to leave home, hearth and family to go to a foreign land to fight in 1914, the start of the biggest war in British history. It was a war fought by soldier-citizens, millions strong, most of whom had volunteered willingly to go. They made up the army that first held, and then, in 1918, thrust back the German Army to win the Great War.
The British 'Tommy' has been lionized in the decades since the war, but little attention has been made in the literature to what motivated the ordinary British man to go to France, especially in the early years when Britain relied...