Joining up in the Second World War: Enlistment, masculinity and the memory of the Great War

This book examines how the cultural legacy of the First World War affected young men’s attitudes to service and subjective conceptions of wartime masculinity during the Second World War.Using original and archival oral histories and the Mass Observation Archive, it explores how young men in interwar Britain encountered and understood representations of the Great War in popular culture and day-to-day life.
Interactions with Great War veterans are shown to be more important than previously acknowledged. By demonstrating the breadth of representations through which the cultural memory of the Great War was transmitted and the diversity of young men’s responses Joining up in the Second World War makes a significant intervention in the cultural history of the Great War. The book also adds new depth to understandings of military enlistment. It shows that British men had varied attitudes, and explores why. Most were reluctant servicemen, but a manpower system that gave men some agency over how they served increased compliance with conscription. Men’s understandings of the Great War informed their attitudes and service preferences, commonly discouraging service in the Army. Nevertheless, some enthusiastically anticipated service, especially if they hoped to join the RAF. Men’s subjective conceptions of wartime masculinity are shown to be diverse. Long-standing constructions of military masculinity were durable, and men’s thoughts often diverged from the Temperate masculinity that dominated public discourse.

Joining up in the Second World War makes important contributions to, and connects, the history of the legacy of the First World War, and the history of gender and service in the Second World War.