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Conscription and Equity in Western Democracies, 1940–75

In the twentieth century, France, Britain and the USA all utilized a system of compulsory military service. The French had adopted conscription to sustain the revolution of 1789. The Americans and British embraced the system with more reluctance. In the American Civil War, a draft scheme was created mainly as a means of generating money and encouraging volunteers, but generated riots instead. When volunteers again failed to meet needs, President Wilson adopted a Selective Service Act in 1917. Although it worked better, the draft was still considered an aberration in a nation committed to individual freedom. When the war ended, so did the draft. In 1940, a group of civilian leaders again lobbied for conscription as a means of selectively managing manpower. Such a bill was adopted in 1940 and remained in force, with the exception of a short period, until 1973.1 The British introduced regular conscription during the first world war. After considerable resistance, the government was forced to adopt a draft because of manpower shortages on the Western Front. The system came too late to prevent confusion arising from volunteers rushing to fight while needed in essential civilian occupations. Some of Britain's best and brightest young men had become part of what General Haig called 'wastage' on the barbed wire of the Western Front.2 Like the USA, Britain quickly ended conscription after the war but had to reinstate it in 1939.