Recruitment tactics in WW1 History - I Was There The Great War Interviews

Through interviews and archive footage, we hear about the pressures applied to persuade young men to join up in the First World War. One woman recalls her husband being called on to enlist at a cinema, despite her misgivings that he would be killed. A man who was 17 at the time recalls being given a white feather in the street, and a recruiting officer enrolling him despite knowing he was underage.

This clip is from the BBC series I Was There: The Great War Interviews. This version of a BBC documentary made especially for schools features interviews with eyewitnesses of the First World War, as filmed in the 1960s. They tell the personal stories of those who lived through the war; British and German, soldiers and civilians, bringing the events of a century ago vividly to life.