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"From The Cradle Up We Have Been Fed On Battles And Heroic Deeds": The Militarization Of Adolescent Boys In England, 1897-1916, Cameron Blake Godfrey

History Theses

Approximately 400,000 underage soldiers served in the British Armed Forces during the First World War. This thesis examines the cultural and social factors that potentially influenced and compelled young boys to lie about their ages and head to the front where the war would quickly shatter their illusions of adventure and glory. Youth organizations, schooling, organized sports, toys, and ideas of Empire all worked in tandem to provide an overly romanticized representation of war and at the same time implemented ways to reverse perceived societal and racial decline. Using the Boy’s Own Paper as a case study, this thesis explores …