ABSTRACT
The 1930s saw a gradual move away from policies of disarmament as Britain began to prepare for the possibility of war with an increasingly expansionist Germany. Despite the initial euphoria of ‘peace in our time’ following the resolution of the Munich crisis in 1938, war began to seem more and more of an inevitability. Although British war preparations remained inadequate at this point, the crisis produced a new sense of urgency. German rearmament was a very tangible threat to British sovereignty and territory, and, in response, British arms production and preparation for war on the home front both increased. British aircraft production began to outstrip that of Germany, funding to the army was increased, a schedule of Reserved Occupations was published, 38 million gas masks were issued and the new Air Raid Warden’s Service was inundated with volunteers. Legislation for national service was put in place and in May 1939 the Military Training Act introduced a compulsory six months military training for young men aged 20 and 21. This was superseded by the National Service (Armed Forces) Act on the first day of the war which made all men aged between 18 and 41 potentially eligible for military conscription. The relative zeal which had marked the first days of the First World War was largely replaced by a resigned determination; an acknowledgement that the steady drift towards war of the late 1930s had finally reached its apparently inescapable conclusion.
