The workers' war: British industry and the First World War

The First World War: famous for the unprecedented loss of life on a global scale that affected the world forever.

However, it wasn’t only in terms of bloodshed that the war rocked the nation, but also with its effect on the industrial integrity of Britain. This was a war not just of fighting, but of technological and industrial advances, in all areas from aviation and shipbuilding, to food production.

Industries leapt ahead in terms of development over the four-year period: from the Wright Brothers in 1903 to the Sopwith Camel in 1917, and the first motorcars to the tank within twenty years.

On a social level working Britain experienced change as well: with the men at war, it fell to the women of the country to keep the factories going.

Here Burton explores one of the foremost paradigm shifts of the First World War.