Treatment in WW1

• To request not to join the army you had to appear in front of a special court called a tribunal. They did not always give a fair hearing, and varied a lot from area to area.
• Many absolutists who refused to support the war were imprisoned. Sometimes they were put in solitary confinement.
• Some COs were punished by being sent to the front line. If they then refused to follow orders once they were there, they were sentenced by a military court. A small number were sentenced to death, although the prime minister then intervened and this was reduced to ten years imprisonment.
• The government presented refusal to fight as ‘unmanly’ and even traitorous, as the press presented it is cowardly and unpatriotic. This was because the government needed to recruit a lot of men to win the war, so they didn’t want pacificist ideas spreading.
• Some COs were isolated by friends and neighbours. Some received hate mail or white feathers as a symbol of cowardice.