Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5632-7317
Date of Award
5-1-2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Joe Perry
Second Advisor
Greg Moore
Abstract
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 the way narratives in contemporary media, as well as mass organizations and popular culture, promoted militarism and patriotism to English youths.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/36956176
Recommended Citation
Godfrey, Cameron Blake, ""From the cradle up we have been fed on battles and heroic deeds": The Militarization of Adolescent Boys in England, 1897-1916." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/36956176
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