For King and Country?
In 1933 Oxford Students Union voted not to fight for King and country- over 90 years later history has taught the public why they had a point
The interwar years were one of significant change socially for the UK. The nation came out of the First World War having lost significant numbers of soldiers to the battlefields of the Western Front. Society had changed, and the 1920s were seen as a decade of opportunity.
Soldiers returned home to a country that had moved on without them, and some found it harder to filter back into civilian life than others. The decade saw financial hardship for millions, including those who answered the call to fight. In the 1930s, storm clouds adhered over Europe once again and in February 1933, one of the most prestigious universities in the country had their say.
Oxford Union Society took part in a discussion that became known as the ‘King and Country Debate’. It was a debate that saw the union vote in favour of the motion ‘That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country’. Although only a small sample size, it was a sign that people were releasing that members of the public didn’t want to go and fight a war for their leaders.
A significant factor in encouraging young men to go and fight for their country was to play on their patriotic side. ‘For King and Country’ and ‘Your Country Needs You’ were slogans that were rolled out during the war to keep numbers up, of course, the reason more soldiers were needed is because far more were being killed and wounded than leadership anticipated.
The Oxford debate came at a time when Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi party had gained support by uniting the German people behind a common enemy and promising to create jobs in an economy left stagnated by hyperinflation. The intent for the occupation of Europe was clear from early in his reign, and although it was several years before the failed appeasement issued to Hitler by the Allies, intentions were clear.
The Oxford Union Society addressed a question that had been answered 20 years earlier by thousands of young men who had been sold the dream of going to gloriously fight for their country. This dream was to travel to foreign lands and come home as a hero. However almost 900,000 never got to come home, 6% of the male population, and many others were left with physical or mental scars. Young lads were asked to fight in the most horrendous conditions and they were thanked with unemployment and a worse standard of living upon their return.
The two world wars were different from a UK perspective, with the Second easier to justify than the First, but the work of the Oxford Union was not the first example of an organised rejection of fighting for King and Country.
In March 1927 Cambriagde Union put forward a similar proposal: “That lasting peace can only be secured by the people of England adopting an uncompromising attitude of pacifism”. The motion was passed by 213 votes to 138 and although it attracted no public attention, it was an even earlier statement that people were unwilling to fight for leaders who gave little regard for them at war or during peacetime.
The patriotism of the First World War had taken a hit in the years following when so many men didn’t come home. The numbers of British troops on the Western Front hit dangerously low levels in the spring of 1918 and the Allies had faced an issue in 1917 when there was disagreement over Canada sending more troops to Europe.
The question of ‘should people fight for King and country’ is always on the cusp of UK society. The state of the world in 2025 is one of caution and mistrust, and the call to arms is something that we could see in some form in our lifetime. If there is a protest against this, certain groups in society will see it as younger people being ‘snowflakes’ but in reality why would the next generation want to die for those in power?
Lessons have been learned and patriotism has been hijacked by ideology groups now, there isn’t and never has been anything wrong with being proud of where you are from, but misinformation on social media has spread through platforms like a plague.
