Britons have been warned over mounting tensions between Russia and the West, with Defence Secretary Wes Streeting last month declaring the country must be ready for war in 1,000 days. The warning comes as the British Army has fallen to its smallest size since the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in recent years, fuelling demands for conscription to be reintroduced.
Historic Punishments for Refusing Conscription
Britain has only ever had two periods of conscription, between 1916 and 1920, and 1939 and 1960. Both periods coincided with the world wars and the following years. While conscription was active, it was a criminal offence to refuse being called up.
According to the Imperial War Museum, some 16,000 men are recorded as conscientious objectors who rejected the call to arms during the First World War. This is significantly less than the more than 60,000 who refused to fight during the Second World War.
Prison and Hard Labour for Objectors
Objectors were taken to court, with those granted the status of a conscientious objector (on moral, ethical, and religious grounds) given jobs to contribute to the war in other ways. Key roles, such as farming, hospital work or civil defence, were given to individuals. Others were given non-combat military tasks.
However, those who refused to take part in all work-related work were often jailed. More than 5,000 conscientious objectors were sent to prison during the First World War. The standard punishment was 112 days of third-division hard labour, according to the Imperial War Museum. The experts said this was the “most severe level” of prison sentences under English law at the time.
Sentences began with one month in solitary confinement, with just bread and water to eat and drink. Inmates were tasked with carrying out arduous and boring jobs, such as breaking stone and hand-sewing mailbags. With good conduct remission, most conscientious objectors served approximately three months.
No Plans to Reintroduce Conscription
Other NATO members have moved to bring in new forms of military service or conscription in response to heightened security concerns. This includes Denmark, with Copenhagen’s conscription programme chief telling the Express it is helping the country to develop combat power “as fast as possible”.
The Government has stressed it has no plans to reintroduce conscription. Instead, its focus is on building a professional Armed Forces made up of those who choose to serve. However, in the event of a large-scale conflict some believe this could change.
Author and historian David Swift suggested that if conscription was ever brought back, objecting Britons would likely face fines rather than custodial sentences. Mr Swift previously told the Express: "I imagine it would be fines rather than imprisonment or anything like that, due to lack of prison capacity, difficulty enforcing and lack of legitimacy, and that 'conscription', if introduced, would be very much focused around monetary reward."
