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| Article |
| Cape Town and the First
World War |
Despite its distance from the
centre of action, the onset of the First World War affected Capetonians in
un-anticipated ways.
Prices of food increased dramatically and access to certain areas was
restricted due to defensive measures to defend the Cape from attacks by sea, or
from German-occupied South West Africa (now Namibia).
Schisms formed within the white population as German men
resident in the town centre and from Philippi, who had not naturalised in South
Africa, were rounded up and sent to camps in the North. Germans, particularly
poor families, suffered stigma throughout the war.
In 1914 Prime Minister General Louis Botha called for
volunteers for the Expeditionary Force to South West Africa, and a few days
later Martial Law was imposed. However, few desired to serve in this force due
to the history of conflict between Afrikaners and British Forces. It was
considered more glorious to sign up to fight in Europe.
Across the country, Afrikaners were bitterly divided by the war
yet this was not as prevalent in Cape Town as in the north. Nevertheless,
Capetonian recruits were mainly young men from the English-speaking middle
classes, many of whom belonged to families schooled at Bishops or Rondebosch
High School, and some of whom ran away from school to join up.
The majority of Capetonians, however, were reluctant to join
the war effort, and women were encouraged to rally men to the cause. Rallies
were held in which speeches were interspersed with patriotic songs and poems.
Despite recruitment problems the authorities were reluctant to
allow non-whites to join the forces (more..)
Patriotic Capetonians who stayed at home - particularly women -
were fully engaged in raising funds for relief, medical care and allowances for
poor families.
Cape Town was a stopover for thousands of troops from Australia
and New Zealand, who were welcomed, feted and given medical care for their
heroic acts at Gallipoli. The war brought changes to the lives of middle class
women in Cape Town in that it offered opportunities to take part in commerce
and social action.
Women's groups were concerned by a growing number of
prostitutes and requested that they be part of police patrols in the centre of
town, with the aim of using 'moral force' to redirect young people back into
'proper' lifestyles. This led to the inclusion of women in the police force
specifically to deal with women's issues.
The main voices against the war were the pacifists Julia Solly
and Rev Balmforth of the Unitarian Church who established the South African
Peace and Arbitration Society. However, their reasoned writing was given little
space by the press and discussion of the causes of war and the need for
peace-making were limited.
When Julia Solly stood as a candidate for Salt River Municipality reports in
the press described her work as 'pernicious' and, given the overwhelming public
support for the war, she was not elected.
When the war ended in 1918, social divisions within Cape Town
were more marked and despite the war's boosts to local industry economic
poverty had worsened. The inability of the national government to combat
distress in the Cape was demonstrated during the influenza outbreak of 1918 (more..)
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