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WW1 & Hooe - Introduction

As far as the ordinary British man and woman in the street were concerned, the Great War (or World War 1) began on 4th August, 1914, when Britain gave Germany an ultimatum, due to expire at midnight, and ended with the Armistice of 11th November 1918.

Several countries, including Britain and Germany, had, sometime before, signed a treaty to defend and support Belgiums neutrality in the event of a war in Europe but Germany, in order to invade France, decided to ignore that treaty and moved its troops through Belgium. As a result, an ultimatum was given that a condition of war would exist between the two countries if Germany did not withdraw.

Britain, however, was not ready for war as the army was small, and, with such relatively few professional and trained men as there were, was badly armed.

Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, was doubtful if we stood any chance of winning the war unless we could quickly raise and train enough men to increase our fighting strength. He knew that, politically, the country would not accept conscription so decided to call for volunteers as his only alternative.

Following the suggestion of General Henry Rawlinson, who felt that men would be more willing to volunteer if they knew they would be serving with people they knew, Kitchener decided that all volunteers, who came from the same area, town, or village, would form each of the new battalions; these battalions became known as the Pals Battalions. The idea was tried out in late August by Lord Derby, who set out to raise one battalion in Liverpool but, within only a few days, found he had enough volunteers to form four. Strangely enough only two of the men, from Hooe, who died in the war, served in the same battalion.

The men from Hooe who volunteered could have had no inkling as to what this war would be like. They must have signed up for many reasons; some excited at the thoughts of adventure, of being a hero, impressing a young lady (or ladies, even!). There must have been others who felt quite the opposite; worry, fear, a dread of the unknown. The older men, who, perhaps, barely a decade earlier, had seen it before in the South African conflicts, probably retold their exploits with a great deal of imagination and some may have looked at their sons and thought, Oh, no, not again. There must have been men who were ready to fight, and proudly, just because it was their patriotic duty. Then, there were the wives, mothers, sisters, and girl friends with a mixture of pride, worry, and fear.

Nevertheless, all the villagers would have been caught up in the fervour brought about by, basically, the propaganda, which was everywhere; from Kitcheners, Your Country Needs You posters to the newspapers extolling their readers to do your duty for King and Country. This fervour was, then, spread among the people by the people as the young men challenged each other to join up.

When we think of the First World War, a picture of the trenches, barbed wire and mud come into our minds eye but the war spread far wider than that. There were the sea battles that took place on the far side of the Americas and in the South Atlantic, around the Falklands and the most remembered of all, I suppose, the Battle of Jutland, in the far North Sea, almost just off the coast of Norway.

There was the threat of the U-Boats; a threat normally considered part of the Second World War but which began in February, 1915. On 7th May, U-boats sank a passenger liner, the Lusitania, killing more than 1,200 people, including over a hundred, then, neutral Americans. America, obviously, complained and orders went out to the submarines that liners were not to be attacked but on the 19th August, U-27 sank the Arabic and more Americans died. With pressure from America, who at that stage had not entered the war and was something the Germans didnt want, the attacks were ordered to cease.

There was the war against the Turks, which will be remembered mainly because of the names of Gallipoli and Lawrence of Arabia.

There was, also, the bombing of London, from Zeppelins; the raids began on 31st May 1915 and continued until May of 1918, when, because the cost of building the airships and the losses in manpower had been many times greater than the damage caused, the attacks were abandoned.

It surprised me to discover just how many, and which, countries joined sides in the what was, truly, the First World War. Listed below are those that I have managed to find, via books and many websites on the Internet (not all played an active part; some just broke off diplomatic relations or similar but all were affected).

On the one side, in alphabetical order:-

a) Those who declared war on Germany or its allies:-

Britain, America, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Siam.

b) Those who cut off diplomatic relations:-

Belgium, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay.

On the other side, in alphabetical order:-

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey

Thus, the war was far wider in its impact than is, most probably, generally, thought; it was truly, virtually a dress-rehearsal for the Second World War.

Finding details on life in Hooe and the effect it had on the population, has been very difficult but I did find, in the Bexhill Chronicle, snippets that do tell us something of the changes that took place and lists of the names of villagers who volunteered and of those who died.

Also, we have recorded, in the newspaper, what the "Women′s Institute" did for the war effort, for the Belgian Refugees, and the Russians, among others, what money they raised through Whist Drives, what their "Working Parties" made for the soldiers as well as the refugees, and who it was, in the viallge, who collected eggs for the wounded soldiers."

I think that there will be many people who recognise, on this website, the names of their ancestors and other relatives. I must admit that I have read so much about Hooe over the years that I feel I knew these people, myself. And they were all good people. It′s funny how I′ve learned in doing my family history that all dead ancestors were good, honest people and only the living ones have any doubtful tendencies!

Once again, this section, as with all other sections on this website, is not complete and may never be, as it is my intention to add more details, more information, as I find them.

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