What should Daddy do in the Great War?: The Second Division Question and Conditional Commitment within New Zealand’s War Effort, 1917–1918

Abstract

At the beginning of 1917, the prospect of extending conscription to Second Division men (men who were husbands and/or fathers) loomed. This was a development many had sought to delay out of concern for the social issues and potential tensions it would raise. This article examines reactions to the Second Division question as a case study of the conditional commitment within New Zealand’s war effort. It outlines the events and dynamics of the case, and considers how the conditions of service were negotiated, challenged and enforced across 1917–1918.