The Conservative Party and Conscription in the Second World War

The decline of mass armed forces and compulsory military service

“…2 But these accountings are not all-determining. The Canadian decision to end conscription at the end of the Second World War increased defense spending on personnel to preserve political harmony among the English-and French-speaking populations, while an anti-militarist political tradition in Denmark encouraged leaders there in 1960 to act against expert advice and reduce the length of conscript service (Granastein 1969;Foote 1961). If we look beyond particular cases to examine comparative patterns, technological and economic factors prove to be at best uncertain predictors of whether and in what degree citizens of different NATO nations are required to perform military service.…”