With fears of a potential World War 3 growing amid global tensions, an expert has suggested which Brits could be targeted if conscription were reintroduced
A specific group of Brits could be targeted by conscription if World War 3 happens, an expert claims.
With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Iran’s regime teetering on the brink of collapse, China casting its gaze ever more intensely over Taiwan, and Donald Trump setting his sights on Greenland, fears about a potential world war have reached fever pitch.
While nations on Russia’s doorstep such as Finland and Estonia have spent years preparing their citizens for battle, countries further west are only just beginning to follow suit.
Britain finds itself among those considered to be lagging behind, with critics arguing the nation’s military hasn’t been in a position this poor for over seven decades. maybe more.
Compulsory military service – forcing citizens into the armed forces – might therefore represent the UK’s main recourse when faced with warfare, reports the Express.
Historian and author David Swift suggests that any conscription scheme would focus on jobless university graduates, while workers in two key industries would be spared from the draft.
He explained: “Today, since there is such an urgent need to rebuild Britain’s defence industries and industrial capacity, I would expect that people in these important occupations would be exempt.
“Or even that people could be ‘conscripted’ into working in these industries, and that military conscription would target unemployed graduates – this would be very popular with lots of people and especially the Blue Labour thinkers behind Starmer.”
Mr Swift isn’t alone in weighing in on the prospect of UK conscription. Retired Army major and military historian Robert Lyman warned that Britain’s armed forces haven’t been this weakened since the Napoleonic era.
Mr Lyman declared: “Our armed forces have never been so denuded of power since the Napoleonic wars. It’s really hard to describe how poorly-prepared we are – we have an Army that is probably smaller than it was during the Napoleonic wars.
“We all talk about the need for technology and how cyber and drones will win the next war. All of that is palpable nonsense.
“The way that wars are won are by mass of intelligence, infantry, armour and artillery, well-coordinated using technology to assist them. “You can’t win wars using small armies. “”.
Over the past 126 years, the UK has only implemented conscription twice – first between 1916 and 1920, and again from 1939 to 1960.