THE WAR BEGAN calmly. Readers of The Times were assured that stocks of champagne in France were safe and that 1914 would be a very good year similar to the year of the Franco Prussian war. The Wine Trade Review concurred, describing the year as one of ‘exceptional quality’, adding that the vintage would have the additional prestige of ‘the war year’. This relaxed attitude did not last. The onset of conflict heralded the beginnings of a new epoch in the drink debate. Beer drinkers in particular were in for a hard time. The early months of the war witnessed a renewal of anti-drink campaigning and an escalating press interest in the issue. Letter pages were filled by anxious correspondents distressed by continued drinking supposedly indicative of a decline in moral standards on the home front. When war came the language of moral virtue rang truer than ever.

This chapter will consider the earliest political and social responses to the drink problem during the war. New totems of societal breakdown emerged such as the drunken soldier and the neglectful drunken mother which led to widespread fear-mongering and the perception of a national drink crisis during these months. Simmering undercurrents of hostility to drink emerged into the public sphere once more via these easily communicated stereotypes, which aided the swift transfusion of anti-drink thought to society at large.

The war shattered Britain's sense of security. Renewed attention was focused from the outset upon the drink problem. The war was meant to be a renewal and an exposition of the nation's noble values but, instead, drunkenness brought uncertainty. The control of drinking was again an issue of national interest and debates concerning alcohol garnered a much wider audience. Temperance advocates set about making their familiar anti-drink arguments with vigour to a more engaged audience. As the Dundee Advertiser observed, after less than two weeks of war: