ose involved in the fighting, especially the trench warfare on the Western Front, were very high, including over 770,000 killed in action, over 500,000 of which were borne by men under 30 and a disproportionate share of which, according to Winter, was borne by the officers and the privileged classes. Relatively few civilian casualties were suffered, mostly as a result of U-boat sinkings of passenger ships and occasional Zeppelin raids, but the general population did suffer from food and housing shortages. Very few British families were left unscathed by the loss of life at the front, one of the long term effects of which on British politics may have been a reluctance to contemplate (in the 1930s) foreign policies which might lead to a renewal of carnage on such a scale.
Britain had originally not contemplated a long war. The demands it placed on limited manpower once conscription was introduced in 1915-1916 enhanced the bargaining power of laboring men and women, especially the latter, many of whom assumed the jobs formerly performed by men in munitions factories, railroads and in many other sectors. Reid says the number of women employed increased by over one million during the war or by more than 50 percent. Labour shortages helped improve the leverage and bargaining power of workingmen and women and their trade unions. Membership of the major nationwide union, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) nearly doubled during the war. The Labour Party's share of the popular vote rose from 7.7 per cent in 1910 to 23.9 per cent in 1918. According to Winter, one of "the unintended effects of the war economy [was]
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