When Britain entered World War I in August 1914, the WSPU immediately suspended its activities. Initially, Christabel Pankhurst declared her belief that the war was a punishment from God upon men who had refused to give equality to women. Soon, however, an amnesty was negotiated between the WSPU and the government: su ragette prisoners were released and militant su rage activities ceased. e WSPU thus changed tack – votes for women was put on the backburner while its members passionately threw themselves into supporting the war effort.
Conversely, the su ragists from the NUWSS – the National Union of Women’s Su rage Societies – opposed the war altogether, with many of the organisation’s supporters taking part in a peace rally just hours before war was declared. But when leader Millicent Garrett Fawcett was warned that the NUWSS could lose the backing of sympathetic MPs if they allied with the pacifist cause, they, too, suspended campaigning activities, although not all agreed with the decision.