Half of young Brits say they would never fight for their country

Sounds familiar: [this was the general sentiment six years before World War 2.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_and_Country_debate)

No one wants to go to war and very possibly die. Especially when you're a young person living in the west. It's not really a great metric to use. I'm not sure who expects it to be any higher than that. Half WOULD go to war...

Robots will have to do it instead...

They've not given them anything to fight for - no hope for the future beyond a life of living paycheck to paycheck, being a permanent renter who doesn't have children because they can't afford it. Fight for what and who exactly? For the old who had all the opportunities they now deny the young? For the rich whose children won't be drafted, or will be allowed to abscond? Things would have to get very desperate for most to fight for their country, war would have to be at their doorstep.

Yeah, no shit. This is probably true for most countries. Why would the draft exist otherwise. Most people even if they love their country aren't interested in risking death unless things become desperate which they certainly aren't yet in Britain. The title is bait for people who love to complain about "patriotism" going down.

What does fight for your country even mean for us? We haven't had a defensive war on mainland home soil in 80 years, or a defensive war at all since the Falklands. For my generation and the one before it, 'fighting for your country' has been Iraq and Afghanistan. There simply isn't any military threat of invasion to us right now, so I imagine most people don't imagine sone kind of heroic defensive war for our way of life or freedomor whatever. They imagine dying on behalf of American billionaires in a desert. And f*** no, I would not fight for my country if that's what it means.

Dont blame them. the social contract has entirely broken down and its clear the country does not give a f*** about anyone under pension age.

Wars should be fought by and between the government ministers of each country, the elected officials should all put into a big room and let them fight it out. That's better than sending the young off to die.

If you refuse to be drafted the police will come to your home with guns and arrest you.  If you get drafted you will be sent to the frontlines facing drones, artillery, and bombers.  I know which one we all have better odds against. 

TBF in the 1930s, Brits had similar attitudes in the guise of the Great Depression and were almost violent in not getting involved in another war because “WW1 was a bloodbath, and this depression is crazy”. Forcing folks like Chamberlain to make those deals with the devil of giving up Austria, Czechia, etc. As folks were that opposed to any sort of conflict and didn’t want another war and wouldn’t want to dedicate themselves to such a sacrifice. But things changed as Hitler kept gobbling more and more. Hopefully we’ll never be put into that situation again…

Young people have fewer and fewer reasons to take an active role in defending the world around them. This is a problem not only in Britain, but in most modern nations. In any case, for the authorities, this is an excellent excuse to reinstate slavery in the country - the so-called “military draft” and compulsory labor.

I kinda understand. I genuinely can understand looking at the project that is your nation and coming to the conclusion that the whole thing is not worth enough to lay down your life for it. You don't even know what comes after death ffs.

And this is in a country with nationalized health care and council housing…a decent social safety net. On paper, the UK does take some basic measures to ensure its citizens are provided with basic needs. Compared to a country like the US, there should be more of a sense of “this is what we are fighting for”. And yet, the worldwide proliferation of neoliberalism and corporatization has made life so difficult that citizens of most countries, the UK included, feel no sense of ownership of their government. With capitalism and the surveillance state at the reins of power, the policies that get enacted are wildly disconnected from the needs and aspirations of everyday people. We are speed running towards a subscription-based “renter’s” society where individuals own literally nothing, and must pay a handful of oligarchs to continue to live meager lives. If you want people to defend their country, they need actual, concrete ownership of the country you are asking them to defend.

Making housing, energy and everyday life feels affordable and then people might care again. Why would anyone fight for a country which doesn't even really have their own interests at heart. 

Half would have always said they would fight if required… this is not a ground breaking statistic… hence why there were drafts and conscription..

Fight for what? The social contract was broken before they were born, and they owe this country nothing. Ill go if I have to, but im old, and shit will need to be pretty bad if they are willing to send me.

I'm 43, I wanted to join the Army back when I was 16-18, but failed the medical. I absolutely support the troops, whether they walk, fly or float. What I don't support is how they have to follow the orders of a bunch of politicos sitting safely in some heavily defended office miles away from any dangers beyond indigestion. We should stick the "leaders" on the front lines again.

As a veteran of the Cold War I never thought for one moment when I joined up that I would actually need to fight in a war. Then the Falklands war happened. I was in trade training at the time. I left just before the Balkans war. No medals or drama. I certainly wouldn’t volunteer for military service at present. It’s far too risky because of the instability in Central/Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The UK doesn’t even know if any hardware that they have procured from overseas suppliers will be able to be used. There are tales of backdoors in equipment that can be used to brick said equipment/machinery.

A lot of breaking in the comments about 'fighting for a way of life' or 'if you don't fight for it you're an entitled a******'. How about this: no one wants to fight at all. It's that simple. You get a planet with 8 million people on it specifically because most of us aren't actually fighting each other and don't want to.

[Reminiscent of the 1933 Oxford Union "King and Country" debate](https://oxfordunionlibrary.org/the-king-and-country-debate/). On the evening of 9 February 1933, Oxford Union members assembled for their regular Thursday night debate to consider the motion That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country. The fact the motion was carried, by 275 votes to 153, caused outrage amongst some members of the establishment, ignited a media storm and captured international attention.

Who wants to risk death and mutilation for what is so often an unjust war?

That is wild but i also wonder if this was already the case before WW1 and WW2 or if its something that happend just recently.

Dulce et decorum est Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. Maybe educating the population on how f****** awful ww1 and 2 were, miiiiiiiight have influenced things, as the war poets were heavily studied in English lit classes 

The days of “King and Country” are long since gone, probably for 100 years if we’re honest. World War Two was a clear existential threat to the country being threatened with invasion. Even then there was no rush to join up like was seen at the start of WW1 with most waiting for conscription in an orderly manner. Today most young people of military age have only ever known the armed forces being used in support of, and under subordination to, the United States and its cavalier use of force in both Iraq and Iran. In addition nobody wants to be dragged into a conflict in support of American-Israeli imperialist ambitions. That’s not even getting to the idea of what exactly are you asking young people to fight for or defend. Do they own homes? Have decent jobs and wages? Social programs to be proud of? They’ve experienced lives only of austerity, of older generations sabotaging their futures through Brexit and other voting decisions. It’s no surprise their attitude to serving in the military. The only surprise is that they’re not burning the country down that wants to take everything from them and offer them nothing in return.

"This country is doing all it can to take away healthcare from us and it wants us to die for it too?"

I think this percentage is the same for pretty much any country or higher even. Not sure why this is news. The more trade, travel, and news grows this was inevitable. We are all humans. No one wants to die for some meaningless war over money or political reasons. Only thing I’m loyal to is my family

I'll fight, right behind 'Operational Old People First' With my expected retirement age of 75-ish I expect everyone younger than 75 to be enlisted.

Shockingly, no. People will not fight for an “economic zone” in the process of being handed off to anybody who can make landfall.

You need to have pride in your country to be willing to die for it. That pride is built upon a good standard of living, which many of us don't have anymore. If I knew I was protecting a future for my kids, I'd happily defend my country. Forced draft, I'll choose jail.

I think more and more people are beginning to realize that the social contract never existed and our elites aren’t worth protecting.

And the other half probably said they'd fight for the opposing side

Gen Z Brit here. I don't blame them, all we've inherited is a collapsing world and blame from the generation that killed it. I'm surprised suicide rates aren't higher tbh

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Look at the timeline, those of age now or nearing age to enlist, their parents were of age during a time of actual war. Parental military service can lead to what they call "intergeneration transmission" of service. Meaning if your parents served, you're more likely to also serve. UNLESS that service was "negative" (dangerous or traumatic). Then it has the opposite effect. Post 9/11 surveys indicate MOST individuals who served during that time do NOT recommend it to others. So it's no surprise to see negative feelings regarding service 20-25 years later.

As the old saying goes ther are lies , dam lies and statistics  Surveys like this are HUGELY unreliable because of so many factors so this is a massive nothing burger. Its also been proven so many times that when shit hits the fan people do rapidly change their mind Finally all armed forces currently have waiting lists that stretch a significant amount of time so right how we are currently oversubscribed so clearly ENOUGH people do want to fight that it's not a problem  (Are massive training programmes problems none withstanding)

Shock and outrage! Now imagine if 90% of a country's youth were yearning for war. We would probably think they were all lunatics.

50% are willing to fight, that’s really good despite the headline. Something like 9% of Americans fought in ww2. So if 50% is willing to fight, that’s really good. Misleading title.

I mean half of the English Lit curriculum and most of the History curriculum repeatedly teaches young people about the horrors of war... why the f*** would anyone want to willingly go through that? This isn't WW2 where young people had no idea what the frontlines were really like, we can see it in 4k drone footage now. That doesn't make them unpatriotic, just realistic that they don't want to get torn apart by suicide drone bombers while they helplessly cower in the mud hundreds if not thousands of miles away from home.

I would assume half of young brits are woman ?

They would be fighting for cooperate and banker profits

The majority of young people in the UK have very little to lose, so the vast majority could just flee the country and start a life elsewhere in event of the UK ending up in a major war. Why would you fight and die for a country that basically views you as worthless?

100% of young Brits won't be fighting for their country. They'll be fighting for the billionaires and corporations that own it

Pop the pedophillionaires and politicians on the frontline as grunts and I'll be right behind them 👍🏼

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Of course they do, they have been educated to do so. You just can't label your national flag as a hate symbol and then ask the young to fight for it. You just can't spend four decades criminalizing any non pacifist opinion and then backflip the moment Putin invades Ukraine. This one is also relevant for Germany and somehow relevant for France and the rest of western Europe.

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