By the time the Great War came to an end in 1918, some 2.5million men had been forced by law to serve, and 800,000 lost their lives in the fighting. Above: Men enlisting in January 1916.
Between 1949 and 1960, more than two million men aged between 17 and 21 were conscripted into the armed forces as part of National Service. Above: Recruits in Hampshire in 1953.