People used to wave white feathers at men in the streets during World War 1 – as a mark of shaming those who refused to stand up and fight for their country.

It’s been reported this week that preparation for wartime scenarios could be stepped up after the head of the army called on the UK’s political leaders to start a ‘frank conversation’ with the public about preparing for war.

General Sir Roly Walker told Sky News that ‘every’ citizen will be ‘asked to make sacrifices’ and play their part in the defence of the country.

It comes following months of escalation between Russia and Ukraine as the US appears to be siding with Russia against all precedent. US President Trump has in the past weeks urged Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy to step down, and has also inked a deal with Russia for its diesel supplies. At the same time, Trump has increasingly blamed the global price of diesel on Ukraine’s refusal to surrender to Putin, rather than the US’s own war with Iran.

It’s not something anyone wants to think about, but as tensions escalate around the world, there is a possibility that World War 3 could erupt. Just this past summer, the UK government last year told people to prepare for war on British soil, and is urging better preparedness for conflict across society.

These ‘conscientious objectors’ had refused to fight for the UK in the 1914-1918 conflict against Germany, often for moral reasons. And as a result, ‘The White Feather Campaign’ was organised by women to publicly present men not in uniform with a white feather, as a mark of cowardice.

Last summer summer, ministers said the UK needs to be prepared for ‘war in our homeland’, with a greater push to ready society for the outbreak of conflict as well as other national emergencies like pandemics, extreme weather and cyber attacks or infrastructure outages.

We don’t know exactly what conscription would look like today, but we do have some historic precedent from the last global conflict – World War 2.

Those who were conscientious objectors were sent to tribunals to hear their case. They had to go to court to argue their reasons for refusing to join up, and if their cases were not dismissed, they were granted a category of exemption and given a non-combat job to help the war effort.

The UK Parliament website explains: “Conscientious objectors had to appear before a tribunal to argue their reasons for refusing to join up. If their cases were not dismissed, they were granted one of several categories of exemption and were given non-combatant jobs.”

Read More: What happens if you refuse conscription as UK told to prepare for war