When the war broke out I was silent about things that had gone wrong until, when at the front, I saw the lamentable spectacle of our men fighting the… - Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

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When the war broke out I was silent about things that had gone wrong until, when at the front, I saw the lamentable spectacle of our men fighting the Germans not with shells but with their bare breasts. The public had been lulled into a sense of preposterous optimism by the lies of politicians who thought that the war would be over before the lack of provision was discovered. You will remember that I exposed what I called the tragedy of the shells. The public, thinking that the war was actually won, were greatly incensed and my newspapers were burned all over the country and banned from every club. Their sales fell by 100,000. I received some five thousand abusive letters a day and had to take measures for my personal safety. At that time Mr Asquith had the audacity to go to Newcastle and say that there was nothing wrong with our equipment. The tide speedily turned in my favour because wounded men from the front began to spread the facts throughout the land. As a result of my exposure of the shells tragedy, the Ministry of Munitions came into being.