section_path: Soldiers' experiences/Conscription
section_name: Conscription
paragraph_text: Conscription
  
  Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries, It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland, Australia, and the French Catholics in Canada.
  
  In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas. The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war.