During World War I (1914–1918), three hundred British soldiers were executed by firing squad for the offences of desertion and disobeying an order. To later generations, these sentences seemed so severe that a movement was set up to exonerate the executed men. Prolonged debate took place within the UK government about whether it was appropriate to issue a legal pardon. Wisely, it was decided that this was not appropriate. Too much time has elapsed for individual cases to be reviewed fairly, and a blanket pardon that made no distinctions between individual circumstances would be no more just. Social norms have changed so much that there can be no reliable evaluation of judgements made under the terrible circumstances of the war.