Entire Section 6: Impact of the War Flashcards
What impact did rationing have during the war? How was food rationed etc?
1) Decrees establishing a food rationing system were issues in August 1939. Clothing not initially included but permits were needed to buy clothes. Caused panic buying. Clothes included in the scheme in November 1939.
2) Allocation of food was based on age, occupation and race. Those employed in manual labour received more than those who had more sedentary jobs. Jews received smaller rations. Special allocations for pregnant women, nursing mothers and the sick.
3) Civilian consumption was cut more in Germany than in Britain at the start of the war.
4) Overall, the rationing system worked well until 1941.
What impact did Operation Barbarossa have on rationing?
1) Rations were reduced. The meat ration was cut from 500g per person to 400g, then cut again.
2) In the later years of the war, meat could not be eaten every day and other goods were in very short supply.
What was the impact of propaganda and indoctrination on morale?
1) Goebbels had developed a sophisticated propaganda system which controlled the flow of information to the public.
2) Regime also used the SD and the Gestapo to monitor the public mood and the effectiveness of propaganda.
3) SD reports provide a valuable source of information for historians about German morale at different stages of the war.
What was the first phase of WW2? Duration? Events? Public Mood?
1) Phase 1: Blitzkrieg - September 1939-June 1941.
2) Events in the War:
- After defeating Poland in the East, German forces achieved a series of quick victories against various European countries.
3) Public mood:
- Mood for the first 21 months of the war was volatile and propaganda was not always effective in lifting morale.
- Victories at the start of the war were a cause for celebration.. Hitler was presented as a military genius. His speeches and broadcasts on the radio were vital in boosting morale.
What was the second phase of WW2? Duration? Events? Public Mood?
1) Phase 2: The Spreading War - June-December 1941.
2) Events in the war:
- Germany invased the USSR in June 1941 and occupied vast areas of territory, but in December 1941 the Red Army launched a counter attack which halted the German advance.
- Germany declared war on the USA in December 1941. Nazis now faced a world war against the Grand Alliance of the USSR, USA and Great Britain.
3) Public mood:
- Invasion of USSR was presented as a crusade against ‘Jewish Bolshevism’ and the initial success of the German army engendered a feeling of optimism.
- However, the SD reported people’s fears that the war would go on for years.
- Letters home from soldiers at the front undermined the propaganda effort. Soldiers talked of the harsh winter conditions and limitless Soviet manpower and equipment.
- Jews were used as a scapegoat. According to propaganda, there was a Jewish international conspiracy to destroy the Third Reich and the Aryan Race.
What was the third phase of WW2? Duration? Events in the war? Public Mood?
1) Phase 3: The Turning of the Tide - January 1942-January 1943.
2) Events in the war:
- German losses in the USSR started to mount in the harsh winter conditions.
3) Pubic mood:
- Public became awakened to the realities of the war they were engaged in.
- When Goebbels broadcasted an appeal for people to collect winter clothing for those on the eastern front, the mood of disillusionment deepened.
- Defeat at Stalingrad was a major turning point. Shocked public morale. War-weariness now became much more evident.
- Deep well of patriotism though and willingness to endure hardship.
What was the third phase of WW2? Duration? Events in the war? Public Mood?
1) Phase 3: The Turning of the Tide - January 1942-January 1943.
2) Events in the war:
- German losses in the USSR started to mount in the harsh winter conditions.
3) Pubic mood:
- Public became awakened to the realities of the war they were engaged in.
- When Goebbels broadcasted an appeal for people to collect winter clothing for those on the eastern front, the mood of disillusionment deepened.
- Defeat at Stalingrad was a major turning point. Shocked public morale. War-weariness now became much more evident.
- Deep well of patriotism though and willingness to endure hardship.
What was the fourth phase of WW2? Duration? Events? Public Mood?
1) Phase 4: February 1943-May 1945: Total War and the Defeat of Germany.
2) Events:
- Feb 1943, Goebbels declared ‘Total War’.
- British and Americans attempted to cripple Germany’s war effort through unrelenting bombings against German cities.
- D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944 opened up a second front in western Europe and by early 1945 Allied forces had entered Germany.
- Berlin captured by Soviet forces in April 1945 and Germany conceded unconditional surrender to the Allies on May 8th 1945.
3) Public Mood:
- By the early months of 1943 it had become clear that Germany was involved in a struggle for survival. Goebbels ‘Total War’ speech appears to have struck a chord with many people.
- No longer could Hitler be convincingly portrayed as a military genius. Hitler Myth began to decline, as did the number of times he was seen in public.
- By spring 1944, morale had declined even further.
- D-Day was a serious blow to morale.
- Use of V1 and V2 missiles did temporarily lift spirits.
- By the end of August 1944, after Paris had been liberated and German forces suffered defeats in the East, defeat began to be accepted.
- Faith had been lost in Hitler.
What impact did bombing have on morale?
1) 43 German cities attacked between March-July 1943.
2) SD reports showed public resilience, and how there did not seem to be much panic around the streets of major cities.
2) As morale fell, the regime took an increasingly repressive line with those who expressed ‘defeatist’ remarks.
3) Mass bombings by the Allies was intended to break the will of the civilian population to carry on supporting the war. Despite this, workers continued to turn up to work and production was maintained (until the end of 1944).
What was the end of the war like for the German people?
1) The last months of the war brought unrelenting misery.
2) As Soviet forces entered Germany, 3.5 million Germans fled their homes to escape the fighting. People had to walk hundreds of miles and faced starvation and faced the cold.
3) Transport systems had ceased to function, electricity and gas supplies had been cut, water and sewage systems had been seriously damaged.
4) Unsurprisingly, civilian morale collapsed.
What impact did war have on the elites?
1) Diverse views regarding the regime and various reasons for opposing it.
2) Some thought that the regime was evil, and others were patriotic about their country but thought that Hitler was leading Germany to destruction.
3) Some were democrats while others were traditional, aristocratic conservatives who wanted a return to an authoritarian government.
What impact did war have on the workers?
1) The ‘Decree on the Conversion of the Whole German Economy onto a War Footing’ in Sep 1939 caused widespread discontent among the labour force, which led to absenteeism. Wages were raised to combat this issue.
2) Total war measures began to impact on workers during 1943-44.
3) August 1944 - total ban on holidays imposed, the working week was increased to 60hrs and extra payments for working overtime were abolished.
4) The regime has the DAF Factory Cell system, where workers were divided into groups under a loyal Nazi member who was responsible for the attendance of workers in his cell.
5) Increasing working hours and the pressure to produce more had an impact on workers’ health and welfare. Accidents at work increased and workers’ health deteriorated.
What impact did war have on women?
1) Women bore the brunt of the hardships endured on the home front. As housewives, married women were obliged to spend time queuing for supplies of vital foodstuffs when shortages occurred.
2) As mothers, women had to shoulder even more of the task of childcare when their husbands were away in the armed forces.
3) By May 1939, there were 6.4 million married women in employment.
4) Hitler did not want more women in the workforce since their main job was to child bearing and rearing.
5) June 1941, Goering issued a decree that all female workers who were in receipt of family allowance and had given up paid employment but had not produced children should be forced to register for work or lose their allowance. Only 130,000 extra women were sent to the armaments factories.
6) Defeat at Stalingrad meant that the total mobilisation of labour had become essential. Women aged 17-45 were forced to register.
7) Women increasingly assigned to auxiliary roles within the armed forces. By the end of the war, some 50,000 women were involved in anti-aircraft operations.
8) By the end of the war, women were trained for combat roles.
What impact did war have on the youth?
1) Membership of the HJ and BDM had become compulsory for young people in 1939.
2) Transition towards total war had an impact on young people. The age of conscription was reduced to 17 in 1943.
3) In Jan 1943, 16 and 17 year olds were conscripted as Luftwaffe and naval auxiliaries and deployed on air defence duties.
4) Young people were increasingly militarised in the final stages of the war. Age of conscription reduced to 16 in 1945. Conscription to the Volkssturm (home guard)n was introduced in Sep 1944 for 16-60 year olds unfit for active service.
5) By the end of the war boys as young as 12 were being conscripted into the Volkssturm
6) A special Hitler youth division of the Waffen SS was set up for 16-18 year old boys selected by Hitler youth group leaders. This division was sent to France in 1944 and saw action in the Battle of Normandy.
Explain the mobilisation of the German economy for war.
1) Germany had been preparing for war since the launch of the 4 yearn plan in 1936.
2) September 3rd, Hitler issued a Decree for the Conversion of the Whole German Economy onto a War footing. Despite this, the German economy did not reach a state of full mobilisation until 1942, meaning that armed forces suffered from shortages of weapons and equipment.
What were the reasons behind problems regarding the German economy at the start of the war?
1) Hitler had not anticipated that the war would begin in 1939, he expected Britain and France to accept the German invasion of Poland and that the war would not begin until he launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941.
2) Economic and military planning had been based on these assumptions, with the Luftwaffe expansion due to be completed in 1942.
3) Outbreak of war also surprised and disrupted production of iron and steel production.
4) At the heart of production problems regarding armaments was a political problem. Goering, who was in charge of the Four Year Plan, lacked the technical and economic knowledge needed to do his job effectively. He had poor relations with military leaders and leaders of large firms and banks.
5) By 1941, Goerings failures of Goering and the Four Year Plan were apparent
When was Speer appointed Minister of Armaments? What powers was he given?
1) In Feb 1942. He was given full executive powers to establish a Central Planning Agency and was able, with Hitler’s support to coordinate and control the whole production process without interference from the military and with the cooperation of private companies.
What did rationalisation of the production of armaments under Albert Speer involve?
1) Central coordination of the allocation of labour, equipment and materials to armaments factories.
2) Concentration of production in fewer factories and on a narrower range of standardised products.
3) Greater use of mass production techniques.
4) More shift working to keep factories operating 24hrs a day.
What was Speer’s production miracle?
1) Between 1941-43, German aircraft production increased by 200%, whilst tank production increased by 250%.
2) The production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was concentrated in 3 factories rather than the 7 used previously.
3) Despite the reduction in factory space, rationalised production methods meant that the production of this aircraft increased from 180 per month to 1000 per month.
