Impact of War on Civillians Flashcards
Total War?
each nation had to mobilise its economic social and political systems.
- Military depended on home front for support - essential for continuing war on these scale.
Social Impact? - British Homefront
- Nationalism swept through Britain when war declared.
- Govt introduced laws and regulations to provide authorities with the power to restrict people lives and transform peacetime communities into military support units.
Economic Impact? - British Homefront
- war cost a loan of 230 million
- Manufactoring, farming shipping and transport had to become part of the war effort.
DORA? - Britain
Defence realm act 1914 - provided govt with powers to intervene in daily life of the British people. - entitled the govt to regulate any life or person that could be seen to impact course of the war.
What did DORA Do?
- Manufacturing, agriculture , security and information came under scrutiny with DORA.
- Could be used to imprison without trail, cut social activities introduce day light saving.
- DORA - restricted opening hours of public houses - cut national levels of alcohol consumption
Shell Shortages? - Britain
Britain had only supplied 2 million rounds of shells for British soldier in France- by the end of the war had sent 187 million rounds of shells to France.
- Shell shortages scandal began the extension of govt control into new areas of British life:
- Rent control - 1915
- Conscription - 1916
- Price control - 1917
- Rationing- 1918
British Unprepared?
- Times and daily Mail newspapers- shortage of munitions led to failure of British offensive at Neuve Chapelle.
- Inadequate supply of poor quality munitions.
- Kitchener blamed for 1915 inefficiency - stripped of control of war strategy.
Trade Unions? - Britain
- TU renounced strikes and active campaigns for increased wages in their support of the war effort.
- 1914 - 1918 - trade union ownership doubled from 4 million to 8 million.
- 1915 - 3 million working days lost to strikes 1916 - 2.5 million.
- Demand for war economy brought longer working hours without extra pay and general deterioration in workers rights and conditions.
- Inflation - rise of food and goods process rose.
- Wage rates did not follow cost of living - strikes
- Accusations of war profiteering.
- Success in recruitment resulted in shortage of skilled labour in industries and agriculture.
Munitions of war act 1915?
Determined that:
- Strikes were banned in industries vital to munitions production.
- Labour disputes were settled by voluntary arbitration.
- The ministry of munitions would control wages and working conditions in factories involved in vital war production.
- Munitions workers were bound to the place of employment by the ‘leaving certificate’ requirement.
How did U - Boats impact British economy?
- isolated the British economy by halting the supply of essential goods into Britain.
- 1916 - U boats were destroying 300,000 tonnes of imports a month.
- Feb 1917 - Britain lost 230 ships - Merchant ships were U boat target
- end of 1917 - destroyers were used to herd merchant ships into convoys, providing protection against the U boat threat and restoring essential supply links.
- U boat attacks combined with poor harvest of 1916 threatened Britons food supplies.
Rationing? - Britain
- 1918 - DORA rationing - tighter control of distribution of basic goods -Meat, sugar and butter
- Govt issued ration cards requiring all citizens to register
- Wasting of food was punishable by fines. DORA forbade giving bread to animals.
Economy? - Germany
- Germans believed war had been forced upon them and had to be fought for the good of “Greater Germany”
- 1914: Political groups broadly supportive of war effort and Kaiser and his conservative government
- When they entered the war, any power the Reichstag had was transferred to the Kaiser and his generals
What did Walter Rathenau (Germany’s economic director) believe?
- Believed biggest challenge was maintaining access to raw materials
- Directed that Germany’s war economy required regulation
- Supply of vital raw materials was to be guaranteed through rationing and careful control of protection
Department of Raw Materials? - German Homefront
- Run by businessmen who controlled and monitored use and allocation of raw materials coming from all German-occupied territory
- Encouraged search for substitutes for raw materials in short supply
- KRA chemists discovered replacements for gunpowder ingredients, synthetic rubber and use of oil as a replacement for coal in machinery
1916: Supreme War Office created by Paul Hindenburg? - German Homefront
- KRA unable to deal with problem of short supply of labour
- Hindenburgs aim was total war effort through total mobilisation of labour in service of “the father-land”
What did the supreme war office have control of? - German Homefront
- Civilian labour
- Manufacturing
- Transport
Consequences of British Navy Blockade? - German Homefront
- Prevented them from reaching German ports
- Strategy successful in cutting off vital supplies and raw materials
- Cut off from army and homefront economy
Result of Germanys economy shrinking in 1915?
- Resulted in working and living conditions deteriorating rapidly
- In 1916, basic goods in short supply, agricultural production down, food prices doubled, cost of living rose
- Undermined patriotism and unity
Food + Food Prices? - German Homefront
- Army held essential supplies, communities in rural areas reluctant to share produce
- To try control food distribution, farmers directed their produce to regions they thought would give them highest price
- Organisations would purchase all goods and determine how food was sold
- Government intervention to control prices and supply exacerbated problems, divided nation
Starvation in Germany?
- Mass famine and starvation
- Large number of schoolchildren with diseases related to poor nutrition and living conditions (e.g tuberculosis, anaemia)
- Bread rationed in 1915, most key commodities ration in 1916
- 1917: Official rations provided only half of the average daily calorie requirements
- Civilians resorted to the black market to obtain supplies to stay alive
- “Butter riots” 1916, patience of women waiting for rations broke
Strikes? - German Homefront
- By 1918, 100 000 workers were on strike each month
- From 1917, strikes carried political demands
- Military defeat increased level of anti-war sentiment
Protests and Protesters? - German Homefront
- German socialist leaders, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, led political protests opposing war
- 1919: Liebknecht and Luxemburg murdered by army officers following unsuccessful revolt in Berlin
- Military suppressed socialist protest movements until revolution destroyed Kaiser and his government
Impact of Failure of Ludendorff Offensive in 1918? - German Homefront
- Men and materials to supply army ran out
- Starvation hit home front
- Rapidly increasing number of deaths due to starvation
