1 Home Fronts of the Great WarDr Michael Molkentin Shellharbour Anglican College & The University of New South Wales Canberra Get this PowerPoint:

2 Outline The concept of total warBritain vs Germany: a comparison of two societies at war Course content: what you need to know Exam advice Further reading

3 In explaining the outcome of the Great War how important was the home front relative to the battle front? In explaining the outcome of the Great War how important was the home front relative to the battle front? If you’ve said it was a ‘10’ incidentally (ie it was all down to the home front and had nothing to do with the battlefront then you’ve got at least one thing with Hitler- the ‘stabbed in the back myth’). Most contemporaries and modern scholarship would rate it at least as important as the battlefront. Indeed, it would be fair to say that success or failure on the battlefield was linked inextricably to the war effort on the home front.

4 The concept of a ‘home front’ is a product of total war- both products of the 20th Century and, indeed, the Great War. At the same time though total war is a consequence of 19th Century phenomena such as industrialisation and nationalism gave nation states the potential to fight longer, larger and more intense wars while also uniting large groups of citizens in support of them.

5 Legislation to restrict individual liberties What? Total war is the commitment of a nation’s entire human and material resources to the attainment of victory in an armed conflict. A total war effort requires the integration of the home and battlefronts in support of the war effort and the redirection of human and economic resources from peace-time to war-time priorities. How? Legislation to restrict individual liberties Nationalisation of industry, finances Censorship Propaganda Conscription A definition: Total war is the commitment of a nation’s entire human and material resources to the attainment of victory in an armed conflict. A total war effort requires the integration of the home and battlefronts in support of the war effort and the redirection of human and economic resources from peace-time to war-time priorities. This is, especially for liberal, democratic societies a difficult transition to make and perhaps even more difficult to sustain, especially if the war is long and the people get tired of the sacrifices that total war requires them to make such as not having enough to eat, having to work for longer hours in poorer conditions and being bombed by enemy aircraft. [Animation] Governments can use a number of means to make this happen: Legislation to restrict individual liberties Nationalism of industry, finances Censorship Propaganda Conscription

6 The British Empire GermanyWorld’s largest empire Fledgling empire World’s largest navy World’s second largest navy Small professional Army Large conscript Army Stagnating industrial growth Massive industrial growth Close ties with USA Competitor with USA Empires Britain: world’s largest empire including industrialised semi-autonomous dominions. Combined population of Britain plus colonies 430 million. Germany: nascent empire comprising unindustrialised colonies in Africa and the Pacific. Combined population of 80 million. Navies Although the German Kriegsmarine was the second largest navy in the world, Britain and her allies had more than double the number of large naval vessels in 1914. Armies Britain: Tiny professional army for colonial garrison duty; organised to fight dispersed, small scale campaigns. 700,000 men. Germany: Mass standing and reserve armies supported by conscription; organised to fight large continental wars; highly developed and professional general staff model. 4.2 million men. Industries and economies Britain had the oldest industrial base but its growth had stagnated and much of it was based on technology that was dated by 1914. Germany had a new and rapidly growing industry. Coal production had grown 400% in two decades and in thirty years international trade had quadrupled. At the time of the war Germany and Britain had roughly comparable outputs in coal and steel though Germany was ostensibly in a better position because its industry was still growing and employing the latest technology. Britain’s allies were in some ways more industrially equipped. They also had more money; Germany had to bankroll its allies war efforts. Both countries were thoroughly integrated into the global market. In 1914 Germany imported a quarter of its food and had a 12% share of the world export market – roughly the same as Britain and the United States. The USA Germany antagonised the US in the lead up to 1914 with its attempts at imperial expansion and competition in steel and coal exports. Britain, in contrast, had an enormous amount of capital invested in the US and had stronger cultural and historical ties with Americans than Germany did. Political systems and ideologies Britain (Sheffleid): ‘An imperfect democracy but a democracy nonetheless’. He also underlines the importance of its liberal values, that manifested themselves in a free press, freedom of speech and association, free market capitalism and individual liberty. Germany: Although Germany had universal male suffrage (only wealthy males could vote in Britain) other aspects of Germany resembled an older style of autocrat. The German Kaiser exercised more real power than his British counterpart while the federal parliament, the Reichstag, had very limited authority. Also, Germany exhibited a particularly virulent militarism before the war in its traditions (such as conscription) and political structures. Whereas the British Army was under civilian control (ie answerable to the elected British government), the army in Germany answered directly to the Kaiser who headed his own military cabinet. So- who was better prepared to win a war in 1914? It depends on the type of war. In a quick war confined to the continent Germany had some distinct advangaes. The reverse is true for a longer, more geographically dispersed and more ‘total’ war though even then Germany had some distinct advantages – namely its more authoritarian system of government, its potential for industrial growth and innovation and the potential economic vulnerability of its island enemy to blockade. Liberal democratic traditions Authoritarian

7 2 The home fronts in Britain and Germany total war and its social and economic impact on civilians in Britain and Germany recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda in Britain and Germany the variety of attitudes to the war and how they changed over time in Britain and Germany the impact of the war on women’s lives and experiences in Britain Moving onto the syllabus: this is the section that deals with the home front. The good news is that you don’t need to know an enormous amount of detail on each of these- certainly not as much as for the syllabus dot points in the national study But you do need to be able to describe a few key features of for each of these. I call these ‘talking points’; they are the key people, events, dates and issues that allow you to explain the impact of total war on the home fronts of Britain and Germany. It isn’t possible – or I think terribly helpful - to go through these in great detail today. I will, however, highlight some key features of each syllabus dot point. It will be your responsibility to ensure you have at least a basic understanding of them from your teacher, text books or other resources. The key features I identify may be different to those provided in your text book or by your teacher- that’s fine. Remember you don’t need to know everything about these issues- just a few points you can use in the examination.

8 Air raids and U-Boat warfare Trade blockade1. Total war and its social and economic impact on civilians in Britain and Germany Britain Germany DORA (1914) KRA (1914) Hindenburg Program(1916) Munitions Act (1915) Aux. Service Law(1916) The Defence of the Realm Act, 1914 (DORA): know that broadly it restricted civil liberties with the intention of increasing security, extended government powers and used threat of prosecution to enforce it. Know a couple of specifics as examples like that it made it illegal to buy binoculars and gave the government the power to censor newspapers and commandeer land or factories. The Munitions of War Act, 1915: you need to know it brought private firms supplying the armed forces under the control of a government ministry known as the Ministry of Munitions (David Lloyd George) and that it was introduced after the British Army ran short of shells in 1915 – a story that scandalized the government. It gave the government the power to regulate wages, hours and other employment conditions; it also froze workers to their jobs. Air raids (Zeppelins and Gothas): know that the Germans raided London with airships in and Gothas in These caused relatively little material damage (rats are believed to have caused significantly more during the war) but made British civilians feel threatened and probably galvanized anti-German sentiment. The raids put pressure on the government to provide air defences. Unrestricted submarine (U-Boat) warfare Know that the Germans employed this in 1915 in response to the Allied naval blockade The sinking of ships carrying civilians (most famously the Lusitania) drew protests from the Germans and led to a suspension of it in 1916. Resumed in 1917 following failure of the Verdun offensive. Contributed to US entry into the war. Though U-Boats sank 5,000 ships Britain provided countermeasures and only had to begin rationing in the final year of the war- no starvation in Britain. Rationing The Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (KRA) Rough equivalent of the Ministry of Munitions – centralized and controlled private businesses manufacturing munitions. It also oversaw the development of ‘ersatz’ products such as synthetic rubber, and substitute tea made from raspberry leaves. Hindenburg Program and Auxiliary Service Law (1916) Proposed by Hindenburg, the supreme commander of German forces in August 1916 to double munitions output. Basically, it secured a spike in wartime production but overstrained the German war economy, precipitating its collapse in 1918. The Auxiliary Service Law (1916) – all males in Germany and the occupied territories between liable for national service. The Turnip Winter ( ) – prompted by the Allied blockade, the removal of German labour from farms and a bad weather that affected harvests. Resulted in starvation, social unrest and eroded support for the war in early 1917. The Allied blockade and economic collapse, starvation Debate since WW1 on effectiveness and impact of blockade. Estimates of civilian deaths caused by starvation are around 500,000. Economic collapse was probably not due to the blockade, rather to the diversion of human and raw materials to munitions Air raids and U-Boat warfare Trade blockade Rationing (1918) Turnip winter, starvation

9 Military Service Bills (1916) War Propaganda Bureau (1914-17) 2. Recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda in Britain and Germany Britain Volunteerism Military Service Bills (1916) War Propaganda Bureau ( ) Ministry of Information (1918) Germany Universal military service (1871) Collapses in 1918 German General Staff (Army) Krieaspressamt and the Bild-und Filmamt (BUFA) Recruitment: know the different systems and the British shift from volunteerism to conscription with the two military service bills in 1916. British propaganda administered by various agencies but centralised in 1918 in Ministry of Informtation. German propaganda and censorship as administered by the military high command: “Broadly summarized, it followed three main objectives: imposing social control by preventing disagreeable reporting through censorship; providing suitable information to newspapers and other publications; and preventing the home front’s infiltration with enemy propaganda.” Initially very effective at censoring the home front from Germany’s aggressive war aims and its military failures, once people realised this their morale degraded quickly. Get a figure relating to scale: eg British print 60 million copies of 643 leaflets in 1918 Be aware of the different types and purposes of propaganda and how each tended to work.

10 Propaganda and censored sources: unreliable but nonetheless useful Documents can show us a ‘truth’ beyond ‘what actually happened’: they can demonstrate how people think, the images and language and associations they can draw upon from their culture. John H. Arnold, History: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 93.

11 3. The variety of attitudes to the war and how they changed over time in Britain and GermanySupport for the war Avoid a simplistic ‘declinist’ model of explaining the course of morale.

12 Opposition to the war (eg: German SDP and British UDC)3. The variety of attitudes to the war and how they changed over time in Britain and Germany Support for the war: nationalism, ‘short war’ prediction, defensive war mentality Opposition to the war (eg: German SDP and British UDC) Pacifism and internationalism Socialism Political responses to war weariness Conciliation and coercion Avoid a simplistic ‘declinist’ model of explaining the course of morale. Support for the war: be prepared to discuss the role of patriotism and its widespread influence: even most socialists supported war in Opposition to the war: Have a basic knowledge of one specific British and German example. The German Social Democratic Party: Initially voted to fund the war unanimously; criticised the Treaty of B-L in March 1918 and involved in the failed communist revolution in October-November 1918. The British Union of Democratic Control – attracted a variety of anti-war perspectives and opposed what it saw as Britain’s militarist war aims. It had 10,000 members by 1917. Political responses: it is also useful to think about how the governments in Britain and Germany responded to opposition through the frame of conciliation and coercion.

13 Conciliation CoercionExample: British Government’s Response to Pacifism and the Labour Movement Examples: August 1918 Metro. Police strike; PM Lloyd George negotiated with strike representatives and awarded pay rise Number of Labour MPs in Britain’s wartime coalition government increased when David Lloyd George elected PM in December 1916 Conciliation Coercion Again, an example or two of each, for Britain and for Germany will suffice. UDC members arrested for breeching censorship regulations UDC pamphlets blocked from the Western Front Strike ring leaders imprisoned under the DORA. 22 shop stewards imprisoned following May 1917 strikes.

14 4. The impact of the war on women’s lives and experiences in BritainSIMPLE: a. Start = no involvement b Desperate industry government allows women into the workforce c. Women liberated by the Great War (vote post-war) SOPHISTICATED: a. Start = involvement in domestic industry b complex absorption of women (eg opposition from trade union, dilution) c. Some new opportunities? Return to status quo A simple narrative of British women would be: no involvement, a desperate government allows them in 1915 The war affected women in diverse ways – avoid generalisation. Social class was significant in differentiating British women's experiences Pre-war it was typical for working class women to move in and out of work throughout their lives. Middle class women rarely worked after marriage. Wages lower than men’s and types of work restricted along gendered lines. The exigencies of total war prompted the absorption of women into war-related industries. Yet... the numbers of women working didn’t increase as much as some people believe. In Britain during the war, the number of women in work grew from 4.8 million in 1914 to 6 million in 1918. “Contrary to propaganda reports at the time there was no enormous influx of non-working women into men’s jobs: millions of working class women moved into different trades when the opportunity arose.” –Gail Braybon The diversion of male workers to military service did however see women take on a bigger proportion of the workforce: from comprising 26.5% of the British workforce in 1915 women made up 46.7% of it in In government munitions factories they made up just over half the employees. But... the war gave working class women the opportunity to- Take on higher paid jobs Do more interesting and varied work (especially in industry, transport and public service: there was 6 women police officers in 1914 and 650 in 1917) Demonstrate their nationalism and their value to the nation by supporting the war effort In December 1917 British women over 30 received the right to vote though some historians argue this was not linked to their role in wartime work. An ambiguous impact- traditional gender identities prevailed after 1918.

15 Examination Advice Three types of questions (in 2015)Short answer/ multiple-choice (7-marks) 8-mark question; eg: ‘Use Sources C and D and your own knowledge to outline how attitudes to the war changed in Germany from ’. 10-mark question; eg: ‘How useful would Sources C and D be to a historian studying the impact of the war on British women. In your response refer to the perspective and reliability of both sources. In 2015 there were three types of questions. This has generally been the pattern although there have been some slight variations in the number of marks devoted to each type. Q1) Typically involve comprehension, understanding of terminology and, more occasionally, an understanding of context. In 2015 there, was a graph indicating how German expenditure increased over the course of the war. The question, a multiple choice one, required you to explain the reason for this increase in expenditure. Q2) ‘and your own knowledge’ Here is where knowing those dot points in the previous slides is important. You only need to know a few talking points for each one. Q3) You need to make a judgement about the source’s usefulness to a historian for a particular and specific purpose and you need to include an explicit consideration of the source’s perspective and its reliability. I won’t go into too much detail on how to address these questions as Dr Paul Kiem already covered this at the session on Core Exam Skills, but I will provide you with a few pointers on how to prepare for questions based on home front sources specifically.

16 Examination Advice Expect sources and questions pertaining to the home front all but three papers have included HF content Be familiar with source types - and how they fit into a total war context Posters Cartoons Photographs Newspaper reports Memoirs Secondary sources (histories) Expect sources and questions pertaining to the home front six out of nine papers have included HF content Be familiar with source types Posters Cartoons Photographs Newspaper reports Memoirs (primary sources but check when they were written: might they be shaped by hindsight?) Secondary sources (histories- when were they published? After 1968 British government records became available. Do they seem to incorporate international sources? Who is the author? The publisher? )

17 Have enough factual knowledge toExamination Advice Have enough factual knowledge to contextualise the sources When was it published? What was happening? Who was the author? What was their perspective? Contribute your own knowledge to the short answer question Acknowledge that any published primary source is likely to be subject to censorship and will, hence, reflect an official perspective.

18 Women made up half the workers in British munitions factories by 1918What constitutions ‘your own knowledge’ for the 8-mark question? Example: 1915 Shell Crisis - Ministry of Munitions – government mandated factories to employ female labour. Women made up half the workers in British munitions factories by 1918 Hardships long hours for less pay than male workers Explosive accidents killed workers in several instances (eg: 130 workers died at Chilwell in 1918) Exposure to TNT poisonous; ‘canaries’. Female munitionettes, 1916

19 Usefulness, reliability and perspective: exampleBritish government, most likely for propaganda purposes. Early days of female involvement in munitions factories. Portrays munitions work as safe, clean, independent while retaining their femininity. Reliability A photograph – so a literal depiction of reality BUT likely to be composed to present women’s work in a manner helpful to the British war effort. Usefulness It provides historians evidence of the type of work done by munitionettes: production line, diluted, low skill The scale of munitions production by the middle of the war Attempts by the British government to compel women into this kind of work (were they having difficulty) But it is limited in its perspective to a single moment and reflects an official perspective on the subject British munitionettes, 1916

20 Extension Reading Online International Encyclopaedia of the First World War [http://encyclopedia online.net/] David Stevenson, With our backs to the wall: victory and defeat in 1918, Allen Lane, London, 2011. Chapter 6 War Economies Chapter 7 The Home Fronts Hew Strachan, The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War, OUP, Oxford, 2014 (Second Edition). Chapter 11: The Role of Women in War, Susan Grayzel Chapter 16: Propaganda and the Mobilization of Consent, J. M. Winter Are you a student who wants to extend your understanding of the home fronts?

21 Questions?