As the months turned into years of the First World War and the opposing sides dug into the trenches, waging a war of attrition (method of warfare designed to wear down the enemy through the tremendous loss of man power and resources), manpower and resources at home were needed to support the war. This was the first war on a massive scale that required the people at home to provide for the needs of the military at the front. Previously, as we have discussed, warfare was generally waged in low populated areas, with professional armies, and was over and done in a matter of months. For those in Britain, the war effort was sending women to factories to make the necessary items of war-- ammunition and military equipment. The frontlines were far from their shores (yet, as some have claimed, the bombings could be heard in London on a calm day). Britains dealt with the first air dropped bombs from zeppelins in this war, so there was fear in regards to safety at home.
This war and war effort at home became known as "total war." World War I: A Very Peculiar History (page 97) defines it as "millions of ordinary citizens caught up in the fighting or sent to work in factories to make armaments." It brought war home. Sustaining Total War is a video that explains the lengths the home front went to. Here is a bonus link for Britain's Home Front in WWI. If you think about it, this war and the following one are the only wars that were total, involving a war effort, a society whose main purpose was to support the war, and a culture that expressed this devotion to country, to military, to wins, and loss.
For Germany, the concept of total war floundered, and the German people suffered as their homegrown resources were sent to the front and the ongoing blockade of the North Sea by Britain kept foreign resources out. Instead of sustaining it, Germans were Starving for Total War; their bitterest winter was named the Turnip Winter, marking 1916 as the worst winter of the war, just two years in and two years yet to go.
Women in these countries faced exceptional hardships: overworked, underpaid, exhausted, and many times malnourished, and not properly sheltered, as the video links above show. Nurses were in high demand, and what was once considered highly inappropriate to have women at the front, many women left home to offer medical aid. Front Lines: Nurses offers first hand accounts of these women.
Although a highly mechanized war, animals still had roles to play. While the majority was good, it has been pointed out in class that even in the trenches, the rats were oversized and often ate the cats that were put there to remove the rats. Here is the Forgotten Army of WWI.
The two world wars are unique in that they both grew a culture within their societies. The music, literature, and art all reflected how deeply ingrained this war was for countries. The music is easily recognizable, that marching cadence and lyrics of enthusiasm, patriotism, and much later, the reality of what they lived through. There are many WWI playlists on streaming sites. I know Amazon has a playlist that is filled with original recordings of these war tunes. Here are two of the widely remembered songs of the era: "Its'a Long Way To Tipperary" and "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag." Here is a German WWI song.
For an entertaining ending to this period, we studied the spy culture that grew up in the first war and the super spy Sidney Reilly.
Second Period:
For the first portion of this class, we covered chapter four of A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte. This chapter reiterates many of the same themes we have covered so far, just from the point of view of C.S. Lewis. He believed it would be short war, that being "safely wounded" was the best way to get away from the front, war weariness, and he was in joint agreement with Tolkien that science had been abused in the making and undertaking of this war.
We continued the topics addressed in the first period, total war and the home front. While Britain had the buffer of the English Channel, those in the invaded territories faced decimation of every facet of their lives. When Northern France on German Time documents the invaded cities, the conditions the locals lived in, and the destruction left in the wake of German retreat.
We discussed one nurse of the war whose imprisonment and death sparked outrage the world over: Edith Cavell.
It's not always the most enjoyable thing to study history, especially when it is focused on war. So for fun, we rounded out the hour with The Top Ten Moustaches of World War One. Word to those who would like to know such things, there is a bleeped word of profanity in this video.
Bonus material for this hour as we ran out of time: Capturing the Horrors: The Art of World War One and The German Painter Who Fought in the Trenches- Otto Dix.
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