The War at Home WW I. I. Pre – WW I Germany The growth of socialist parties after 1871 was phenomenal. Why? Neither Bismarcks anti-socialist laws nor.

The War at Home

WW I

I. Pre – WW I Germany• The growth of socialist parties after

1871 was phenomenal. “Why?”• Neither Bismarck’s anti-socialist

laws nor his extensive social security program checked the growth of the German Social Democratic party, which espoused Marxist ideology.

• By 1912 it was one of the largest parties in the Reichstag.

• Before the anti-socialist law was repealed in 1890 unions were harassed by the German government.

• Unions were denounced as revisionist by the German Social Democratic party.

• Women's voter organizations also existed in Germany before the war.

II. Guns of August

• In almost every country the war was generally greeted with enthusiasm.

• In Germany trade unions voted not to strike and socialists in the Reichstag approved allocating money to fight the “Cossacks.”

• According to one German socialist, it was heroic and romantic to shed blood in the defense of the Fatherland.

• In fact, a “civil peace” or putting aside the pre-war conflicts (previously mentioned) was declared by the Reichstag.

III. The Reality of Fighting Total War• The French high command

anticipated using 12,000 shells a day. Soon they found themselves needing at least 100, 000 shells daily.

• To meet the needs of the war effort the whole entire nation needed to mobilized.

• The industrial revolution made the “complete” mobilization of the nation a reality well beyond the dreams of Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety.

• The abandonment of free-market capitalism, planning boards, price controls and rationing led to the establishment of command economies.

The Miracle of the Marne!

IV. Total War• More than ever total war

required both citizen and soldier sacrifice to win the war effort. The German people were forced to do without much as a result of the strength of the British navy.

• The Auxiliary Service Law required all males between the ages of 17 and 60 to work only at jobs critical to the war effort. The law was also aimed at Women a children.

• Such actions were both successful and unsuccessful. (The War Materials Board and the “Hog Massacre”).

V. The First Totalitarian State• The demands of fighting a war

of attrition led to the establishment of the 1st totalitarian state. War production increased yet some people starved to death.

• In 1916, the battles at Verdun and the Somme were catastrophic for both sides.

• French military casualties at Verdun, in 1916, are recorded as : 371,000 men including 60,000 killed, 101,000 missing and 210,000 wounded. Total German casualties at Verdun, between February and December 1916, are recorded as 337,000 men.

• German remains at Verdun

VI. “The first nation to crack…• According to the text, “the war was

a war of whole peoples and entire populations, and the loser would be the society that cracked first.

• Both Verdun and the Somme made the sacrifices on the home front very difficult to swallow.

• On May 1, 1916, several thousand demonstrators heard radical leader Karl Liebknecht shout, “ down with government! down with the war!

• Germany indeed began to crack in 1917. Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg was driven from office and the military assumes command of the nation.

The things were difficult for the British as well.

VII. Fit for Duty

• General Ludendorff insisted that a new liberal government shoulder the blame for the defeat in the war. The Weimar republic had a difficult start.

VIII. Revolution

• In April 1917, when the bread ration was reduced, 200, 000 workers took to the streets of Berlin only returning to work under the threat of prison or military discipline.

• Revolution comes to Germany in November 1918 after the failure of the “spring offensive.”

IX. The Treaty of Versailles

X. The Loss of Territory and Dignity

XI. The Future