HomeFronts

=Recruitment, conscription, Censorship and Propaganda in Britain and Germany=
 * propaganda was used for similar reasons (morale, recruitment) by both Britain and Germany
 * because of the scale of fighting, there was extreme censorship in Britain. "If they knew the truth, the war would end tomorrow, but they don't know, and they can't know."
 * Britain and Germany used propaganda to increase the recruitment, conscription, censorship
 * Propaganda was used to psychologically brainwash populations to increase such things as conscription
 * The German army had behind it a 100 year background of conscription and reserve training and service involving men aged from 17-45
 * Hostilities, reservists and new conscripts were quickly added to the German army
 * Propaganda was proved to be an area of the war where Britian and the Allies gained an early advantage over Germany - and they never lost it

=The variety of attitudes to the ar and how they changed over time in Britain and Germany=
 * Initial enthusiasm and mass enlistment -> "Home before Christmas" -> gradually worn down as a result of growing casualties and strain on resources
 * people thought that war would be an adventure, so they enlisted to join
 * for some men from the upper classes, the war was a release from the stifling confnement and regulation of the boarding school
 * for working class men, it provided an option to the grinding monotony of the factory, or worse, the uncertainties of unemployment
 * unique bonds: comradeship with those around them; took discipline and order of a soldier's life
 * Later in the war there was more questioning of leaders -> led to a mutiny in the German Navy
 * Enlistment began to drop in Britain and the troops basically got tired of fighting for someone else's cause.

=The impact of war on women's lived and experiences in Britain and Germany=
 * women had to stay at home and look after the children; some women joined the workforce and industries
 * as war cntinued, the British people needed to comply to harsher rations -> Total War
 * More men from vital industries left to war, forcing industries to employ wimen
 * the war turned women's livs from being the housewife etc, to working in factories creating supplies for the war efforts. They were the backbone of the country.
 * Suffering from losing their men, along with tens of thousands of other British women
 * Between 1914 and 1918, an extra 1.6 million women entered the British workforce
 * Women played a major part in almost all non-combatant fields of the war effort

=Total war and its social and economic impact on civilians in Britain and Germany=
 * conscription
 * hostillity towards foreigners
 * there was strict rationing which led to poor health in Britain
 * In Britain and Germany economic control was centralised under national government
 * total war includes total involvement of a nation's war resources (physical, human, industrial) -> social lives in Britain and Germany was regulated by Government policy -> limited freedom and denied economic rights -> was supported "for the win"
 * //Defence of the Realm Act// (Britain 1914) gave the government almost complete control over everyday life.
 * In Germany, most power was given to Hindenburg and Ludendorf in 1915 and they effectively became military dictators