Social Effects of WWI

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Social Effects of WWI

• Mr. Baker

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Social Effects During the War - Disillusionment

• Most had gone to war in 1914 believing in heroism
  and nobility
• Trench warfare and the wartime experience changed
  these feeling to anger and disbelief
• A mood of desolation and emptiness prevailed at
  the end of a war where great sacrifice had
  brought little gain
• Church attendance dropped during and after the war

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Social Effects During the War - Disillusionment

• The anger of the soldier-poets was directed
  against those who had sent them to the war, not
  their enemy
• Generation Gap - The generation conflict was also
  widened by the war as Veterans' disillusionment
  fed off of anger towards the older generation for
  sending them to the trenches
• British poet, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in
  1918 was transformed from a young romantic into a
  powerful denouncer of those who had sent young
  men off to war

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Social Effects During the War Artillery and
Disillusionment

• Artillery killed more people than any other
  weapon between 1914-18. The biggest guns used in
  the Great War could fire shells as large as a
  soldier
• The troops were terrified of them. Men watched
  their fellows being blown apart or dreadfully
  wounded by shrapnel
• Generals ordered artillery to bombard enemy
  trenches for hours on end before sending their
  own troops 'over the top' to attack. The idea was
  that the artillery would
• Kill many enemy soldiers
• Terrify others
• Destroy barbed wire defenses
• Destroy machine gun positions

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Social Effects During the War Artillery and
Disillusionment

• In fact, enough enemy machine guns usually
  survived to mow down the infantry when they
  finally attacked
• In many ways, artillery fire made it even harder
  to attack enemy trenches as it destroyed all
  cover and created the famous barren landscape of
  blasted trees and shell holes that was known as
  'no man's land
• Many soldiers ended up with Shell Shock

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Social Effects During the War Technology and
Disillusionment

• Zeppelins and bombers were developed and began
  dropping bombs on towns, but only 1,500 died from
  this
• Tanks were also being developed, but broke down
  quite often
• Gas warfare was used but was unreliable caused
  much fear
• Very little damage was done to the homefront
  since this technology was in its infancy

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Social Effects During the War - Schlieffen Plan
Disillusionment

• In theory, it would allow Germany avoid a
  two-front war
• Most of the fighting would be against France in
  the beginning, then once they are defeated they
  would throw all their resources against Russia
• The Germans would go through neutral Belgium to
  reach France to avoid the Maginot Line
• Germans officials put all faith into this plan
  and had no other alternative

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MAGINOT LINE
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Social Effects During the War - Technology and
Disillusionment

• Arms races developed arms manufacturers became
  major enterprises
• Were too big and imperfect to end the stalemate
• Generals were reluctant to discard old ways of
  thinking (importance of the machine gun and
  trenches)
• All this caused the countries on the defensive to
  have the advantage
• There were many deaths and little gains to be had

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Social Effects Class System

• The result of working together for a common goal
  seemed to be unifying European societies
• All belligerents had enacted some form of a
  selective service which leveled classes
• Wartime scarcities made luxury an impossibility
  and unfavorable
• Reflecting this, clothing became uniform.
  Europeans would never again dress in fancy,
  elaborate costumes

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Social Effects Women

• Became more of a part of society than ever
• They undertook a variety of jobs previously held
  by men
• They were now a part of clerical, secretarial
  work, and teaching
• They were also more widely employed in industrial
  jobs

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Social Effects Women

• Because of their efforts, it was only a matter of
  time before women received the right to vote in
  many belligerent countries
• Many restrictions on women disappeared during the
  war. It became acceptable for young, employed,
  single middle-class women to
• Have their own apartments
• Go out without chaperones
• Smoke in public
• Women's skirts rose above the ankle permanently

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Social Effects - African Americans

• One week of Wilsons declaration of war, the War
  Department had to stop accepting black volunteers
  because the quotas for African Americans were
  filled
• Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and could
  only serve limited and menial positions in the
  Navy and the Coast Guard
• By the end of World War I, African Americans
  served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical,
  engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving
  as chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists,
  and intelligence officers
• They introduced their culture, especially jazz,
  to Europeans, but gained no civil rights

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Social/Economic Effects Labor Unions

• Employers fought to keep union organizers out of
  their plants and armed force was often used
  against striking workers
• The universal rallying of workers towards their
  country at the beginning of the war led to wider
  acceptance of unions
• A long war was not possible without complete
  cooperation of the workers with respect to
  putting in long hours and increasing productivity

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Social Effects Restriction of Rights

• Governments took on many new powers in order to
  fight the total war. War governments fought
  opposition by increasing police power
• Authoritarian regimes like tsarist Russia had
  always depended on the threat of force, but now
  even parliamentary governments felt the necessity
  to expand police powers and control public opinion

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Social Effects Restriction of Rights in Britain

• The Defense of the Realm Act authorized the
  public authorities to arrest and punish
  dissidents under martial law if necessary
• Later acts grew to include
• Suspending newspapers
• Use of lights at home
• Food rationing
• Bar hours limited
• Strikes made illegal
• Running of factories and railroads
• Police powers tended to grow as the war went on
  and public opposition increased as well

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Social Effects Restriction of Rights in France
and Germany

• The government cracked down on
• Anyone suspected of supporting a compromise
  peace, giving military secrets, or airing
  dangerous opinions
• Censorship of newspapers
• Censorship of personal mail
• In Germany, laws were passed requiring males ages
  17-60 to work in the factories
• They also imported workers from occupied France
  and Belgium

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Social Effects Restrictions of Rights in the
U.S.

• Espionage Act of 1917 Made it illegal to make
  any criticism of the government, interfere with
  the draft, or to encourage disloyalty
• Red Scare of 1919-1920
• A strike and 38 mail bombs set off the scare
• June 1919 Palmers home was bombed
• Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer suspected
  almost anyone of being communist many innocent
  people were deported
• May 1920 Palmer announced the threat of large
  Communist riots on May 1st of 1920 (the Socialist
  Labor Day), but none materialized. This ended
  the scare

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Social Effects - Propaganda

• Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole
  people. They influenced people
• To enlist
• Support the war
• Plant gardens
• Conserve
• Join workforce
• Buy bonds
• Instill fear
• Dont tell secrets
• Ration or else
• Huns/barbarians

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Social Effects During and After WWI - Armenian
Genocide

• In 1908, the Young Turks led a revolution and
  seized power from the sultan
• The new rulers, who had promoted a platform of
  equality and constitutionalism, quickly turned to
  extreme nationalism
• They were afraid of conquest by another nation or
  ethnic group, so they drummed up support for an
  entirely ethnic Turkish state
• The Armenians were seen as an obstacle to their
  goal

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Social Effects During and After WWI - Armenian
Genocide

• 1915-1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed
• After WWI, 400 Young Turks were arrested and
  tried
• Most were sentenced to death, but fled the
  country other countries, including the new
  Turkish government, did not pursue them
• Killings resumed
• With the Ottoman Empire being renamed Turkey, a
  new republic was declared and the
  Turkish-Armenian issue was forgotten
• Encouraged Hitler to start the Holocaust

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Social Effects During and After the War -
Influenza

• In 1918 and 1919, the so-called "Spanish flu"
  killed an estimated 20-40 million people
  worldwide
• The strain of influenza virus that caused the
  1918 global epidemic ("pandemic") was
  exceptionally aggressive
• It was brought back to the homefront by the
  soldiers and was spread among civilians
• Life expectancy was lowered and caused countries
  to have further economic problems due to a lack
  of workers