HST 702 Lecture 8: HST702 - Lecture 8 Fighting the War on the Home Fronts.docx
9 Dec 2013
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1 - the demands of total war: the unquenchable thirst of modern conflict. In 1916, german army had 5. 5 million men. Immense investment in the war began to reshape europe fundamentally. Political centralization and the extension of government power. Economic regimentation and alternate sources of labour. The active support of the population, to be manipulated and enhanced through censorship and propaganda. A state can only build up their army to a certain degree. Britain had never forced people to fight (conscription) Realized it wasn"t feasible not to have a draft because they had to keep up with the size of other armies. 2 - the creation of war industry: private enterprise and profiteering. Government at the mercy of private enterprises. Workers furious because they worked long hours for low wages but industrialists made shit tons of money. If you tell the industries they can"t make a profit, they lose incentive to be efficient.
