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Sources 20.2: On the Home Front

The First World War is often described as an early example of “total war” in which the civilian population was both mobilized for the struggle and deeply affected by it. With so many men away from home, women were engaged with the war in any number of ways. Tens of thousands joined the military in support roles, particularly nursing, while in Russia several “women’s battalions,” all-female combat forces, were created in 1917, in part to stimulate war-weary men to continue the fight. This set of sources highlights some of the ways that women on the home front were involved in the Great War.

Source 20.2A, a British propaganda poster from 1915, and Source 20.2B, a popular British song, both speak to the moral expectation for women in wartime. Source 20.2C, from Germany, reflects a common experience of women during the war — work in military-related industries, while Source 20.2D reflects the food shortages afflicting German women owing to the Allied blockade of their country.

Questions to consider as you examine the sources:

For what purposes did male authorities seek to mobilize women during the war?
What is the message of the British propaganda poster in Source 20.2A to British men? And to British women?
How is the relationship between social classes in wartime described or implied in Sources 20.2C and 20.2D?

Source 20.2A

Women of Britain Say –– “Go!,” 1915

Women of Britain Say – “Go!”Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, France/De Agostini Picture Library/Bridgeman Images

Source 20.2B

Keep the Home Fires Burning, 1915

They were summoned from the hillside, / They were called in from the glen,

And the country found them ready / At the stirring call for men.

Let no tears add to their hardships / As the soldiers pass along,

And although your heart is breaking, / Make it sing this cheery song:

Keep the Home Fires Burning, / While your hearts are yearning.

Though your lads are far away / They dream of home.

There's a silver lining / Through the dark clouds shining,

Turn the dark cloud inside out / Till the boys come home.

Source: Lena Guilbert Ford, “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” music by Ivor Novello (London: Ascherberg Hopewood and the Crew, 1915).

Source 20.2C

Editha von Krell

Recollections of Four Months Working in a German Munitions Factory, 1917

As the war went on, [the government] ordered two large munitions factories to be built right next to our town too. But very soon there was a shortage of male workers there. And so at the end of April 1917, all the town’s women and girls were asked to come and work in these factories. . . . When we heard . . . that no one from the educated classes had yet volunteered, and that hundreds of workers were urgently required our decision was made. Together with two friends, my sister and I volunteered for duty immediately.

We began with an eight-hour shift from 3 in the afternoon to until 11 in the evening. . . . Initially we were all put in the sewing room where day after day we had to sew thousands of little bags which were then filled with barrel powder for the cartridges in another department. . . . We sewed without interruption — apart from a short coffee break and a half-hour supper break. . . . Our backs often hurt from this unaccustomed sitting. Our heads often ached terribly in the bad air, which you could almost have cut with a knife. . . . After a few weeks, at our own request, we were moved on to the “heavy work,” where we had to put the howitzer shells together with the cases containing the powder and equip them with fuses. . . .

We were not allowed to air the rooms, even during our meal breaks. Doors and windows had to be kept shut because of the danger of explosions. But we prided ourselves on never slacking, on always keeping up with the professional workers. Here too the harmonious relationships we enjoyed with them was clear. For if ever this completely unaccustomed work proved too much for one of us [the educated women], one of the workers would help out as a matter of course, smiling, “Leave that to me, miss — it’s far too hard for you.”

Even today we still like to think back to the time when we were able to serve the Fatherland, working with our hands at one with the people.

Source: Deutsche Frauen, Deutsche Treue [German Women, German and Loyal], published in 1935. Reprinted in Joyce Marlow, ed., The Virago Book of Women and the Great War (London: Virago, 1998), 255–57. Used by permission.

Source 20.2D

Berlin Police Reports, 1915

On the 16th of the month at 5:00 PM thousands of women and children gathered at the municipal market hall . . . to buy a few pounds of potatoes. As the sale commenced, everyone stormed the market stands. The police, who were trying to keep order, were simply overrun and were powerless against the onslaught. A life-threatening press at the stands ensued; each sought to get past the next. . . . Women had their possessions ripped from them and children were trampled on the ground as they pleaded for help. . . . Women who got away from the crowds with some ten pounds of potatoes each were bathed in sweat and dropped to their knees from exhaustion before they could continue home. –– Report of Officer Rhein

I . . . came upon a crowd of several thousand men and women who were howling loudly and pushing the policemen aside. . . . [T]he crowd had already stormed several buttershops because of the prices. . . . Several large display windows were shattered, shop doors destroyed, and entire stocks were simply taken. . . . We cleared the street with fifteen mounted officers. . . . Various objects such as flower pots were thrown at us. — Report of Officer Krupphausen

Source: Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, Potsdam, Provinz Brandenburg, Repositur 30, Berlin C, Titel 95, Polizeipräsidium, Nrs. 15809, 15814, 15821, 15851. Contributed, translated, and introduced by Belinda Davis in Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History, edited by Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner (Boston: Wadsworth Publishing, 2000), 426–27. Used by permission.