The social changes wrought by total war were no less profound than the economic impacts, though again there were important national variations. National conscription sent millions of men to the front, exposing many to foreign lands for the first time in their lives. The insatiable needs of the military created a tremendous demand for workers, making jobs readily available. This situation brought momentous changes.

The need for workers meant greater power and prestige for labor unions. Unions cooperated with war governments in return for real participation in important decisions. The entry of labor leaders and unions into policymaking councils paralleled the entry of socialist leaders into war governments. Both reflected a new government openness to the needs of those at the bottom of society.

The role of women changed dramatically. Women moved into skilled industrial jobs long considered men’s work. Women became highly visible in public — as munitions workers, bank tellers, and mail carriers, and even as police officers, firefighters, and farm laborers. Women also served as auxiliaries and nurses at the front. (See “Individuals in Society: Vera Brittain.”)

The war expanded the range of women’s activities and helped change attitudes about proper gender roles, but the long-term results were mixed. At the war’s end, millions of demobilized soldiers demanded their jobs back, and governments forced women out of the workplace. Thus, women’s employment gains were mostly temporary. As a result of women’s many-sided war effort, the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland, and other countries granted women the right to vote immediately after the war, but women’s rights movements faded in the 1920s and 1930s.

To some extent, the war promoted greater social equality, blurring class distinctions and lessening the gap between rich and poor. This blurring was most apparent in Great Britain, where the bottom third of the population generally lived better than they ever had because the poorest gained most from the severe shortage of labor. Elsewhere, greater equality was reflected in full employment, distribution of scarce rations according to physical needs, and a sharing of hardships. In general, despite some war profiteering, European society became more uniform and egalitarian.