The First World War - German Homefront

When you search for the home front during the first world war, it is filled with information about what life was like in Britain, yet it is extremely difficult to find information on what life was like in Germany at the same time. Maybe it is because they lost the war? Or maybe it was something that was kept a secret from the rest of the world so that they didn't show how much the war had affected the country. 

At the outbreak of the first world war, there was one country that was better prepared for war than any other nation and that was Germany. What they weren't prepared for was how long the war would last. Like Britons, they thought it would be over pretty quickly. 

From early on in the war, conscription was informed with a vast number of German men being called up. This led to a shortage of male labour in the country, so women and youths were used to fill the job roles.At this time in history, much like Briton, women were paid far less than men for doing the same job. In fact it was usually half the pay of a man's, which, for families, was a huge amount of income lost and so many families found themselves suddenly in extreme poverty. 

Although there is very little information to be had, I would imagine that children, especially boys, suddenly had the weight of the world on their shoulders as they became the man of the family. Schools and childhoods were no longer seen as important, instead it was doing everything possible to win the war. But this was not going to be easy.

Allied soldiers had created a blockade, making importation extremely difficult, so food and supplies were suddenly in short supply. Attention was then turned to the farmers in the country who were called upon to be the main source of food. For many German's, their diet mainly consisted of potatoes on bread so that the German Army could benefit from good nutritious diet so that they could continue to fight.  In 1915, riots started throughout Germany, as many thought farmers in rural areas were stock piling their food whilst the rest of the country was going without. 

By 1916, soap, fat, cheese, butter and eggs were unavailable with coal, shoes and textiles also being almost non-existent. But things were about to get much worse with the winter of 1916/17. A bitterly cold, frosty winter had killed off pretty much all of the potatoes in Germany which was a huge problem considering they made up most of the diet on the German home front. Turnips, which were usually only used to feed livestock, were suddenly being used to fed a hungry nation. Food was so scarce that even the German army had to cut rations in what became known as the Turnip Winter. 

With such a lack of food came with it malnutrition and death due to weakened bodies. Over the course of the war, over 474,000 civilians died various causes all relating to undernourishment and poor diet. 

I can't help that think although there were a lot of similarities between the British home front and the German home front, the German's had it worse off in that respect. Whilst us British never wanted a war and certainly weren't prepared for one, we were pretty quick in setting up organisations and committees to not just win the war but survive as a nation. In contrast, it seems like the German government were so consumed with fighting and winning the war, that they didn't see the problems they were going to be facing at home should the war drag on. It was something that in the years to come Hitler recognised to a certain extend, where during the second world war, he set up various organisations that would help the war effort on the home front.