IV - The Civilians' War

Summary

1. The war economy

The belligerents were not planning to introduce major changes in their economy, as they expected the war to end soon. However, after a few weeks the state authorities decided that a switch to a wartime economy was the order of the day. Some civilians were to don uniforms and march off to the front, while others were to transform into “soldiers behind the front” or “soldiers on the home front.” A supporting base had to be created and geared to work for the front, providing it with human and material resources on a hitherto unimaginable scale.

In the First World War the boundary between the front and its hinterland, as it was known from earlier wars, was completely obscured due to the colossal scale on which belligerent countries mobilised their resources, which called for an absolutely co-ordinated effort on the part of the military and the civilians. This was achieved sooner in France than in Britain; much faster in Germany than in Austria-Hungary; and at the slowest rate in Turkey. In the Allied countries the mobilisation of civilians worked well until the very end; but in the Central Powers by the summer of 1918 it was encountering formidable obstacles which foretold the impending disaster.