7 - Civilians: how did they make war and survive it?

Summary

Introduction

The historiography of civilian life in wartime has developed along three axes over time.

First axis: masses

In the 1920s and 1930s, the masses behind the lines were configured as populations to be mobilized, protected, or coerced into making the sacrifices necessary for the continuation of the war to a successful conclusion. The Carnegie series on the economic and social history of the Great War charted the space of civilian life in terms of social and economic policies and their outcomes. In this period, though, the home front was still seen as the backdrop of, and support for, the battle front.

The focus on the home front in historical writing became significant only in the 1960s. In part this was a reflection of the trend towards labour history and social scientific history, which could handle evidence related to broad populations drawn into war though not in uniform. Here is an excellent example of the return to origins, since the idea behind James Shotwell's 132-volume series (1924) on the economic and social history of the war was to obliterate the distinction between military history on the one hand and ‘people's history’ on the other.

Second axis: classes

In the 1960s, the study of social movements focused on the contradictory trajectories of labour movements in different countries, both prior to and after the two Russian revolutions. On the one hand, labour opposition to war evaporated rapidly in the midst of the war crisis of 1914.