Total War By my own understanding “Total War” is when the whole world is emerged in the destruction which the war brings. In all the meanings of this word- physical, social, economical, moral, etc. It is when the everyday lives of soldiers and also civilians are either changed significantly or ended because of the battle between the nations themselves, where both soldiers and civilians are hurt. WWI – the first total war, where propagandas were presented to whole nations to stir them up to the offensive position by their leaders causing the participation of ordinary people in this bloodbath to defend their own countries. New, radical, more powerful weapons and methods of warfare are developed and basically no-one in the world could feel completely safe, since there was always a chance of an attack from the enemy. Most of the world during this period felt like sitting on a powder keg which could explode any time. More or less the whole world was embraced in the terror of WWI – almost every continent of the world could feel the war (except for Antarctica (no major inhabitants) and South America (minor affection during the battles, but they still felt the economic fall)). There were significant campaigns in Africa, were there were clashes between the European forces – the British and French fought against German colonial forces in this
continent. The British and French took over the Togoland protectorate, but Germans fought in South Africa and East Africa. These battles where very significant and the German East Africa was given up only by the end of the war. Slightly bloody battles were fought in the Middle East, where the Ottoman Empire was flourishing alongside with Germans – the battles of Gallipoli in 1915 where very important and full of casualties. Significant battles also took part in the Oceania and Pacific, where Allies fought roughly against German colonies. New Zealand took over German Samoa. The Japanese also occupied the German ...
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continent. The British and French took over the Togoland protectorate, but Germans fought in South Africa and East Africa. These battles where very significant and the German East Africa was given up only by the end of the war. Slightly bloody battles were fought in the Middle East, where the Ottoman Empire was flourishing alongside with Germans – the battles of Gallipoli in 1915 where very important and full of casualties. Significant battles also took part in the Oceania and Pacific, where Allies fought roughly against German colonies. New Zealand took over German Samoa. The Japanese also occupied the German Micronesian colonies and the German coaling port of Qingdao in the Chinese Shandong peninsula. It was only a matter of months for the allies to take over the German Pacific territories. As it can be observed, Europe may have been the epicenter of the war, but a lot of blood was also spilt in different parts of the world. All the nations around the world could not feel safe because of the assaults even on innocent civilians. Civilian ships were sunk, civilian were bombarded by airship artilleries and etc. Nobody knew what could happen in the close future and whether tomorrow will come for them. The most intense cases were the sinking of Lusitania, when German U-boats swallowed the lives of more than 1000 innocent people, only because of the entrance in the war zone. There were also other horrible cases of other ships being attacked like the hospital ship “Britannica”, which carried ill and helpless people. Ship sinking was not the only type of horrible deeds of the war criminals – there was also city bombardment. The tragedy of the Belgian city Antwerp, which was bombed by the German Zeppelin airplanes, was a real carnage. There were more than 500 hundred casualties and more than 900 houses were demolished. These assaults on the civilians were terrible crimes committed by ruthless people, who only cared for the victory of their own nation. Therefore, no one could be relaxed since about 100 countries participated in the war. Any of them could be assaulted any time. During this war many of the political leaders used propagandas to strengthen the power of the military force by adding civilians to the war. And this was done by catchy and provoking propagandas, which basically left no choice for the civilians but to join the fight against the other nations. Since most these propagandas showed how horrible is the enemy – there was no choice but to believe in them. Many civilians had to join in the fight because of pride and anger. Therefore, this war was even more terrible than it was prognosticated to be. Propaganda which made civilians fight, was one of the main aspects, which made this war unique compared to the wars before, since in the past wars armies were small and professional, but this time a lot more blood was spilt as the political leaders were strategic enough to throw the civilians of their nations in these frontiers of death and horror. This war significantly changed the lives of the many people, because of the introduction of conscription and the injuries and casualties on the battlefield. Men of all ages kept dying and receiving crippling injuries (both physical and mental). Teenagers, young men, old men – all suffered. Many women had to raise their children and work by themselves because of the absence or disability of their men. Physically crippled men could not assist their families, nor could the mentally damaged ones, who seemed fine from the outside, but were terribly damaged mentally. These soldiers were useless for work afterwards, since they could not concentrate and frequently collapsed. E. Hemingway popularized the term “Lost Generation”. Hemingway explains this term: “That is what you are. That's what you all are...All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.” These men gave up their strength to the war and never retrieved it back. There was no other choice for the rest of the people but to live with this lost generation and to hope and fight through the though daily life without the once powerful and supportive majority of men. Most of the problems mentioned before actually resulted in an economic fiasco all around the world. As all the countries who fought the war invested a lot of money into warfare, as outrageous numbers of men were killed or disabled, as the Spanish flu spread (which took approximately around 20 million lives worldwide), as many important industries were destroyed and because of various other factors, people experienced a terrible inflation. This chain actually changed the conditions of life for most of the people – to the worst side. No quality of the existing production (women working instead of men) or no production at all made lives of the majority of people very miserable during and after the war. People had to fight for survival even when the war was officially ended. It is clear that this war was the most disastrous war experienced at that time, since the whole world was sinking in the terror of the effects and aftermath of WWI. No one was left out and humanity had finally achieved the absolute chaos in all the most important spheres. Pain, fear and suffering were the dominating themes during this war – even for those countries, which did not lose the war. The population of the world lost a significant part of it, but it gained significant experience with the death toll of millions – it had experienced the total war, which made all the nations stronger with the experience, but still – this experience was not put to use correctly. After the bloodbath of WWI humans became even more bloodthirsty during the next WW. This war changed part of the humanity into fierce, heartless animals and, perhaps, this can be felt even today and might be felt soon in the future.
