During World War One, “Despite France’s rich agricultural resources, the country found itself facing an increasing food deficit. One out of every four of Frances’s 5.2 million farmers and farm workers was mobilized in 1914. The military requisitioned many of the horses that provided motive power on French farms, and jammed railroads were unable to deliver the usual supply of fertilizer. A shortage of gasoline made it difficult to operate tractors, and a shortage of coal hindered the operation of grain threshers. Additional pressure on the food supply came from the country’s huge army. French soldiers at the front required a diet that included 11 ounces of meat daily.” [7] It is clear that France’s economy played a huge part in this total war.
America, although not as involved to the extent of the major European countries mobilized many of their economical resources during the First World War. America needed the gather and ship as much food as possible to America’s European allies. This required creating an even larger surplus than usual by forcing the American population to cut down on its consumption of key items like meat and wheat. [8] President Woodrow Wilson placed Bernard Baruch in charge of American economy, who turned factories into producers of war materials. The United States government agencies directed the nation’s economy toward the war effort. [9]
Another part of total war is the social aspect where humans are affected socially and mobilized in the war. For Britain, this appeared in the name of propaganda. “The wartime poster could rouse emotions in short order, and the British government issued over 100 during the first year of the war” [10] These posters showed a brutish German soldier abducting an innocent young girl, effectively provoking strong emotions and drawing people into joining the war. [11] Several British men and women took part in the war through the military, becoming nurses or serving on the home front.
Socially, France contributed great to the aspect of total war. Henri Desagneaux served in the French army during World War One. Many years later, in 1971, his diary was published. This excerpt tells of the refugees during the fighting in1914, “Men, women, children, and old folk are huddled together in any vehicles they count find. What a sad sight it is to see the old carts drawn by nags that even the requisition officers refused; these poor people, distressed, leaving their homes and their possessions, without knowing whether they will return.” [12] The death of so many young men affected France more than any other countries. During the 1920’s, France’s population dropped dramatically because of the low birthrate. [13]
Even the United States contributed to this aspect of the First World War. The Four Minute Men, recruited for their talent in speaking, presented pep talks heard by millions in support of the war. [14] They were able to speak their patriotic speeches in a variety of languages and even moved into the new medium of film producing movies such as The Beast of Berlin. [15] Government propaganda pictured the war as a battle for liberty and democracy. Man power was the chief contribution of the United States to World War One. America entered the war with 128 000 men, soon requiring all men 21 to 30 to register for military service, then broadening to 18 to 45 in 1918. Many men enlisted voluntarily and woman signed up as nurses and office workers. About five million American men and women were involved in the war. [16]
Germany probably had the biggest impact, socially, on this total war. The majority of German efforts to influence public opinion came from cautious bureaucrats in the War Press Office, a part of the War Ministry. [17] “The public was flooded with millions of copies of pamphlets with optimistic titles like “To the Final Battle” or bracing ones like “We Must Win.”” [18] Many people were affected by Germany’s involvement in the war. The German government put this advertisement in the New York World newspaper on May 1, 1915, the same day the Lusitania set sail from America. Very few passengers believed that Germany would plot to hit a passenger liner, but six days later 1200 people died when that ship was hit. This is the warning German government wrote, “Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a stated or war exists between Germany and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.” [19] All Quiet of the Western Front was written by Erich Maria Remarque, A German who served in the First World War, who wrote, “Summer 1918, never has life at the front been more bitter and more full of horror than when we are under fire, when the pallid faces are pressed into the mud and the fists are clenched and your whole being is saying, No! No! No, not now! Not now at the very last minute!”[20] German Princess, Evelyn described the war in these words, “We are all gaunt and bony now, and have dark shadows round our eyes, and our thoughts are chiefly taken up with wondering what our next meal will be, and dreaming of the good things that once existed.” [21] German Otto Dix was an artist who fought in the trenches. In these words, he described the nightmare of the suffering experience, “Lice, rats, barbed wire, fleas, shells, bombs, underground caves, corpses, blood, liquor, mice, cats, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, steal: that is what war is. It is the work of the devil.” [22] The German community was fully mobilized in World War I and because of it, they suffered greatly. Millions of men and women were up rooted from all nations because of the war. Some fled war-torn areas and later found their houses, farms, or villages destroyed. [23]
The last aspect of a total war is politics. The governments of all nations were fully mobilized in effort to win the world with little else on their minds. “In 1914 the political structure of the society, teetering on the pinnacle of power balance, came shivering down like a house of cards.” says Colonel R. Ernest Dupuy. [24] In Germany, “An hour later the German ambassador in St. Petersburg, Count Friedrich von Pourtales, handed Sazonov a declaration of war and then burst into tears.” [25] The German government reacted to the news of Russian mobilization on July 31 by ordering almost a full mobilization. [26] German leaders considered the war a risk worth taking. [27]
The Battle of Passchendale was an utter disaster. Yet, in Field Marshall Haig’s papers, it says that he received the following congratulatory telegram from the British government on October 16, 1917 reading, “The War Cabinet desire to congratulate you and the troops under your command upon the achievements of the British Armies in Flanders in the great battle which has been raging since July 31st…” [28] The British government was not concerned about elections or political debates among each other, but they were determined to encourage their troops in effort to succeed on the battle field.
Russia ordered full mobilization, saying that “Russian leaders were convinced there was no turning back” [29] The French government boosted morale during the final years of the war by tapping the energies of local school teachers, townspeople and farmers, offering the most optimistic responses they could contrive. [30]
The political aspect of the war was even mobilized in the United States of America. At the start of World War One, President Wilson declared the neutrality of the United States but the sinking of Lusitania and other actions of the Germans against civilians drew American sympathies to the Allies. [31] Thus, America’s government fully mobilized themselves in the First World War.
The First World War was a war of total war. A war in which all nations resources, economics, humans and ideological are mobilized in the war effort in order to win. Although it is argued that America did not contribute to the total aspect of war because they did not fight on their country’s land, the amount of political, ideological and economic resources that the United States mobilized far outweighs the argument that they were not in a total war. European countries; Britain, France, Germany and Russia were clearly, to a large extent, in a total war during the First World War. After all nations mobilized all that they had, World War I truly became a total war.
