The early years of the twentieth century were years of absolute turmoil. World War I completely changed the lives of the people who lived it. A war so brutal, the minds of men were changed forever. The roles of Women in society had shifted in a non-traditional direction and African Americans now found themselves serving in the military fighting in the war in hopes for greater opportunity. Shortages of food would strike almost all of Europe creating a food crisis felt by the soldiers on the frontlines and on those on the home front leading to economic prosperity for the United States. Political crises within Russia would lead to a revolution that would ultimately result in withdrawal from the war and allowing Germany to organize their last offensive attacks in efforts to become victorious but would result in the full force presence of the United States in the War; changing the tides of the war making World War I a complete transformative rupture in modern history.
World War I was an era of some of the most brutal forms of warfare. With a big disruption all throughout Europe, millions of men were called upon to fight the great fight. These men would have seemed eager to serve their empires at the start of the war, defending their people was a sense of honor but this mindset would change as the war continued. They raced to sign up for military service, eager to get involved before the action was over. These men would soon see that their experiences of their service would not be an experience that one would desire.
In the years of the war these men endured many physical and emotional hardships. They would be sent to fight for months or even years at a time and would soon find themselves cemented in the enormous conflict that many expected would not last as long as it did. Millions of Soldiers would find out that this war would go the distance as they were pitted in a stalemate. Between boredom experienced by the soldiers as a result of the stalemate and enemy bombardments raining terror on the trenches where men sought cover; this was a complete living nightmare for the men on the battle front. This war was no longer fought with hand to hand combat like previous wars, but instead the introduction of new technologies made it capable of fighting war at a distance. A new age of weaponry that had never been seen before made the battlefield absolutely terrifying and destroyed the world that surrounded the soldiers. Ernst Junger, A German Soldier in World War I, explains many of his personal terrifying experiences in the book Storm of Steel.
“Not more than fifty yards away from the company shelter, I found myself in a whole new and much worse bombardment, in which it seemed completely impossible to get through even this short stretch of trench without being hit.”
The improvement in warfare technology made for a bloody war, making the chances of survival on the front and returning home to families slim to none. Men who once were eager to leave their homelands and families to fight their enemies now found themselves questioning the war and all of the madness it had brought upon people by the masses.
The idea of war started to fade in the minds of the men who were fighting. They often wondered why are human beings slaughtering thousands of other human beings who they neither know, nor hate, nor love. The raw violence and terror of the war brought about a strong sense of humaneness between soldiers, even those of opposing sides. Such terror that men who fought on the front lines of battle; in the trenches returned home and were never the same. The emotional damage that the soldiers took on resulted in symptoms that medically could be classified as a mental disorder. This was called “Shell Shock”, what we now refer to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Men were mentally broke.
Women played a vital role in the efforts of World War I. Traditionally women held the societal role of being the care takers within home life and typically did not have much place in the workforce; but with the great demands that the war brought, women now held positions in manufacturing and agricultural positions on the home front. As the war experienced many advancements in weapon technology, the war demand for munitions grew tremendously and as men left to fight the war on the front lines, these positions were empty and needed to be filled. Women now assumed these positions in munitions factories. In terms of numbers, in the year 1914, a German armaments producer Krupp employed almost no women and by 1917, women made up nearly thirty percent of its 175, 000 workers and a nationwide total of nearly 1.4 German women were employed in the war labor force.
Women who once had only the worries of domestic duties were now direct contributors to the war and this brought a sense of independence among women. With this newly felt independence and taste of liberty, it is highly unlikely that women would be willing to return to the old order of things. With this new feeling of independence, women now sought recognition within society that they had not been granted. Women demanded an increase in wages that they received as the wages for their work was not the same as the men whom they were replacing within the labor force. They created organizations in support of the war effort which helped women gain respect from their fellow citizens and have their patriotic endeavors taken seriously. World War I was the first war that women played a significant role in war efforts. Never before had women been associated with any part of any war. American civilian women donned uniforms. The uniforms allowed women to look the part and claim credibility for their services, as well as to be taken seriously by others; many women saw their wartime service as a way to claim full citizenship, but even with their extensive and important service to the war, this contributions did not lead to the long-term equality that they had wished for. Many women were now being displaced in the labor force by men that they had initially displaced as the men had returned from war. This is completely transformative as women had such a break though within society, played such a vital role in the war; just to return to the old order of the world they once lived.
“Some unions asked women to do their new patriotic duty—to leave their jobs to the men. Unions successfully persuaded some state legislatures to ban women from many men’s jobs. By 1920 fewer women worked than before the war, and the future for women’s rights looked bleak. But one change remained: the debate over suffrage for women was over for good.”
World War I for African Americans is a period of fighting for a fully democratic America and full citizenship. At this time, African Americans were still never fully accepted as equals in society, let alone accepted in the military as segregation was will very existent. White men typically refused to serve alongside an African American soldiers and this would result in segregated units of African American Soldiers, but the demands of the war sometimes forced the army to place black soldiers in close proximity to whites and even in positions of minor authority. This caused much tension within the United States military. Not only was a war being fought abroad in foreign lands, but in a sense a civil war was being waged within the society of the United States because of these racial tensions. African American men were not viewed by white men as capable of holding positions of authority and typically worked non-combat roles such as cooks or assistant cooks for white combat units. Many military elites believed that assigning African Americans and White Americans to the same unit could cause much conflict within their army. Some soldiers opposed this theory because it was so ingrained in the minds of white men that African soldiers were by no means their equal.
“There would be no friction between races in consequence of such assignments because no colored man would be in position to give orders to any white man.”
Officials also remained leery of black advancement organizations, which they suspected would immediately protest these assignments unless they made black men eligible for all positions in white units.
The inequality that African American soldiers experienced did not go unnoticed, as many organizations and protests by other civilian African Americans would make efforts to publicize the discrimination the soldiers had endured. The United States Army would remain segregated and although black and white soldiers may not have served in the same units, it proved impossible to isolate members of the same army working together toward a common war goal. That common goal would be accomplished with the assistance and efforts made by African American soldiers.
Although African American soldiers were hardly recognized for their contributions to the war by their mother country, the United States, they would go on to be recognized by France as many received one of Frances highest military decorations, the Croix de Guerre. After the war, Many African American soldiers demanded equality. Their equal efforts in the war displayed that such equality should be granted. They believed that through their service through they could convince the military they could be assimilated into the general population. In 1924, African Americans were granted full citizenship.
A shortage in food would become a crisis felt by all of the wars participants. Food was already becoming scarce all throughout Europe due to the demands of war with food stocks down to about 4 weeks, and with a blockade by the British preventing food and other supplies from reaching the central powers, this only negatively contributed to the food crisis. As Britain had hopes of cutting all of Germanys economic ties to the rest of the world, this only brought great starvation to countries of the Central powers. Germany began to see that the consequences of the increasingly effective blockade would slowly starve the country of resources and food. Germany in response had launched a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare that was intended to expose France, Italy, and especially Britain to the same food crisis. The food crisis was not only felt by those fighting in the war but also by those who were on the home front. Malnourishment struck almost all who were affected by the food crisis. With the shortage of food, rationing food was the only way to survive. Many families and workers had to live on rations rather than having the luxury of eating as they pleased. Protests over the portions of rations caused much disruption within the work place. Women in the war factories demanded an equalization of rations among munitions workers, and the normally rationed called for the equalization of rations overall. Society as a whole were so affected by this food crisis, so exhausted and so starved that they ultimately gave up the ideas of continued war and many wanted nothing but peace. Many people began to think that the continued sacrifices for further battles are simply not worth it and any peace is better than a continuation of war.
This food shortage and lack of access to supplies would lead to economic prosperity for the United States as they now felt the full force of the food crisis and the lack of supplies reaching Europe. The United States had never been a competitor in the world economy but now the need for exports from the United States was imperative which would lead to the United States becoming an economic powerhouse. Industrialists and farmers reaped the benefits of imports needed by Europe leading to many improvements in technology and agriculture. At this point in time, the United States was a leader in agricultural technology that would greatly affect the war. The United States had tractors that were far more versatile and had more far more productivity. The tractor increased the amount of crops that could be harvested per acre meaning that more food was being produced to be exported to the Allied powers of Europe, assisting them in the war. Tractors were not only used for agriculture but also had use on the battlefield. These tractors would be used to pull artillery to different locations in battle as needed. The United States now saw a great opportunity to be a leading exporter to support the Allied powers war efforts.
World War I for Russia would result in nothing but political crises. When the war had broke, Russian men in the working class and peasants were forced to join the Russian Army. These men were forced to fight without the proper outfitting for war. Over the course of the war, millions of Russian men had died in battle or were wounded. The people of Russia were outraged that so many young men were being killed in a war many started to believed was pointless.
Lives of the Russian people were not glorious. The affects of war were felt greatly by all of the Russian people. They felt completely oppressed in the sense that they continued to live in horrible conditions, worked tirelessly for low wages, and continued to loss great men of their country.