Total war: - all-encompassing nature - entire population expected to contribute - mobilisation of all aspects of society in conflicts and includes

home and military fronts and the contributions made by both military and civilian populations + social, economical, and physical impacts upon the military and civilian populations THE TECHNOLOGICAL, CULTURAL, AND SOCIAL ADVANCES IN THE POPULATION ARE PROOF OF THE MOBILISATION OF ALL ASPECTS OF SOCIETY DUE TO TOTAL WAR - Examples: technological and military aspects (weapons development, usage/targeting of civilians) + impact on the economy (living standards, rationing, taxation, employment patterns, industrial and agricultural organization and production), the changing role of women, advances in medicine, effects on organisation and production - home front: necessary because industrial efficiency and production played a significant role in determining the outcome of victory - The participating countries directed all of their resources - political, social, and economically- into ensuring victory on the battlefield - increasing intervention, control, and regulation by the government

Economic causes

Propoganda - German propaganda minister Josef Goebbels : The total war effort has become a matter of the entire German people...Rich and poor, high and low must share the burdens equally. - Americans encouraged to pariticipate in home front activites: Ronald Schaff: In the America of the 1917 18, self-sacrifice, idealism, and patriotism existed side by side with efforts to reap private gain from the war, with government management of interest groups, and with efforts by those groups to manipulate the government that sought to control them. (e.g. Committee on Public Information (CPI) sought to support an Allied victory by explaining to the nation the official reasons for fighting, stimulate their patriotism, and enhance their admiration for American and Allied armed forces. Technology in the Air Technology on Land Technology at Sea Home Front Military - Conscription enforced - Relentless intensity and vast scale of war - Massive destruction and high casualty rates - Unrestrained use of weapons in order to fight the enemy (ex. use of biochemicals for mass destruction first poison gas used at Ypres in April 1915) - Aim: to destroy the opponent

Political: - Power centralized - state becoming more interventionist and passes decree in order to control economy/society and gear them for war - use of propaganda to encourage involvement in the home front and reinforce nationalistic elements in order to rally support

WW1 a total war because of the aims of the participating nations - both sides fought for victory (a total war for both sides) - home front + civilian population + role of women Great Powers: ambitious aims that they were unlikely to redeem (e.g. Frances intention to acquire Alsace Lorraine and both France and Britains commitment to crush German militarism and expansion

2: Role of civilian population - rapid growth in industry - Britain, France and Germany: women filling the workplaces as men left to fight the war - increasing number of civilian casual\ti Britain: 1915: DORA (Defence of the Realm Ac) decree passed, allowing governments to infere in peoples everyday lives in order to satisfy war demands. Newspapers censored, letters home fron soldiers censored to give cheerfu impression of life at front

- British government centralized key industries such as the coal mining industry to meet the demands of war

Civilian perspective: lives of civilians drastically affected by war since there were huge losses of soldiers resulting in the lost generation : led to military conscription in France for 1915 and Britain in 1916

SO TOTAL WAR IN THE SENSE THAT 1) COUNTRIES had aims for total victory and 2) this led to the mobilisation of all forces

According to Dr. Stephen Badsey, World War I was a demonstration of the prodigious strength, resilience and killing power of modern states

home front + fighting front

state takes over allocation of resources and takes control of production, imports, and exports in a way that would help it to win the war/ achieve victory - expectation of the civilians to readily participate (home front) - poison gas - first used by the Germans in WW1 in the second battle of Ypres in April 1915 - biochemichal warfare (incapacitate the enemy)