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Germany
1916 -1917
Starter
How did the appointment of Ludendorff
and Hindenburg affect Germany in
the war and at home?
Learning Objectives:
To understand how Germany was
affected by the First World War
Success Criteria:
To know how the events of 1916 &
1917 affected Germany socially,
militarliy and politically.
Key Terms
Convoy System:
A system of grouping merchant ships
carrying goods and providing warships
to accompany them for protection.
Polarisation:
When politics on the left and right become
more extreme.
Shortages
The shortages of fuel and raw materials were made worse by the
desperately cold winter of 1916-17. Coal production in 1917 were only
90% of the production of 1913 despite the demand for fuel from war
industries. Added to this were the freezing of rivers and railways made
the problems worse. There were shortages of animal fats, coal, soap
and clothing. In an effort to save on fuel, authorties cut back on street
lighting and reduced tram services. The weather also massively
affected the potato harvest, which was important due to the reliance
on this crop due to reductions in wheat production. The affect was
massive, and there was considerable hunger over the next two years.
Those who suffered the most were the urban working class as they had
no access to cheap food.
People weer forced to use turnips as Ersatz potato up to the point that
the winter of 1916-17 was known as the ‘Turnip winter’.
Soup kitchens were set up. 6m meals were handed out in Hamburg in
April alone. Although these measures were useful to a point, there was
little they could do to prevent malnutrition.
The bureaucracy controlled food prices but not supply. If peasants did not
like the prices, they would hoard the grain.
Queuing became one of the defining experiences for Germans during the
war.
Question
What were the potential political
implications for the food shortages in
the winter of
1916-17?
Social consequences
Food shortages, hunger queuing and state intervention had considerable
social consequences.
• Peasantry & rural producers were alienated by state regulations. After
1917, they were hampered by labour shortages (despite 1m prisoners of
war). State prices were low and took no account of production costs.
Resentment was felt towards the Junkers who still kept their tax
privaliges until 1916.
• The urban working class also resented state and bureaucratic controls,
lack of food and queues. There was also resentment of the black market
where between 25% and 35% of food was sold. They blamed the middle
classes, speculators and Jews. This resentment often turned to violence.
• The middle classes entered into an insecure world wthout servants and
savings that were worth less and less. The Mittelstand (lower middle
classes, teachers and officials) experienced insecurity as the war closed
the gap between salaried and non-salaried professionals and were also
affected by the scarcity of food.
Resources of Allied and Central Powers,
1917
If you were Hindenburg & Ludendorf,
looking at these figures, what would your
war strategy
Allies be? Central Powers
Aeroplanes 3,163 1,500