2. Social Effects During the War -
Disillusionment
Most had gone to war in 1914 believing
in heroism and nobility
Trench warfare and the wartime
experience changed these feeling to
anger and disbelief
A mood of desolation and emptiness
prevailed at the end of a war where
great sacrifice had brought little gain
Church attendance dropped during and
after the war
3. Social Effects During the War -
Disillusionment
The anger of the soldier-poets was directed
against those who had sent them to the war,
not their enemy
Generation Gap - The generation conflict
was also widened by the war as Veterans'
disillusionment fed off of anger towards the
older generation for sending them to the
trenches
British poet, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in
1918 was transformed from a young
romantic into a powerful denouncer of those
who had sent young men off to war
4. Social Effects During the War –
Artillery and Disillusionment
Artillery killed more people than any other
weapon between 1914-18. The biggest guns
used in the Great War could fire shells as large
as a soldier
The troops were terrified of them. Men watched
their fellows being blown apart or dreadfully
wounded by shrapnel
Generals ordered artillery to bombard enemy
trenches for hours on end before sending their
own troops 'over the top' to attack. The idea was
that the artillery would:
Kill many enemy soldiers
Terrify others
Destroy barbed wire defenses
Destroy machine gun positions
5. Social Effects During the War –
Artillery and Disillusionment
In fact, enough enemy machine guns
usually survived to mow down the
infantry when they finally attacked
In many ways, artillery fire made it even
harder to attack enemy trenches as it
destroyed all cover and created the
famous barren landscape of blasted trees
and shell holes that was known as 'no
man's land’
Many soldiers ended up with Shell Shock
6.
7. Social Effects During the War –
Technology and Disillusionment
Zeppelins and bombers were
developed and began dropping bombs
on towns, but only 1,500 died from this
Tanks were also being developed, but
broke down quite often
Gas warfare was used but was
unreliable; caused much fear
Very little damage was done to the
homefront since this technology was in
its infancy
8. Social Effects During the War -
Schlieffen Plan & Disillusionment
In theory, it would allow Germany avoid
a two-front war
Most of the fighting would be against
France in the beginning, then once they
are defeated they would throw all their
resources against Russia
The Germans would go through neutral
Belgium to reach France to avoid the
Maginot Line
Germans officials put all faith into this
plan and had no other alternative
9.
10.
11. Social Effects During the War -
Technology and Disillusionment
Arms races developed & arms manufacturers
became major enterprises
Were too big and imperfect to end the
stalemate
Generals were reluctant to discard old ways
of thinking (importance of the machine gun
and trenches)
All this caused the countries on the defensive
to have the advantage
There were many deaths and little gains to be
had
12. Social Effects – Class System
The result of working together for a
common goal seemed to be unifying
European societies:
All belligerents had enacted some form
of a selective service which leveled
classes
Wartime scarcities made luxury an
impossibility and unfavorable
Reflecting this, clothing became uniform.
Europeans would never again dress in
fancy, elaborate costumes
13. Social Effects – Women
Became more of a part of
society than ever
They undertook a variety of jobs
previously held by men
They were now a part of
clerical, secretarial work, and
teaching
They were also more widely
employed in industrial jobs
14. Social Effects – Women
Because of their efforts, it was only a
matter of time before women received
the right to vote in many belligerent
countries
Many restrictions on women
disappeared during the war. It became
acceptable for young, employed, single
middle-class women to:
Have their own apartments
Go out without chaperones
Smoke in public
Women's skirts rose above the ankle
permanently
15. Social Effects - African Americans
One week of Wilson’s declaration of war, the
War Department had to stop accepting black
volunteers because the quotas for African
Americans were filled
Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and
could only serve limited and menial positions
in the Navy and the Coast Guard
By the end of World War I, African
Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal,
medical, engineer, and artillery units, as well
as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck
drivers, chemists, and intelligence officers
They introduced their culture, especially jazz,
to Europeans, but gained no civil rights
16. Social/Economic Effects – Labor
Unions
Employers fought to keep union organizers
out of their plants and armed force was often
used against striking workers
The universal rallying of workers towards
their country at the beginning of the war led
to wider acceptance of unions
A long war was not possible without
complete cooperation of the workers with
respect to putting in long hours and
increasing productivity
17. Social Effects – Restriction of
Rights
Governments took on many new
powers in order to fight the total war.
War governments fought opposition
by increasing police power
Authoritarian regimes like tsarist
Russia had always depended on the
threat of force, but now even
parliamentary governments felt the
necessity to expand police powers
and control public opinion
18. Social Effects – Restriction of
Rights in Britain
The Defense of the Realm Act authorized
the public authorities to arrest and punish
dissidents under martial law if necessary
Later acts grew to include:
Suspending newspapers
Use of lights at home
Food rationing
Bar hours limited
Strikes made illegal
Running of factories and railroads
Police powers tended to grow as the war
went on and public opposition increased as
well
19. Social Effects – Restriction of
Rights in France and Germany
The government cracked down on:
Anyone suspected of supporting a
compromise peace, giving military
secrets, or airing dangerous opinions
Censorship of newspapers
Censorship of personal mail
In Germany, laws were passed
requiring males ages 17-60 to work in
the factories
They also imported workers from
occupied France and Belgium
20. Social Effects – Restrictions of
Rights in the U.S.
Espionage Act of 1917 – Made it illegal
to make any criticism of the government,
interfere with the draft, or to encourage
disloyalty
Red Scare of 1919-1920
A strike and 38 mail bombs set off the scare
June 1919 – Palmer’s home was bombed
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
suspected almost anyone of being
communist; many innocent people were
deported
May 1920 – Palmer announced the threat of
large Communist riots on May 1st of 1920
(the Socialist Labor Day), but none
materialized. This ended the scare
21. Social Effects - Propaganda
Propaganda tries to force a doctrine
on the whole people. They influenced
people:
To enlist
Support the war
Plant gardens
Conserve
Join workforce
Buy bonds
Instill fear
Don’t tell secrets
Ration or else
Huns/barbarians
22. Social Effects During and After
WWI - Armenian Genocide
In 1908, the Young Turks led a
revolution and seized power from the
sultan
The new rulers, who had promoted a
platform of equality and
constitutionalism, quickly turned to
extreme nationalism
They were afraid of conquest by
another nation or ethnic group, so they
drummed up support for an entirely
ethnic Turkish state
The Armenians were seen as an
obstacle to their goal
23. Social Effects During and After
WWI - Armenian Genocide
1915-1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed
After WWI, 400 Young Turks were arrested
and tried
Most were sentenced to death, but fled the
country – other countries, including the new
Turkish government, did not pursue them
Killings resumed
With the Ottoman Empire being renamed
Turkey, a new republic was declared and the
Turkish-Armenian issue was forgotten
Encouraged Hitler to start the Holocaust
24. Social Effects During and After the
War - Influenza
In 1918 and 1919, the so-called "Spanish
flu" killed an estimated 20-40 million
people worldwide
The strain of influenza virus that caused
the 1918 global epidemic ("pandemic")
was exceptionally aggressive
It was brought back to the homefront by
the soldiers and was spread among
civilians
Life expectancy was lowered and caused
countries to have further economic
problems due to a lack of workers
