Introduction #2

Introduction

Many historians have used the term ‘total war’ to describe the dramatic growth in scope and intensity of warfare during the twentieth century; an expression which was developed during the First World War by contemporary historians. When total war emerged during late 1915, “all the resources of human society were fully mobilised and utilised” (The Great War, was it total? Leon Atkinson pg 2), in achieving the complete defeat of the enemy, as the waging of war brought unprecedented changes to the civilian scene. The non-combatants on the German Home Front were forced to adapt to the demands of the military, as the Reichstag reacted to the ordeals on the Battle Fronts by implementing a series of economic, political and social changes within Germany. Under the leadership of Erich von Ludendorff, Paul von Hindenburg and a compliant Kaiser Wilhelm II, total war forced Germany to reconstruct its economy, which led to the introduction of the Hindenburg Programme, in order to, “restructure industrial mobilisation in the interests of greater efficiency” (pg77 in Chickering school book. The Auxiliary Service Law), the most significant consequence of the Hindenburg Programme, which, “had far reaching implications for the position ... of the Reichstag and organised labour in Germany ...” (pg77 in Chickering school book), terminated non-essential industries, and highlighted the production of war materials, but failed to mobilise additional labour as, “there was little additional (male) labour to mobilise [outside] ... the military” (pg81 in Chickering school book). Pursuant to the dictates of the Hindenburg Programme, thousands of soldiers returned from the Front for service in industry, and although this boosted Germany’s industrial output it, “emphasised the limits of Germany’s resources, weakened the field strengths of the army and further tied up the country’s overtaxed railroads” (pg81 in Chickering school book). It is evident that by 1915, the Reichstag was forced to adapt and change to the demands of total war, as it instituted a series of economic, political and social changes on the German Home Front which had significant affects on every aspect of German society.

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