The Human Cost of War
Overview
The Human Cost of World War I
One of the often-overlooked costs of World War I is its human cost. Not only were lives lost, but lives were also disrupted, maimed, and uprooted. The war destroyed landscapes around the world, forced rationing and saw food scarcity, caused forty million casualties, resulted in trillions of dollars of damage globally, shifted borders, saw the end of empires and monarchs, ushered in communism in Europe, sparked rampant inflation and war debt, and left millions of widows and orphans behind.
Learning Objectives
- Examine the human cost of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Broken Faces: soldiers who obtained severe facial wounds in World War I, usually through shrapnel wounds
Homefront: part of a country at war that is inhabited and operated by civilians
Spanish Flu of 1918: largest epidemic of the 20th century
The Homefronts in World War I
Across the globe, World War I galvanized the homefronts. Civilians were eager to help the war effort. People created victory gardens at home and in public parks, served in the Red Cross, donated money, collected scrap metal, and served in anyway they could to rally support for their troops, as well as protect their countries.
Women in World War I
Women’s roles shifted dramatically with the start of World War I, particularly in Western Europe. No longer were women confined to the kitchen, church, and children. With the outbreak of war, women took over jobs vacated by men. War munitions were produced largely by women workers in mass factories. Nursing and field hospital work was undertaken by women. Women also replaced men on the farms, doing the plowing and harvesting. In Britain, women frequently filled the artillery shells and were dubbed “canaries” because their skin was turned bright yellow by the powder. Women served as welders, woodworkers, streetcar drivers, teachers, and painters. Virtually every sector of labor relied upon a female labor force during the war years. Additionally, women managed their children and homes at the end of the workday.
Women’s roles were not confined to the homefront. Many served in the military, legally or illegally, often disguised as men. Women were also used as spies in World War I. Two of the most famous female spies of the war were women. Edith Cavell helped English, French, and Belgian refugees escape from German-occupied Holland; she was later executed by a German firing squad in 1917. Contrastingly, the Dutch dancer and courtesan, Mata Hari, was accused by the French as being a German spy; she was executed by a French firing squad in 1917. The now world-famous female spy network—the Alice Network—operated for the Allies in World War I.
Rationing and Shortages
Throughout the war, countries struggled to provide food and resources to their civilians. Armies always received preferential treatment in terms of supplies, especially foodstuffs. Most of the belligerent countries experienced scarcity of raw materials and resources, as well as war munitions, at some point in the war. For instance, France had a troubled, chaotic economy at the start of the war that left them significantly under-supplied in the number of artillery shells they needed.
During the war, the United States emerged as the breadbasket of the Allies. Under future president Herbert Hoover, the United States Food Administration was created. Through public campaigns, he urged Americans to eat less on “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays” so that extra food and rations could be sent to the millions of civilians living under German occupation in France and Belgium. The public response was overwhelming. By the end of the war, over $615 million dollars of food was sent to Western Europe. Hoover took the act one step further at the war’s end: he supplied food and rations to Europeans across the continent, including their vanquished enemies because of the soaring rates of malnourishment and starvation.
Germany suffered terribly from shortages. In part because it was a relatively small, industrialized country with not enough farms to feed their people. In part, also, because of the naval blockade of their coast by Great Britain. Dubbed the “hunger blockade,” by Germans, they cited it as the reason for the starvation and malnutrition of their children and elderly. In particular, Germany suffered during the winter of 1915 – 1916, when it was unusually cold and fuel supplies were lacking. This time is infamously remembered as the “Turnip Winter” because the German people found very little to eat outside of their fall turnips.
More than any other nation in World War I, Russia experienced staggering shortages in both food and supplies. The country was so far behind in the production of their rifles that by 1915, entire units were forced to train without a gun. Besides lacking basic equipment, by the end of the war soldiers were suffering from starvation and malnutrition. On the Russian homefront, civilians were starving because of the loss of Poland and parts of the Baltic countries, which had routinely shipped grains and other foodstuffs to Russia.
The Spanish Flu of 1918
In the spring of 1918, neutral Spain began to report about a new influenza virus in their newspapers. It seemed mild in its symptoms but rapidly spread. The timing of the virus could not have been worse. All over the world, troops were being deployed, shipped home, crossing countries, and interacting with one another.
In August 1918, just as World War I was approaching its end, the second wave of the Spanish Flu of 1918 struck with vengeance. It spread rapidly throughout the United States, West Africa, and France. Then it spread throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. This wave of the virus quickly resulted in pneumonia in most patients, sparking a high mortality rate. In part, because antibiotics such as penicillin were not discovered until the late 1920s.
A third, milder, wave struck in spring 1919. By the end of the flu’s course, 500 million people worldwide had contracted the virus, and about 10% or 50 million perished from it. Estimates suggest that over 660,000 Americans died from the Spanish Flu in the course of roughly a year—more than the combined total of deaths in the four years of the American Civil War, which was America’s bloodiest war. Casualty figures continue to be debated. But one thing remains certain, by the spring of 1919, the Spanish Flu vanished mysteriously.
Collapse of Governments
Very few of the governments which were in place at the outbreak of World War I would not be changed by its course. The war caused the collapse of the Russian, German, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Communism swept through much of Eastern Europe, and even had a strong movement in Weimar Germany.
In the Middle East, the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire did not result in the creation of new Arab states. Although a few Arab states existed fleetingly. Instead, it resulted in the creation of European protectorates over large swathes of the Middle East. In Africa, the German colonies were relinquished upon Germany’s defeat, only to be divided between the French and British. Independence remained a pipedream for most of the African countries.
Returning to Normalcy?
After World War I, American president Warren G. Harding declared a “Return to Normalcy.” But returning to a normal state proved difficult for many people around the world. Prisoners of war often remained in foreign nations well after the ceasefire and Treaty of Versailles due to logistical difficulties. France, Belgium, and parts of Eastern Europe had been occupied, the war had resulted in civilian deaths.
Soldiers returning home faced psychological and physical challenges. Shell-shock, a mental illnesses akin to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, was widespread among soldiers. Although seldom diagnosed, depression and anxiety also plagued soldiers. Outwardly, troops frequently faced challenges, too. Millions had lost an arm or leg, and had to rely upon a prosthetic if they could get one.
For civilians, a sure sign of the war’s brutality could been seen in the grotesque facial injuries soldiers had obtained, usually through shrapnel wounds. In France, soldiers with facial injuries were called the “Broken Faces.” In an effort to reduce stress on the affected soldier, physicians worked with professional mask makers to create masks that matched the man’s face and was worn to cover the injury. This development is considered the beginning of the field of modern plastic surgery.
Global Impact
For millions across the globe, there would be no return to “normalcy.” No return to pre-war ways of life. Families had been displaced. Many had endured the loss of a father, son, husband, or brother. For millions across Europe, soaring inflation meant they could no longer afford their homes or necessities such as food and fuel. For soldiers, the years immediately following World War I’s end proved psychologically and physically challenging as they attempted to adjust to a “normal life” after experiencing years of war. Of the belligerent nations in World War I, only the United States would emerge with a booming economy, and that would topple in 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression.
For women, the impact of World War I and its aftermath was great. Their experiences working in traditionally "male" occupations during the war helped them gain strong support for women's suffrage globally. In 1918, women won the right to vote in Germany, Britain, Austria, the Baltic Nations, Russia, and parts of Holland, Canada, and Ireland. The following year, 1919, saw women achieve the right to vote in Holland, Belarus, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and Belgium. And in 1920, women received the right to vote in the United States, Albania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The subsequent years would see women receiving increased voting rights around the world.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Willmott, H.P. World War I. DK Publishing, New York: 2012. 122-131; 287.