Mind Map of WW1 as a Total War

Mind Map of WW1 as a Total War

1. Civilians

   • Targets
     • They were for the first time bombed as targets - both on the Western but also on the Eastern front. Evidently, it most have been worse on the Eastern Front, as the warfare was very quick to mobilise; they did not care if they 'hit' a small town during fighting.
   • Economical Impacts
     • The economy was worse on the civilians. This was for example seen suring the blockades of the German harbours by the Brits. 
   • U-boats
     • The U-boats and the blckades caused that they were hit by food shartages and rationing systems esp. in GB and Germany.

2. New technologies

   • War at air
     • The Zeppelins
     • The Airships
     • Aircrafts and mobilisation
   • War at sea
     • U-boats
       • Played a huge role in the outcome of the war, as the blockades of esp. the Germans meant that they ran out of supplies and food. This ultimately led to a defeat by Germany that could no longer wothstand the heavy pressure made by the Allies. 
   • War at land
     • Chemical Warfare
     • Tanks
     • Heavy artillery

3. Aims

   • The Allied Powers
     • USA
     • Great Britain
     • France
     • Russia
     • Italy
     • Romania
     • (Portugal)
   • The Central Powers
     • Austria-Hungary
     • Germany
     • Turkey
     • Bulgaria

4. The increase of governmental power

   • Russia
   • Great Britain
     • ·  Dec 1916, Lloyd George set up a Ministry of Labour and a Ministry of Food to coordinate war production and food supplies. ·  Munitions of War Act from 1915 – the government banned strikes and restrictive working practices in some industries. · 1917, rationing started after the Germans sank British merchant ships. · 1918, the rationing had expanded to most food. ·  The government took control over 2.5 million of acres of unused land.
   • Germany
     • They did put up an allocation system for some raw materials, however, never to the same degree as done in GB. The economy was never centralised as in GB. The Hindenburg Programme, August 1916 à General Hindenburg and General Ludendorff gained more and more control over the economic situation of the country – some historians argue that at this point, GER was experiencing a ‘military dictatorship’. All non-essential industries were shot down, whilst the production of machine guns and artillery were increased. The Auxiliary Labour Law stated that all men from the age 17-60 to work. The government decided the profession. The number of female workers increased by 46%. They increased the amount of paper currency, whilst borrowing a lot of money (not from US) à inflation. Due to the economic unrest, the people became more and more unsatisfied and started protesting. This led to the later rise of Hitler in the 20s and 30s.
   • Italy