Many books have looked at the effect of the war on the Home Front, but
this is the first book to take a look at civilian life at home
photographically from an international perspective: covering both Allied
and enemy countries, juxtaposing the same situations in different
countries to show a similar response.
This fifth and final volume chronicles the events of the last year of
the war and looks briefly at the beginnings of peace. At the start of
the year the civilians on both sides were resigned to another year of
pain and further belt-tightening as the shortages grew. Food and
materials were in short-supply and the military had first-call on just
about everything. People had to learn to make do with what they had.
Although the U-boat campaign had been beaten by the introduction of the
convoy, rationing needed to be introduced in Britain and France to even
out the distribution of essential foods. No one would starve but many
went hungry. However, throughout the Central Powers, because of the
Allied blockade, the situation was far worse: everything was scarce or
difficult to get hold of; some goods were unobtainable except from the
Black Market. However, as neither side was prepared to give in, and with
no end in sight, civilians just had to get on with their lives as best
they could.
The book follows the same format as the previous four providing the
reader with a brief overview of the events of the year on the Home Front
at home and abroad, a detailed timeline and a wealth of photographs,
divided into themes: raids, life on the Home front, Christmas,
propaganda, casualties and captivity, and home defense. Many of the,
over two hundred photos, have not been seen since they were published
during the war and some are published here for the first time. The
photos are international and give a flavor of what life was like for the
civilian during the most turbulent year of the war.
This unique series of international photographic books fits in with the
author's more textual books on the Home Front: Hull in the Great War,
Reading in the Great War volumes 1 and 2, and The Home Front in the
Great War.
