The Research Of German Women During The First World War

This paper examines the living conditions of German women under the background of the First World war by analyzing the German women's political activities,the work in the army,the socioeconomic life and the family life.This article is divided into five chapters.The first part mainly makes a general historical survey of the basic profiles of German women before the First World War.The pre-war women's movement had developed a lot,as the process of modernization progressed,German women began to work in the factories,but they still focus their life's on the family.The second part mainly introduces the political activities of German women during World War I.The main activities of German women were divided into two aspects due to the different attitudes toward the war,.On the one hand,pacifists actively organized the International Women's Peace Conference and call for peace.On the other hand,most women,especially those who are represented by bourgeois moderate women,they firmly supported the war and responded positively to the government's mobilization policy,playing an important role in the affairs behind the war.The third part mainly analyzes the role of German women in the army during the war.As the war broke out,many women who were as nursers volunteered to join the rescue operation in the hospital.By 1917,the Women Department of the War Office employed a number of women exclusively as support staff in the army to handle some daily administrative tasks for active soldiers.Moreover,the image of nurses and women assistants in the military varied greatly due to differences in factors such as class and level of education.The fourth part mainly elaborates the economic life of the German women during the war.The war did not end as rapidly as expected.The shortage of supplies caused by the economic blockade and food should be allocated on demand.In order to maintain the most basic food and clothing need under the influence of inflation,women played an important role in a series of events,such as black market transactions,factory strikes and looting of stores.Women were involved in wartime industrial production and social issues,and they began to take up the work which dominanted by men.The fifth part mainly discusses the German women's family life during the war.Families were the centerpiece of wartime welfare programs,war widows and orphans became new groups in the social welfare system,but government subsidies were far behind the pace of price increases.In order to maintain normal functioning of family life,women had to suffer a lot in the absence of male roles,such as family management alone,and raising children,women's burden heavier than before.As the war ended,the psychological trauma caused by the recovery of men also needed the family to bear.The First World War was a boost to the German women's liberation movement and provided an opportunity for the development of the women's liberation movement.Women were respected at work and taken on the responsibility to feed their families.They were honed,strengthened,and acquired post-war electoral rights after the war.