11.4 War on the Homefront

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain how the combatant nations were transformed by the need to fight World War I
• Analyze the role played by women in World War I
• Describe life on the home front during World War I
• Discuss the events that led to the Irish Rising in 1916

The conflict of World War I mobilized not just soldiers but entire societies as civilians rose to meet the production levels needed to support the war effort. Home fronts were transformed as women took up new roles to replace men who had left for the war zone, families coped with shortages of food and consumer products, and civilian protests became more critical of the war and the national governments. Those governments often stepped in to set priorities and quotas for civilian entities like private manufacturers and even voluntary nursing associations in their efforts to prepare for and carry out their war aims. Some of these efforts were more successful than others. Meanwhile, Britain faced an additional challenge when tensions with Ireland reached a crisis point in 1916.