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Total War
A war that involves the complete mobilization of resources and people, affecting the lives of all citizens in the belligerent countries.
DORA (Defense of the Realm Act)
Established in 1914, this gave the government the power to take over industries and land for the war effort. It also coordinated censorship of the press.
Munitions crisis
A national scandal in spring 1915, when it was uncovered that British troops faced a chronic shortage of shells, bullets, and armaments on the Front.
Ministry of Munitions
A serious shortage of shells led to the establishment of this department in 1915. It organized private industry to produce for the war, controlled profits, allocated labor, fixed wage rates and settled labor disputes.
Munitionettes
British women who worked in munitions factories during WWI. Sometimes called "Canary Girls" because the TNT from explosives tinted their skin yellow.
Conscription Bill
Because of falling volunteer numbers, mandatory military service was implemented in 1916. It was controversial, but largely seen as being more fair than relying on a volunteer force.
David Lloyd George
First Minister of Munitions; Became Prime Minister in 1916.
Herbert Henry Asquith
British Prime Minister at beginning of war. His "wait and see" approach lost him public support and he was replaced in 1916.
Women's Land Army
British female volunteers who were recruited to work on farms to fill in for the men who went off to fight. This helped keep agricultural production strong.
Red Book
The history department at the University of Oxford published this five-volume justification of Britain's involvement in the war. It sold 50,000 copies.
Pals Battalions
Units in the British Army that grouped men who were friends and had enlisted together. This backfired when heavy casualties from a battle disproportionally affected small communities.
The Battle of the Somme (film)
British documentary, produced as a morale booster but backfired because of the realistic portrayal of war.
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
Organization within the British army for women volunteers. They did not serve in combat, but rather in support roles.
Silvertown Explosion
In 1917, a munitions factory in East London exploded, killing 73 and injuring nearly 500.
Rationing in Britain
Volunteer rationing was in place in 1917, but it became mandatory in 1918 with an emphasis on preserving flour for bread.
Convoy System
By 1917, a heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships across the Atlantic in groups, minimizing the effects of German U-boat attacks and allowing much needed food to arrive in Britain.
Wellington House
War Propaganda Bureau in Britain, established in secrecy in 1914 to influence the public subtlety.
White Feather Campaign
A British campaign designed to influence able-bodied men to join the war. A woman would give them a white feather as a sign of cowardice.
British naval blockade
Effectively prevented Germany from importing goods through their Baltic Sea ports. This prevented war material from reaching the army, but also kept food imports from the (increasingly) starving population.
War Raw Materials Department
Established in 1914 by the German government to conserve with raw materials used in production.
Kriegsamt
Created by General von Hindenburg in 1916, this office took control of civilian labor to ensure maximum contribution to the war effort.
Patriotic Auxiliary Service Law
A German law passed in 1916 that gave the government the power to control the employment of the labor force, but only focused on male workers.
Turnip Winter (1916-1917)
Bad weather ruined crops, and given the privations of the blockade, Germans were reduced to eating turnips, a food usually reserved for livestock fodder.
K-Brot
This was the wartime German bread made from potatoes, but sometimes had fillers of corn, lentils and even sawdust.
Ersatz products
Over 11,000 substitute food products of dubious nutritional value were produced in Germany to make up for the food lost to the blockade or poor harvests.
Soup kitchens
Both British and German governments set up these low-cost restaurants in order to ensure citizens received at least some food regularly.
Forced labor
The German government relied upon this from people in occupied countries, as well as from prisoners of war, to maintain agricultural production.
Civil unrest
Seen in Germany in the fall of 1918, with mutinies against the German High Fleet, and mutinies and strikes in Kiel, Lubeck, Hamburg, and other cities. A republic was declared in Bavaria.
War Press Bureau
Maintained control of all publications in Germany for the sake of propaganda and censorship.
Conscientious objector
A person who refuses to enter the military due to moral or religious reasons, some "Conchies" were sent to prison; others worked in hospitals on the Front.
Rationing in Germany
The effects of the blockade led to restrictions on food purchases by 1915. By 1917, rations amounted to about 1,000 calories a day - 40% of pre-war intake.
