Gender and World War 1

Gender and World War 1

Fin-de-siecle Malaise - translates the end of the century and malaise as a fear of worry

Many people were concerned about the rise of socialism

Huge movement of rural people to people in the cities who wanted fair wages

Racism - people become more anxious about others and the United States had the fear of Zioniphobia which is the fear of immigration

Rise in anti-semitism in Europe

Social Darwinism - organisms that are the fittest and strongest survive. (strongest and fittest race or who is undesirable like poor people)

Futurists- a group of writers and artists, came out of Milan, Italy.

Leader by Flippo Tommaso Marinetti.
Wrote a manifesto that rejects the past and wants people to look towards the future
Men are capable are bringing this future not women
Wants men to go through war and be harder men not soft

Revolt and Car oil painting - change for the future, set in cities more progressive

1914: The Eve of WW1

Balkans - general part of Europe's southern/eastern countries

1912, 1913: small conflict war that involves Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Italy, etc.

Nationalism - intense pride of one's country, like superiority

Smaller countries are connected with bigger countries

Black Hand- nationalist, terrorist org. That emerges to disable the fight with Austria. Young radicals

Gavrilo Princip part of the Black Hand, assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of Austria and heir to the throne)

1914 - conspiracy to assassinate Franz Ferdinand and it is an unorganized plan.

Assassinates during the parade, but the grenades miss him and go into the crowd
Gavrilo sees him while he's at a cafe and then assassinates Franz and his wife

WW1 reasons

System of alliances, big Europeans are connected
Mobilization plans, a lot of countries are interested in going to war, and military strategists of going to war with other countries. Get stuck into hypothetical plans instead of real ones

Two major alliances:

Triple Entente: Consists of France, Britain, and Russia, later joined by Italy in 1915, then By the United States later on

Central Powers: Austria, Germany, and later in the war Ottomans

The Spirit of 1914: National Unity consists of women men, and older people in society. That their nation will win.

The media told women to be proud of the men contributing to the war
Young men are excited to go to war and see it as an opportunity to prove masculinity and become a hero

Disrupt the idea of gender from before WW1, including WW2 and the Cold War - almost like a total war

Great War = WW1

People thought it would only take a few months, but instead goes for 4 more years

Two Masculine Identity:

Heroic identity: associated with the battlefront and men were expected to fight in the war, giving a white feather to a male means coward.

Be good sons, husbands, and fathers because of protecting their families, connected to the home

Trench Warfare is typically fought, with more technology like tanks and steel, as new weapons

Barely any movement

The leading cause of death is from disease and injury

Otto Dix - painter

Wearing gas masks, and dead bodies everywhere, men were traumatized from war

Shell Shock: (modern term is PTSD) When men came back from war, they are damaged

A disorder diagnosed when soldiers come back from war

Women have to start to work in men's place in society at home

Bus drivers, milkmen, factory workers, farming
40,000 women enter the workforce

Make textiles for uniforms and backpacks for men on the battlefield in munition factories

Encouraging women to join the workforce to do their part

Women pick up jaundice disease and are called canary girls because their skin is yellow from chemicals and explosives made

Women would wear khakis and be in units

Nurses

Women did medical training which made them feel like they were helping the military
Male doctors are still in charge
Stayed at the camps

Dorothy Lawrence

Female writer
Disguised herself as a man and called herself Dennis Smith
Stayed 10 whole days and joined the tunneling unit
She got sent back home and wrote a memoir
Treated as a spy returning home and dismissed the case

Some women wanted to fight physical combat

Flora Sandes

One lady disguises herself in the Serbian army and the soldiers are welcomed in the ranks. She cut her hair and dressed in men's clothes. Given a military medal/

Maria Bochkareva

Formed a military unit known as the “Russian Women’s Battalion of Death”
Had over 300 women members and was made possible due to the Russian Revolution
Permitted to do this with the government they can fight
Women inspired by nationalism
1920 executed by fire squad by the later government for the progression of gender roles

Gender and Nazi Germany

The Spirt of 1914 in Germany

Adolf Hitler was a war vetren and was born in Austira

He didn’t like the diversity in the Austrain army because it was ttoo diver
He was a messager in WWI
Fights in the battle and sends home 1916
Asks to go back to the front and is granted

He was very interested in the male hero and sense of masculinity, disappointed when Germany loses

Nazi Germany had traditional ideas of masculinity

Hitler Youth

Organization for young German boys and participated in shooting drills, politics, military and physical fitness
100,000 members 1933
Then 1 million 1936

Expect to be tall, lean, chiseled, and blonde. Be healthy and strong to represent Germany.

Degenerative Art - deemed undesirable by the Nazi party

Otto Dix and Kathe Kollwitz were considered degenerative artists

Reasons because they wanted people to be happy to join the war and not scared

Kathe Kollwitiz - makes a painting of the effects of WW1 on women

Womens Responsibilities

Kinder - childern
Kuche - kitchen
Kirche - church

Cross of Honor of the German Mother - an award given to German mothers for raising or giving birth to healthy strong children. Three awards Bronze (4-5 children), Sliver (6-7 children), and Gold (8 or more children). Done on Mother's Day

Tracht ( traditional folk costume) - worn by women with and natural organic look to it.

Makeup is seen as anti-German, as well as French clothing
Have to be physically fit and be outdoors
Clothing is a look at the past and supports German history

The League of German Girls (BDM) - the role of being a good mother and wife, being passive and obedient towards men, and being taught what their mothers would do ( cooking and taking care of children).

Auxiliaries women also worked in Auschwitz by working as a secretary

Pink prisoner triangle badges were determined by whether a prisoner was homosexual

(The yellow triangle under is considered Jewish)

Weimar Republic - a lively gay community within the group, almost homosexual behavior is almost decriminalized but the Nazis came

Nazis didn’t like this because they were a threat because they wouldn’t reproduce
Blamed gay men for lower birth rates
People suspected of being gay were watched, arrested, and separated by society
100,000 gay German and Austrian men were arrested, and 10,000 were killed.

Josef Kohout wrote a memoir called “The Men with the Pink Triangle”

Grew up Catholic in Austria
Gets involved with a guy named “Fred” not his real name
Fred was a part of the nazi party and doesn't get in trouble
Josef is arrested and gets 6 months of imprisonment for sending a photo of himself to Fred
He was sexually assaulted, wore the pink triangle badge, was forced to perform labor, forced him to participate with sex with women, and got saved when Americans liberated the camps

Gender and The Cold War

Soviet Union = Communist reign

United States = Capitalists

Bolsheviks - a political group operating in Russia that supports the Soviets

Soviets- part of the Bolsheviks, are part workers committees that ran factories instead of Bousigze management

The revolution happened and the Soviets took over

October Rev. - when Soviets take control of the factories and under Vladimir Lenin

Overthrows the Russian royalty because of the poor working conditions of other classes

Properganda poster has

Women holding the sickle which is agriculture
The man is holding a hammer, part of the industrial revolution
Soldiers who are men

Movements for women happened to give women roles in society

Some women serve in early government

New family legal code in 1918

Raising women's status to be equal to men
Marriage is a civil activity
The legal code gives the same rights in and outside of marriage
Give divorce accessible to both genders
1920 women could obtain abortions from physicians
Under Lenin homosexuality was decriminalized but not socially acceptable

Alexandra Kollontai - role in the Revolutionary Party under Lenin

Problems occurred - child support to illegitimate children, divorce was not used properly, and feminist ideas were not supported by everyone.

Joseph Stolin comes into the picture and changes this

Turns toward birth rates and women should be a mother
Women should have more babies for population growth due to loss in WW1
Women carry a double life, expected to be taking care of children and working

Divorce is not easy again and abortion is taken away under Stolin

365 million die and 19 million are civilisons

Poland 1 in 5 civilians

Russia 1 in 11 civillians

At the end of WW2, Russia was an ally of the United States.

Germany is left without a government. United States chose sizes with Germany

Berlin Wall: The anti-fascist protective barrier in 1961 didn't come down till 1989

Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) controlled by the United States, Britain, and France

German Democratic Republic (East Germany) controlled by the USSR

Cold War was more of a diplomatic talk between the United States and Russia

Kitchen Debate 1959 - Nixion visited Moscow an American exhibit to show Russians how American families live

Containment Culture and Gender - The United States wants to contain communism so it doesn't come into the United States

Nuclear Family - describes an American family. White mother, father, and two children. The core of the United States. The idea is to encourage fallout shelters

Believed that families would live in larger units (grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc.) is communist

The Kinsey Reports - compared to the atomic bomb. Data within these reports demonstrated premarital intercourse, masturbating, homosexuality, and excessive marriage affairs. Disruptive of the nuclear family