1-WWI+Post-War+Society+&+Culture

Gender, Family, and the War:

In Great Britain alone, almost 9 million men were drafted to fight in the war. This created a large labor hole that women had to fill, especially on the overpowered wartime economy. By the end of the war, women in general had demonstrated their competency for various jobs that were not ordinarily carried out by women. For example, women were able to find jobs as mechanics in the Royal Air Force, is factories making ammunition, in transportation services, on farms in the Women’s Land Army, at shipyards, and many other jobs that, prior to 1914, had been only available to men. A “London Gazette” survey from December of 1917 is very telling. Out of 444,000 women 68% designated that they had changed jobs since the war began, many of them moving out of the domestic servant field. This shift was substantial and it was only a matter of time before women would gain the right to vote and representation within Parliament. Although the political and socio-economic changes for women are magnified in Britain, very similar circumstances occurred in most European countries, especially those who actively participated in the war. Quickly following the war, most countries in Europe gave women the right to vote. The United Kingdom and Ireland granted suffrage to women householders above the age of thirty in February of 1918, and other nations soon followed. Most women in Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Luxembourg, Latvia, Hungary, Georgia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Belarus, Austria, and the United States were all able to vote before the 1920s. However, France, Italy, and Spain, along with a few other European powers waited to grant women suffrage until a few decades later. In 1919, Belgium granted suffrage  to the widows and mothers of servicemen killed in World War I, to the widows and mothers of citizens shot or killed by the enemy, and to female political prisoners who had been held by the enemy. All of these countries were involved in WWI, and most had been involved directly. The video below is an accurate representation of how women’s lives changed after World War One, i the following decade labelled “the roaring twenties”. [|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFRG_B--1v8__]

Although all European countries were glad the war was over, the pessimistic attitude that permeated young men in the trenches stayed with them as they went back home. Many returned with physical injuries that would render them incapable of performing basic jobs, but many more came home with the burdens of their memories and PTSD. The soldiers’ situations worsened when they realized that conditions had certainly not improved at home. European economies were in shambles, and good work was hard to find. The government did little to help. Although politicians promised to give returning heroes something to come home to, they offered poor housing circumstances. Furthermore, pensions and welfare would come at a much slower rate than expected. In Great Britain, most men got just two medals, and there was no distinction between those who fought in the trenches and those who served safely behind the line of fire. The especially added to post-war pessimism in Britain, where soldiers expected a glorious homecoming. In the following decade, the economy would sputter and stumble at the expense of the soldiers who fought in the bloody war. Some countries would never completely recover from the madness before the second world war emerged just a few decades later.

Biblio [|graphy:]

[|"A Very Bitter Victory: Returning WWI Soldiers' Hatred for the Leaders Who Sent Them to Die." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web] . 08 Oct. 201 [|3. il. [|co.uk/news/article-10] 84616/A-bitter-victory-Returning-WWI-soldiers-hatred-leaders-sent-die.html>.

"Europe « Women Suffrage and Beyond." Women Suffrage and Beyond RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. < [|__http://womensuffrage.org/?page_id=97__] >.

Kranz, Susanne. "Women's Role in the German Democratic Republic and the State's Policy toward Women." Journal of International Women's Studies 7.1 (2005): 69+. Questia School. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

"New Women." New Women. Ohio State University, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. < [|__http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/newwoman/newwomen-page1.htm__] >

Stone, Olive M. The Status of Women in Great Britain. 4th ed. Vol. 20. N.p.: American Journal of Comparative Law, 1972. 592-621. JSTOR. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. .

"Women in World War One." Women in World War One. N.p., Dec. 2002. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.sachem.edu/schools/seneca/socialstudies/guttman/per5/roleofwomen/link1.htm>.

**The Intellectual Avant-Garde & the Principle of Uncertainty**
===<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cawood, Ian, and David McKinnon-Bell. The First World War. London: Routledge, 2001. Print. === ===<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;">Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print. ===
 * === How could art movements such as Expressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Dada be viewed as extensions of the Great War and the post-war condition? Expressionism, surrealism, cubism, and dada are all art movements that focused on enabling people to use their imagination and see life through different perspectives. During the war as well as after it, there was a lack of individuality and person hood in a sense. Major national factors such as the economy and political systems were all geared towards the war while it was going on. Once the war was over, all efforts were essentially focused on covering the costs of the war itself. Through the different art movements people were able to express not only their opinion of the war, but also show how the war was affecting them on an individual scale. The war was the reason why these art movements blossomed in a sense. During the early 20th centenary dada was primarily used by the public for anti war efforts. In 1916 artist such as Hugo Ball, and Tristan Tzara wrote literature as well as created painting that illustrated their disgust for the war. Expressionism and cubism were mainly focused on allowing the people to express different viewpoints. August Strindberg and Frank Wedekind created artwork that depicted various ways of seeing one picture. Surrealism came from the dada movement, it combined natural things with completely unrealistic items. One of the main surrealism artist André Breton wrote and creature artwork that expressed values of the natural world, but also does of the creative world. His goal was to show that the regular world was important, but we should not lose our creativity, there should be a balance between the two. ===

===<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;">Dorival, Bernard. Twentieth Century Painters, from Cubism to Abstract Art ... Paris: Tisné, 1958. Print. ===

=== Existentialism is defined as a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. Before the early 20th century romanticism philosophy was dominant. During and after the war romanticism saw a decrease in popularity. Existentialism was a way to explain the war as well as express different viewpoints on the war. The themes of existentialism such as individual, and importance of choice were concepts desired during the time period of the war. Other key concepts such as we are constituted by our decisions, as well as anything is possible were both expressed by the main existentialists including Gabriel Marcel, Lev Shestov and Nikolai Berdyaev during the war. The war in a sense caused existentialism to become so widely known and practiced. Existentialist was a way of responding to the war. === ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;">Rintelen, Fritz Joachim Von. Beyond Existentialism. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1961. Print. === === <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Existentialism." __Existentialism__. 06 Oct. 2013 < [|__http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/wphil/lectures/wphil_theme20.htm__] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">>. === === The ideas that came from Einstein’s relativity theory, as well as Freud’s civilization and its discontents are best understood through the context of the Great War time period. Both concepts expressed the importance of coming together as one, and the importance of different perspectives. The theory of relativity focused on a primarily holistic point of view, whereas civilization and its discontents as amid for the life of the public people. ===
 * ===** Existentialism had a history in the Europe that reached well back into the 1800s. Why is its philosophy so associated with the Great War era? (channel your inner L’Étranger!) **===
 * ===//** Consider Einstein’s ideas stemming from his relativity theory, and Freud’s conclusions in Civilization and Its Discontents. To what extent are these ideas only understood within the context of the Great War era? **//===

Freud, Sigmund. __The future of an illusion: Civilization and its discontents, and other works.__London: Hogarth P and the Institute of Psycho-analysis, 1961.
===<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lloyd, Robert, and Marcia Marlowe. "Suppressed Desires and Tickless Time: An Intertextual Critique of Modernity." (2005). ===