Was World War one a Total War? Why? Why Not?
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Was World War One a total war? Why? Why not?
The First World War of 1914-1918, also known as the Great War, was the first total war in history. What began as a European struggle over the balance of power between the triple alliance of France, Britain and Russia on one side and the central powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other, soon became a global conflict that involved the imperial powers of Europe, their colonies and lands such as the Ottoman Empire, Japan and the United States. Although the sheer number of countries involved in the conflict is enough to describe the First World War as a mass war, what makes it total is the fact that it was waged not only against the enemys armies, but also against the civilian population. Military attacks, the use of propaganda and the fact that governments had to mobilise every available human and material resource for the conduct of war affected non-combatants and made World War One a war not fought between armies, but entire societies.
Civilians became targets of warfare because their efforts were crucial to the outcome of the war. While fifteen million soldiers