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Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin
Challenging assumptions about the separation of high politics and everyday life, Belinda Davis uncovers the important influence of the broad civilian populace--particularly poorer women--on German domestic and even military policy during World War I.
As Britain's wartime blockade of goods to Central Europe increasingly squeezed the German food supply, public protests led by "women of little means" broke out in the streets of Berlin and other German cities. These "street scenes" riveted public attention and drew urban populations together across class lines to make formidable, apparently unified demands on the German state. Imperial authorities responded in unprecedented fashion in the interests of beleaguered consumers, interceding actively in food distribution and production. But officials' actions were far more effective in legitimating popular demands than in defending the state's right to rule. In the end, says Davis, this dynamic fundamentally reformulated relations between state and society and contributed to the state's downfall in 1918. Shedding new light on the Wilhelmine government, German subjects' role as political actors, and the influence of the war on the home front on the Weimar state and society, Home Fires Burning helps rewrite the political history of World War I Germany.
As Britain's wartime blockade of goods to Central Europe increasingly squeezed the German food supply, public protests led by "women of little means" broke out in the streets of Berlin and other German cities. These "street scenes" riveted public attention and drew urban populations together across class lines to make formidable, apparently unified demands on the German state. Imperial authorities responded in unprecedented fashion in the interests of beleaguered consumers, interceding actively in food distribution and production. But officials' actions were far more effective in legitimating popular demands than in defending the state's right to rule. In the end, says Davis, this dynamic fundamentally reformulated relations between state and society and contributed to the state's downfall in 1918. Shedding new light on the Wilhelmine government, German subjects' role as political actors, and the influence of the war on the home front on the Weimar state and society, Home Fires Burning helps rewrite the political history of World War I Germany.
368 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 19, 2019
Very helpful for Berlin homefront culture in a WW1 spy novel I'm writing.
July 31, 2023
Halo, Kerabat !
Beberapa hal penting dalam pembahasan politik pangan pada kehidupan keseharian selama Perang Dunia I :
1. Belinda J Davis menantang asumsi tentang pemisahan politik tinggi dan kehidupan sehari-hari.
Belinda J Davis mengungkapkan pengaruh penting dari masyarakat sipil yang luas, terutama kaum perempuan miskin, terhadap kebijakan domestik dan militer Jerman selama Perang Dunia I.
2. Pengaruh kelaparan dan protes wanita miskin terhadap makanan selama blokade Perang Dunia I.
Respons otoritas (kekuatan atau kekuasaan yang diakui dan dihormati) menyebabkan perubahan hubungan negara dan masyarakat, berkontribusi pada kejatuhan negara.
3. Masyarakat sipil, khususnya kaum perempuan miskin, berperan aktif dalam membentuk kebijakan dan mempengaruhi pemerintah di masa perang, menyoroti peran kelompok sosial yang sering diabaikan dalam narasi sejarah.
4. Dampak kelaparan dan ketidakpuasan masyarakat di Berlin selama Perang Dunia I menyebabkan pengaruh perubahan politik dan sosial di Jerman serta membentuk dinamika politik (Interaksi dan perubahan kekuasaan, pandangan, dan kebijakan politik dalam masyarakat) dan kehidupan sehari-hari.
Gender memainkan peran sentral dalam perang dunia I di Jerman. Perempuan miskin dianggap sebagai perwakilan negara oleh masyarakat perkotaan dan identitas ini juga diadopsi oleh perempuan dan laki-laki. Sementara itu, musuh sering kali digambarkan sebagai laki-laki. Gender membentuk bagaimana politik beroperasi selama perang ini. Kisah ini mengungkapkan integrasi perempuan dalam sistem politik abad ke-19 dan ke-20, serta memunculkan pertanyaan tentang identitas politik perempuan, hak alami versus hak sipil, hak pilih, dan perlindungan negara terhadap perempuan. Kisah ini adalah tentang perempuan miskin kelas pekerja di ibu kota Jerman selama perang, serta bagaimana citra mereka digunakan untuk mencapai tujuan politik yang penting.
Para sejarawan dari berbagai negara yang terlibat dalam Perang Dunia I telah memperluas fokus penelitian mereka ke garis depan dalam negeri selama perang. Mereka menyoroti peran masyarakat sipil dalam sejarah perang, termasuk peran perempuan pekerja kelas bawah di Jerman. Karya-karya ini telah mengubah pandangan tentang perang yang sebelumnya dianggap hanya sebagai ranah laki-laki. Penelitian ini menyoroti bagaimana warga sipil bukan hanya objek sejarah, tetapi juga aktor sejarah yang mempengaruhi tindakan politisi dan jalannya perang. Volume tentang perempuan kelas pekerja di Jerman selama Perang Dunia I memberikan wawasan tentang perubahan peran perempuan dalam berbagai aspek kehidupan mereka.
Buku ini menggunakan laporan kepolisian dan militer tentang semangat atau "mood" (Stimmungsberichte) masyarakat sebagai sumber utama dalam penelitiannya. Sejarawan juga telah menggunakan sumber ini untuk mempelajari Jerman pada masa perang dan revolusi.
Namun, laporan kepolisian tingkat jalanan masih jarang digunakan dan seringkali hanya sebagai pelengkap argumen berdasarkan bukti lain. Dalam penelitian ini, laporan tersebut dianalisis bersama dengan berita kontemporer, tulisan-tulisan asosiasi yang peduli, pamflet politik, dan dokumen pemerintahan.
Analisis ini memberikan perspektif baru tentang hubungan antara kepolisian dengan atasan mereka dan dengan masyarakat yang mereka amati. Laporan mood, pers, dan "scene" jalanan berinteraksi secara bersama-sama, mendorong para pejabat merespons kekhawatiran masyarakat.
Dengan membaca berbagai dokumen ini bersama-sama, kita dapat memahami hubungan kekuasaan yang tidak resmi dan bagaimana hubungan-hubungan tersebut mempengaruhi perubahan pada masa tersebut.
Sebagai catatan penelusuran :
Jerman masuk Perang Dunia I pada tahun 1914 sebagai negara yang mengalami industrialisasi dan urbanisasi pesat, menciptakan masyarakat yang terpecah dan tidak puas, dengan kebanggaan besar dan perasaan ketidakcukupan di antara warganya. Sebelum perang, negara ini telah mengalami pengaruh politik massa dan tekanan ekstrem pada politik.
Masyarakat membentuk gagasan tentang identitas Jerman, yang pada gilirannya membuat perang menarik bagi beberapa orang. Pengalaman perang kemudian mempengaruhi dan mengubah gagasan-gagasan tersebut. Jerman memiliki sektor komersial yang berkembang pesat dan penawaran konsumen yang tak tertandingi, tetapi juga menghadapi inflasi, ketergantungan pada impor, dan perasaan jarak antara pedagang dan pelanggan. Perang ini mencerminkan dinamika kompleks dari masyarakat dan budaya Jerman pada masa itu.
Hatur nuhun.
Beberapa hal penting dalam pembahasan politik pangan pada kehidupan keseharian selama Perang Dunia I :
1. Belinda J Davis menantang asumsi tentang pemisahan politik tinggi dan kehidupan sehari-hari.
Belinda J Davis mengungkapkan pengaruh penting dari masyarakat sipil yang luas, terutama kaum perempuan miskin, terhadap kebijakan domestik dan militer Jerman selama Perang Dunia I.
2. Pengaruh kelaparan dan protes wanita miskin terhadap makanan selama blokade Perang Dunia I.
Respons otoritas (kekuatan atau kekuasaan yang diakui dan dihormati) menyebabkan perubahan hubungan negara dan masyarakat, berkontribusi pada kejatuhan negara.
3. Masyarakat sipil, khususnya kaum perempuan miskin, berperan aktif dalam membentuk kebijakan dan mempengaruhi pemerintah di masa perang, menyoroti peran kelompok sosial yang sering diabaikan dalam narasi sejarah.
4. Dampak kelaparan dan ketidakpuasan masyarakat di Berlin selama Perang Dunia I menyebabkan pengaruh perubahan politik dan sosial di Jerman serta membentuk dinamika politik (Interaksi dan perubahan kekuasaan, pandangan, dan kebijakan politik dalam masyarakat) dan kehidupan sehari-hari.
Gender memainkan peran sentral dalam perang dunia I di Jerman. Perempuan miskin dianggap sebagai perwakilan negara oleh masyarakat perkotaan dan identitas ini juga diadopsi oleh perempuan dan laki-laki. Sementara itu, musuh sering kali digambarkan sebagai laki-laki. Gender membentuk bagaimana politik beroperasi selama perang ini. Kisah ini mengungkapkan integrasi perempuan dalam sistem politik abad ke-19 dan ke-20, serta memunculkan pertanyaan tentang identitas politik perempuan, hak alami versus hak sipil, hak pilih, dan perlindungan negara terhadap perempuan. Kisah ini adalah tentang perempuan miskin kelas pekerja di ibu kota Jerman selama perang, serta bagaimana citra mereka digunakan untuk mencapai tujuan politik yang penting.
Para sejarawan dari berbagai negara yang terlibat dalam Perang Dunia I telah memperluas fokus penelitian mereka ke garis depan dalam negeri selama perang. Mereka menyoroti peran masyarakat sipil dalam sejarah perang, termasuk peran perempuan pekerja kelas bawah di Jerman. Karya-karya ini telah mengubah pandangan tentang perang yang sebelumnya dianggap hanya sebagai ranah laki-laki. Penelitian ini menyoroti bagaimana warga sipil bukan hanya objek sejarah, tetapi juga aktor sejarah yang mempengaruhi tindakan politisi dan jalannya perang. Volume tentang perempuan kelas pekerja di Jerman selama Perang Dunia I memberikan wawasan tentang perubahan peran perempuan dalam berbagai aspek kehidupan mereka.
Buku ini menggunakan laporan kepolisian dan militer tentang semangat atau "mood" (Stimmungsberichte) masyarakat sebagai sumber utama dalam penelitiannya. Sejarawan juga telah menggunakan sumber ini untuk mempelajari Jerman pada masa perang dan revolusi.
Namun, laporan kepolisian tingkat jalanan masih jarang digunakan dan seringkali hanya sebagai pelengkap argumen berdasarkan bukti lain. Dalam penelitian ini, laporan tersebut dianalisis bersama dengan berita kontemporer, tulisan-tulisan asosiasi yang peduli, pamflet politik, dan dokumen pemerintahan.
Analisis ini memberikan perspektif baru tentang hubungan antara kepolisian dengan atasan mereka dan dengan masyarakat yang mereka amati. Laporan mood, pers, dan "scene" jalanan berinteraksi secara bersama-sama, mendorong para pejabat merespons kekhawatiran masyarakat.
Dengan membaca berbagai dokumen ini bersama-sama, kita dapat memahami hubungan kekuasaan yang tidak resmi dan bagaimana hubungan-hubungan tersebut mempengaruhi perubahan pada masa tersebut.
Sebagai catatan penelusuran :
Jerman masuk Perang Dunia I pada tahun 1914 sebagai negara yang mengalami industrialisasi dan urbanisasi pesat, menciptakan masyarakat yang terpecah dan tidak puas, dengan kebanggaan besar dan perasaan ketidakcukupan di antara warganya. Sebelum perang, negara ini telah mengalami pengaruh politik massa dan tekanan ekstrem pada politik.
Masyarakat membentuk gagasan tentang identitas Jerman, yang pada gilirannya membuat perang menarik bagi beberapa orang. Pengalaman perang kemudian mempengaruhi dan mengubah gagasan-gagasan tersebut. Jerman memiliki sektor komersial yang berkembang pesat dan penawaran konsumen yang tak tertandingi, tetapi juga menghadapi inflasi, ketergantungan pada impor, dan perasaan jarak antara pedagang dan pelanggan. Perang ini mencerminkan dinamika kompleks dari masyarakat dan budaya Jerman pada masa itu.
Hatur nuhun.
October 22, 2019
Read this for grad class - Women and Modern European History. Interesting look into how women in Germany during WWI coped with food shortages. It was a topic I had never thought about before, and it was such an interesting and informative read. Looked at different reasons Germany struggled to feed their countrymen, roles the merchants, consumers, farmers, police all played in the problems, and issues resulting from the shortage. Explains how the government policies adapted as the war went on. Never thought I would enjoy a book on a subject this much, but as required readings go, it was very good.
November 13, 2021
The German Reich entered WW1 with remarkably little attention to food supply. The population sunk into semi-starvation thanks to Britain's naval blockade, international isolation, the loss of agricultural labour to the front, bureaucratic incompetence, and drought. Conditions were already desperate by late 1914 - "in other words, by the time it became clear in Germany that the war would not be the blitzkrieg that the country’s officials had promised." At a personal level the burden of food supply fell on already exhausted women. Davis closely observes the impact of this on women's lives and roles, and how desperation forced ordinary women into active, sometimes riotous opposition to authority.
February 11, 2024
How did this manage to make riots boring?
March 17, 2013
I must confess that I enjoyed this book more than most of its reviewers, and probably more than most readers will. This is no doubt because of my very active interest in German politics at the end of World War One, and my love of detail. Oddly, though, one common criticism leveled at the book is its awkward writing style, and I wasn’t troubled by the writing in general (although I admit that a few clumsy sentences slipped past the proofreaders). In fact, I found Davis’s style quite accessible and interesting.
The book is a microhistory of Berlin during the First World War, with a focus on women and the politics of food. Food is not often regarded as a political issue, but in the midst of a blockade that demonstrated Germany’s dependence on imported foodstuffs and in the largest city of the nation, it certainly was. Because of the gendered division of household labor, once food became politicized, it was a means for women to directly enter the political world, as they made demands regarding the equitable distribution of food and their ability to feed their families. Davis demonstrates the rise of the “woman of lesser means” as a symbol of the innocent victim of the War, unable to feed her children or make ends meet as a conflict that was supposed to end in months dragged into years. She finds it significant that, while any sort of pacifism was looked at with suspicion or enmity, “women of lesser means” who rioted on bread lines or demanded “peace at any price” were given more sympathetic treatment. She even suggests that the end of the War came because it was no longer possible to placate these women in 1918.
That may be going too far, in light of the limited range of her sources. Berlin was an important city, and the food crises there were significant, but it seems unlikely that food riots or calls for peace on the streets of Berlin were the only factors in the surrender. That aside, Davis does make an interesting case for women’s political agency during the period, especially in terms of the establishment of a “food dictatorship” by the military in 1916 to assure more equable distribution. She demonstrates the seriousness with which the authorities regarded civil unrest surrounding food shortages, and their willingness to respond, and reluctance to simply use force against protestors around this issue.
I have mentioned the high level of detail the book presents, which Richard Bessel in his review says “sometimes gives the impression of an author drowning in the evidence.” This is uncharitable, but it may be that many readers will not enjoy the careful recounting of so many events and documents as much as I do. For me, this gave the book an almost anecdotal feel, with the sense that I was able to relive events in all their banality and splendor on a day-to-day level. As I say, I like history that evokes the details of daily life, but many will no doubt find it dull and repetitive. Bessel also argues that previous works have covered much of the same ground, which may be true, but for those (like me) unfamiliar with that older literature, this book is accessible and raises important points worth consideration.
The book is a microhistory of Berlin during the First World War, with a focus on women and the politics of food. Food is not often regarded as a political issue, but in the midst of a blockade that demonstrated Germany’s dependence on imported foodstuffs and in the largest city of the nation, it certainly was. Because of the gendered division of household labor, once food became politicized, it was a means for women to directly enter the political world, as they made demands regarding the equitable distribution of food and their ability to feed their families. Davis demonstrates the rise of the “woman of lesser means” as a symbol of the innocent victim of the War, unable to feed her children or make ends meet as a conflict that was supposed to end in months dragged into years. She finds it significant that, while any sort of pacifism was looked at with suspicion or enmity, “women of lesser means” who rioted on bread lines or demanded “peace at any price” were given more sympathetic treatment. She even suggests that the end of the War came because it was no longer possible to placate these women in 1918.
That may be going too far, in light of the limited range of her sources. Berlin was an important city, and the food crises there were significant, but it seems unlikely that food riots or calls for peace on the streets of Berlin were the only factors in the surrender. That aside, Davis does make an interesting case for women’s political agency during the period, especially in terms of the establishment of a “food dictatorship” by the military in 1916 to assure more equable distribution. She demonstrates the seriousness with which the authorities regarded civil unrest surrounding food shortages, and their willingness to respond, and reluctance to simply use force against protestors around this issue.
I have mentioned the high level of detail the book presents, which Richard Bessel in his review says “sometimes gives the impression of an author drowning in the evidence.” This is uncharitable, but it may be that many readers will not enjoy the careful recounting of so many events and documents as much as I do. For me, this gave the book an almost anecdotal feel, with the sense that I was able to relive events in all their banality and splendor on a day-to-day level. As I say, I like history that evokes the details of daily life, but many will no doubt find it dull and repetitive. Bessel also argues that previous works have covered much of the same ground, which may be true, but for those (like me) unfamiliar with that older literature, this book is accessible and raises important points worth consideration.
February 19, 2016
This book was something of a disappointment. The author sought to show that the women of Berlin during World War I had more political impact than was previously thought, due to their agitation and action when faced with severe food shortages. For me, there were simply too many other ways in which the data could have been read. Add to that the author's bumpy and dull narrative style, and the whole point of the book becomes lost.
April 28, 2016
It gave some valuable insights into the German Homefront during WWI, however it was a dry and often repetitive read. Even worse was the fact that on a number of left hand pages with illustrations at the top the rest of the page had missing text. It is probably indicative of the slow pace of the book that I don't think I missed anything.
April 28, 2011
WWI German Homefront, text for Modern Euro Warfare (Hist 5XX?)
September 23, 2011
Could have been so much better with the excision of about 100 pages. It is a story that really needs to be told, but this version was completely repetitive. And redundant.
September 24, 2011
Interesting look at domestic Berlin during World War I. While it has some fascinating information, the layout of the book is a little confusing at times.
December 24, 2015
Wonderful!
March 4, 2015
This was an interesting read. Definitely opens your eyes to the poor Germans during the war
Read
December 30, 2018Detailed and competently written, but a little on the dry side.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews