The Upheaval of War Family, Work and Welfare in Europe, 19141918 [Paperback]

A unique examination of the effects of the First World War on family life.This collection of essays views the social effects of the effects of the First World War on family life. It highlights the fundamental dialectic between the effects in disturbing family life and in releasing social and political forces, which helped to restore family life in its more traditional forms.This collection of essays views the social effects of the effects of the First World War on family life. It highlights the fundamental dialectic between the effects in disturbing family life and in releasing social and political forces, which helped to restore family life in its more traditional forms.In a fully comparative, European context, this book offers a unique examination of the effects of the First World War on family life. The contributory essays, written by sixteen scholars in the field, focus primarily on the social, economic and ideological repercussions of the war. After a detailed study of living standards in wartime Europe, attention then turns to the ways in which the war affected women's work and how it affected the state's attitude to the family and encouraged the pro-natalist movements. The final section also considers broader speculations about the impact of war on family forms and alternative social affiliations. In general, the book highlights the fundamental dialectic between the effects of the First World War in disturbing family life and in releasing social and political forces, which helped to restore family life in its more traditional forms.List of plates; Introduction Richard Wall and Jay Winter; Part I. Comparative Perspectives: 1. Some paradoxes of the First World War Jay Winter; 2. English and German families and the First World War 191418 Richard Wall; Part II. Conditions of Life and Standards of Living: 3. Behind the lines: working class family life in wartime Vienna Reinhard Sieder; 4. Standards of living and standards of health in wartime Belgium Peter ScholllÅ