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Unlock This CourseThe Home Front means the civilians at home and the part they played in the war. For the first two years most Germans did not suffer badly. Quick victories over Poland in 1939 and France in 1940 brought in food, raw materials and workers from the conquered countries.
That changed after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. The war in the east dragged on, Allied bombing raids grew much heavier, and from 1942 life at home grew steadily harder.
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Nazi leaders remembered that hunger at home had helped to bring down the Kaiser in 1918. They were determined not to let it happen again. Food rationing began at the end of August 1939, a few days before the war started. Clothing was rationed with a points card from November 1939.
At first rations were enough to live on, partly because food was taken from occupied countries. But in April 1942 the rations of bread, meat and fats were cut, and they were cut again later in the war. A black market grew as people swapped goods or paid high prices in secret. By early 1945, with farmland lost and railways bombed, many townspeople were hungry.
In early February 1943 a whole German army surrendered to Soviet forces at Stalingrad. It was a huge shock, and no propaganda could hide it. On 18 February 1943 Goebbels made a speech to a hand-picked crowd at the Berlin Sportpalast. He asked them, 'Do you want total war?' and they roared back that they did.
Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments since February 1942, reorganised the factories. In January 1943 men aged 16 to 65 and women aged 17 to 45 had to register for war work. After the speech, everything not needed for the war was cut back. Luxury shops, smart restaurants and many small businesses were closed so that their workers could be moved into arms factories. Weapons production roughly tripled between early 1942 and the summer of 1944.
In July 1944 Hitler put Goebbels in charge of the whole total war effort. The working week was raised to 60 hours and holidays were banned. Theatres, music halls and most places of entertainment were shut. In October 1944 the Volkssturm, a home guard, was announced. It called up men aged 16 to 60 who were not already in the armed forces.
Total war mattered because it ended any idea of normal life. Work, leisure and family time were all taken over by the war. Even so, Germany never used all its own people. By 1944 about 7 million foreign workers and prisoners of war, most of them forced labour, were working in Germany's farms and factories.
Remember, the Nazis taught that a woman's place was at home with her children. The war pulled against this belief, and the result was a muddle.
So women's role did change: they did jobs the Nazis had once said were for men only. But the change came late and was limited, because Nazi beliefs about women held it back.
From 1942 Britain's RAF Bomber Command, led by Arthur Harris, used area bombing against German cities at night. The aims were to destroy industry and to break the morale of civilians. From 1943 American bombers joined in by day.
About half a million German civilians were killed by bombing and about 7.5 million were made homeless. Families spent night after night in cellars and shelters. Many children were evacuated to the countryside, and bombed-out families crowded in with relatives or strangers.
Tired, frightened workers missed shifts, and from 1944 raids on oil plants and railways badly hurt the war effort. Secret SD reports on public opinion recorded growing war-weariness and less trust in propaganda. But there was no revolt. People depended on Nazi welfare for food and shelter after raids, and they still feared the police state.
Do not write that life in Germany was hard from the first day of the war. Serious hardship came from 1942 onwards. Do not say that bombing made Germans rise up against Hitler: morale fell, but people carried on. And do not claim that all German women were sent into factories. The Nazis were slow to call them up and allowed many exceptions.
(b) Explain two effects of Allied bombing on German civilians. [8 marks]
One effect of Allied bombing was that huge numbers of civilians were killed or lost their homes. From 1942 British bombers attacked whole cities by night, and from 1943 American bombers joined in by day. In the raids on Hamburg in July 1943 a firestorm killed about 40,000 people and around a million fled the city. Because area bombing hit crowded housing districts and not just factories, about half a million civilians were killed and about 7.5 million were made homeless by 1945.
A second effect was that civilian morale fell and people trusted Nazi propaganda less. Night after night in cellars and shelters left people exhausted and afraid. Goebbels still promised victory, but people could see their own cities in ruins, as in Dresden in February 1945, where about 25,000 died. Because what they saw no longer matched what they were told, SD reports recorded growing war-weariness, although fear of the police state meant there was no revolt.
What lifts this to the top level: there are two separate effects, each backed by precise facts, and each paragraph uses 'because' to show how the bombing led to the effect.
This question wants two effects, and one effect alone cannot score more than half marks, however well you write it. Make your two clearly different, for example lost homes and falling morale. Do not describe the raids for their own sake: after each fact about Hamburg or Dresden, add a 'because' or 'this meant that' sentence about what happened to civilians.