Introduction to Economic and Social Aspects of World War II
War Production. Sometimes called the "Battle of Production," the struggle by the warring powers to outproduce each other was intense. In most countries, production of consumer products was ended or greatly reduced, and machinery, resources, and labor were used to manufacture war goods. The United States was by far the most, productive nation in the war, in large part because its already huge industrial capacity was never touched by the destruction of war.
The Soviet Union was able to move many of its industrial plants east of the Ural Mountains, out of the reach of German bombers, and produce huge quantities of arms. Germany did not fully mobilize its industry for war until about 1941. Despite being hampered by air attacks and the scarcity of raw materials, German industry remained productive until the last months of the war.
An important part of each belligerent's war effort was the attempt to destroy the enemy's ability to produce. Aerial bombardment and naval blockades were the means most commonly employed. Germany and Japan were both heavily dependent on imported resources, such as oil, rubber, and iron, and each was the target of blockades intended to cut off these vital supplies. Germany attempted, with somewhat less success, to blockade Great Britain and the Soviet Union, which were also dependent on imported goods.
Science
Like industrial production, scientific research was mobilized to aid the war effort, and scientists and engineers in all countries worked to develop more destructive weapons. The results of these efforts were such deadly weapons as napalm, magnetic mines, and the atomic bomb. However, some inventions had peaceful as well as wartime applications. Improved radar, jet engines, improved rockets, and more powerful computers were examples of these. There were also significant advances in medicine as a result of the war. Penicillin was manufactured in large quantities for the first time, blood plasma was widely used, and plastic surgery and other surgical procedures were improved.
Finance
The war was costly, and most governments were hard pressed to find ways to pay for their war efforts. Most countries issued bonds to help finance the war. In the United States these were called defense savings bonds and war savings bonds, and were redeemed, with interest payments, after the war. Income taxes, sales taxes, and excise taxes were increased, and governments had to borrow heavily. The United States' Lend- Lease program eased the burden of 38 Allied nations by providing billions of dollars' worth of war goods. Germany and Japan helped to pay for their war effort by looting the countries they conquered of industrial machinery, raw materials, and virtually anything else of value.
Labor
The competing needs of industry and the military caused acute shortages of labor in all countries. Most young men were called into the armed forces, and their positions on farms and in factories and businesses had to be filled. Large numbers of women entered the labor force and were trained as skilled workers. In the United States, skilled positions also were opened to blacks for the first time. Most countries encouraged retired persons and children to work in factories and on farms. Germany used slave labor to keep its industry producing. Hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, prisoners of war, Jews, Gypsies, and others worked under terrible conditions in German factories and mines.
Political Aspects
Because World War II was a total war, the distinction between civilians and the military was blurred. Civilian populations had to be mobilized to support the war effort. Political dissent, which in most countries might normally be allowed, could not be permitted to divide or demoralize the population. In highly rigid and structured societies, such as those of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Japan, control was relatively easy, because those governments already had great power over people's lives. However, in free societies, such as Great Britain and the United States, the state of emergency forced governments to take extraordinary action.
Propaganda, in the form of movies, radio broadcasts, plays, and posters, was widely distributed to affect the attitudes of the population. News reports were censored not only to withhold information that might be useful to the enemy, but also to control news that might demoralize the civilian population. Letters and telephone calls were sometimes monitored for secret information. Civil rights were suspended for many suspected of disloyalty. Tens of thousands of people in Germany and the Soviet Union were imprisoned or put to death for political crimes or "defeatist" sentiments. In the United States, thousands of Americans of Japanese descent were imprisoned in so-called relocation camps.
Social Changes
World War II swept aside many traditional beliefs, and accelerated social trends that had begun in the first part of the 20th century. Values were changed by the disruptions caused by the war.
Because World War II was a war of unprecedented brutality, old concepts of proper military conduct were eroded. Before the war, the bombing of a nonmilitary target such as a city was considered a heinous act. For example, the destruction of the city of Guernica by Luftwaffe bombers during the Spanish Civil War horrified the world. By the end of the war, the line separating civilian areas and military targets had become so blurred that devastating air attacks on lightly defended cities of little military significance were seen as legitimate extensions of military strategy.
The willingness to accept the horrors of war had limits, however. The most profound example of this was the world's shock at the discovery of the Holocaust—the attempt by the Nazis to kill all of Europe's Jews and other persons they considered undesirable. Many participants in the Holocaust were brought to trial after the war, charged with "crimes against humanity." The defense that some offered, that they were "only following orders," was rejected as insufficient excuse for the barbarity of their acts.
World War II had other profound social effects. The needs of war production brought women of all countries into industrial jobs, and gave them a taste of the independence that could be gained by working outside the home. This helped to alter the traditional concept of a woman's place in society, and encouraged many women to seek social equality. Those blacks who served overseas found there little of the racism that existed in the United States, and many returned determined to fight for their civil rights.
The United Nations (UN) was organized in the spring of 1945 as successor to the League of Nations. Because the organizational structure encouraged active participation by the major powers, there was hope that the new organization could succeed where the League of Nations had failed. Although the UN did prove to be more successful than the League, it did not achieve its main goal of maintaining lasting peace.