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.
#4101458 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 1995-11-20Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.21 x .85 x 6.14l; 1.20 #File Name: 0807845523376 pages
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. On the causes and consequences of secession in GeorgiaBy Sandra Parke TopolskiIn this volume; Joseph Reidy traces the development of Central Georgia from the period of its earliest settlement following the Revolutionary War through Reconstruction; focusing on economic; political; and social changes. Prior to 1830; most Georgians were yeoman farmers seeking self-sufficiency; owning only a few slaves with whom they lived and worked in a familiar manner. During the cotton boom of the 1830s; large planters moved into the area; establishing the plantation system; large numbers of slaves; and the ganging method of production. The depression of the 1840s allowed the planters to make gains at the expense of yeomen; as they bought up land and slaves at low prices from debt-burdened farmers. The process of planter consolidation and domination continued into the 1850s when cotton prices rose. Reidy argues that to respond to increased demand; rather than practicing scientific agriculture to increase output; planters in central Georgia simply increased the workload of their slaves; hiring additional overseers from the newly dispossessed white lower class. The increased tensions between planters; struggling yeomen; overburdened slaves; and the new landless poor whites played out in the Secession crisis and period of Reconstruction. Despite their claims that a slave republic was the only form of government capable of producing harmonious social relations; planters were aware that the growing poverty in the region undermined this argument and threatened to turn the yeomanry and poor whites against them. Evidence of this division could be seen in the growth of party politics; with planters; town dwellers; and immigrants preferring the Democratic Party; and yeomen and poor whites turning to the Know-Nothings. Planters hoped to alleviate social tensions by funding poor relief; public education; and internal improvements that would bring new jobs; but the yeomanry; while approving in theory of public works; rejected them out of opposition to the higher taxes such projects would entail. Once the Civil War broke out; planter actions only furthered the destruction of the social and economic relations they had hoped to save; as planters refused to devote all resources to winning the war at the expense of current profits. They continued to plant cotton when grain was needed to supply troops and would not contract out their slaves to war materiel producers at low prices; resulting in rising prices for yeomen families who could not maintain self-sufficiency with their household heads away fighting the war and decreasing purchasing power for white laborers. Planters were unable to feed or protect their slaves from Union troops; destroying slaves' faith in paternalism and forcing them to take care of themselves; which prepared them for independence following emancipation. Following the war; planters hoped to exercise the same control over free blacks as they had over slaves; but with the help of the Freedman's Bureau and Radical Republicans; free blacks negotiated for more control over working conditions; their families; religious institutions; and rights as citizens. While facing legal discrimination at every turn; they were in many cases able to negotiate contracts as sharecroppers; educate their children; exercise their right to vote (though not to hold office); and establish their own churches and political movements. Yeomen also benefited somewhat in that they now had unprecedented ability to hire black laborers; but were harmed by new laws limiting hunting and fishing on unenclosed lands; which diminished their ability to subsist as much as it did that of freedmen. Both black and white non-planters increasingly turned to wage labor; marking central Georgia's transition to a capitalist economic system. Planters lost a good deal of their political and economic dominance; but maintained as much of their social power as they could under the newly bourgeois order.0 of 7 people found the following review helpful. From Slavery to Agrarian Capitalism in the Cotton Plantation South: Central Georgia; 1800-1880 Joseph P. ReidyBy Johnston Great-GrdaughterI Sir; would like to point out that you have made an erroneous error of My Families Name. You Listed William Blackstone Johnston (My 3rd Gr-grand) as a large slaver owner; and The Owner of The Johnston-Hay House in Macon. The actual real person you should of wrote was: William Butler Johnston. He built the well known Johnston-Hay Home. This has lead to many other incorrect pages on the Web; listing My William Blackstone Johnston; again as this owner.I am very well versed in Georgia History; and you do not have enough space here; for me to write the TRUE Account of Georgia; before and after The Complete Destruction of this Beautiful State in 1864.; AND of how ALL the People; White; Black; Indian..all Southern Folks; Starved; lost their Families; Lands due to The Ruthless Union Army; and after the War to The Federals during "Reconstruction". Also; for your FYI; Many; if not Most of the Black Folks; all other Skin Color Slaves; did in fact return to their former Lands; to live out the rest of their Lives.; working with their former Masters and their Families together; to rebuild what was stolen; from them.Also; look up The Most Distinguished Professor Walter E. Williams; (who is a Black Man); and his excellent writings of the Un-Civil War.Do yourselves a Favor and read about the Hundreds of Black Folks who drowned; by plunging into Ebenezer Creek; after following the Union Army to Savannah..The Union Army took out a Pontoon Bridge; knowing Black Folks following them; would drown.; on their way to Savannah. There is now an Official Georgia Highway Marker; dedicated to these Folks.BETRAYAL AT EBENEZER CREEK:Thousands of fugitive slaves watched in horror as the Union army abandoned them. Then came catastrophe-and excuses.Union Army Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis had few complaints about the able-bodied black men who were supplying the muscle and sweat to keep his Union XIV Corps on the move with Major General William T. Sherman's 62;000-man army. The black "pioneers" were making the sandy roads passable for heavy wagons and removing obstacles that Rebel troops had placed in his path. You can find the Marker dedication recently online.I hope during my Lifetime; more People will be Educated on Lincoln; and his "Unnecessary War".Signed; A Proud Five Time Georgia Confederate Grand Daughter.
