Hey particular source help (1 Viewer)

[nayfin1]

hey i was just stuck doing my world war one studies from the god damn long book and wanted to know how useful these sources would be for a historian studying the impact of total war on the home fronts during world war 1.
the book also asks to consider perspectives provided by both sources and the reliablity of each one
Thanks in advance

here they are


extract from former american ambassador James Gerard's My Four Years in germany, London , 1917


As food became scarce green vegetables and fruits were exempt from the ration card system, as were chickens, ducks, geese turkey and game. Because of these exemptions the rish usually managed to live well, although the price of a goose rose to rediculous heights...


In the third winter of the war, owing to a breakdown of means of transportation and want of labourers, coal became very scarce. All public places, such as theatres and picture galleries, were closed in munich for want of coal. In Berlin the suffering was not so great, but even the circus elephants were pressed into service to draw coal from the railway stations...


As more and more men were called to the front, women were employed in unusual work. The new underground railroad in Berlin is bening built largely by female labour. Women are employed on the railroads, working with pickaxes on the road bed. The card system was applied to meat, potatoes, milk, sugar, butter and soap.



And the second source :

 

[Kujah]

First source:
- Usefulness as it provides a somewhat evenly-balanced view of what Germany was facing on the home front.
- Shows us the severity of the shortages and rationing had on the people.
- The impact of women on the workforce.
- Due to his high profile occupation as an ambassador, he would have had access to a wide range of information and perspectives.
- How the rationing system worked.
- The types of food, materials and products that were rationed and shortaged.

Second source:
- Helps to show us the effect of the U-boat bloackade had on the British home front.
- Valuable in that it shows us that Britain was facing a shortage in bread.
- The value of women on the home front.
- The attitude and sentiment reflected by the public.
- Is valuable as it helps to show us what type of emotions and feelings that were played upon by the gov't on the home front.

Remember, for all sources, collaboration and caution must be heeded.
Secondary sources have the benefit of hindsight, and you need to remember the issue of accountability when it comes to high-ranking offficials such as Lloyd George or Haig.

 

[williamc]

^ +
Second source:

It is a propaganda poster (expand). Although it is encouraging positive action.(expand)

 

[wendym]

first source - main points have been covered by Kujah (first person who responded to you .. ) but heres some additional points , hope they help :

- it is useful because it allows us to understand that the upper class still had an advantage over the working class - something that was the centre of attention in the years leading up to WWI - 'the rich usually managed to live well' even in times of rationing and food shortages, they still managed to get by better than the middle class
- it shows the importance of coal for wartime transportation - 'coal became very scarce .... all public places...were close in Munich for want of coal' (soldiers+supplies) -
-shows how desperate the German governments were to get coal - 'even the circus elephants were pressed into service to draw the coal carts'. - high level of desperation. also highlights that there probably weren't many useful men around at the time due to war and it suggests they still didn't want women to be doing traditional male-oriented work
- shows a male perspective of women - during WWI the social lives of women changed - it is said that'it is not so much that woman herself has changed but that man's perception of her has changed' - Mary Macarthur, 1918 .
this source shows that from a male perspective in Germany, it was still odd for men to see women working as they were usually in domestic pursuits due to their second-class status. - 'women were employed in unusual work. ' - note that he finds it unusual and mention why you think this is so.
- highlights the role that women played in total war - the new underground railroad in Berlin is being built largely byfemale labour. Women are employed on the railroads, working with pickaxes on the road bed. - it tells us about specific types of labour women in Germany were involved with.
- useful because it's a primary source - he was an eyewitness living in Germany, so he has a firsthand perspective.

reliability:
fairly reliable , although you must mention this source can be only used for the analysis on total war on Germany . quite straightforward and objective, but the fact that he is an AMERICAN ambassador in Germany - this raises the question of how his nationality has affected his writing. However, it is unknown if at the time that he wrote it (1917), did America declare war on the Germans yet ? We don't know what month it was written in. The title of his book or whatever it is - My four years in Germany shows that he has been living in Germany for most of the duration of war - this gives him a good background for his writing as he knows all about total war in Germany (since Germany declared total war from the onset of war).

sorry cant help you with the 2nd source, i suck at analysing pictures. However, Kujah's given some good points on it.
-

 

[Zephyrio]

I would agree with most of this, except for any source analysis, your assessment of its reliability must come BEFORE you state how useful it is for something.

 

[Zephyrio]

When analysing propaganda, take some of these points into consideration:

- Propaganda does not aim to provide a balanced view of an issue; it is there to persuade and convince the audience of a particular viewpoint.
- It often uses exaggerated language to create emotive appeal/connection with the public. E.g. "Defeat the U-Boat!" is obviously somewhat of a distortion - after all, how could bread defeat submarines? lol
- Look at the producer. For example, if it's from the British magazine Punch, then most of the cartoons you're looking at are from a British perspective (duh). Obviously this decreases reliability.
- If it's a photo, has the photo been obviously distorted (e.g. cropped)? Look at the producer: if it is anonymous, this hinders reliability, as does if the photographer was employed by the government. Is the photograph an accurate depiction of the issue in question?

I'll try to write some answers to your questions now.

The poster
Source B is, upon first sight, clearly a piece of propaganda used in Britain, immediately hindering the source's reliability as propaganda does not give not a holistic or balanced perspective of an issue and its main purpose is to convince an audience. Emotive language such as "Don't waste bread!" and "Defeat the U-boat!" evoke an emotional response from viewers, and because of the exaggerated nature of the text, the source's reliability is again put into question. Despite the source's obvious shortcomings, its content is reflective of what other sources and our own knowledge have shown, as the British government did convince the public to save food such as bread. A historian would clearly need to be cautious in examining this source because of its nature as propaganda, though its content is consistent with what we have learned about the food shortages incurred in Britain during WWI. Hence, the source is fairly reliable in that it is a piece of propaganda which is not too extreme.

Despite source B being only fairly reliable, it does provide valuable insight into the effects of total war on British society. It shows that at the time, the British government needed to provide posters such as this as a way of conserving food, most notably bread. It shows that food shortages, including bread shortfalls were one of the facets of life during total-war Britain, with the Unrestricted U-boat Campaign placing quite severe restrictions on British society. For this, it is of use. However, the source, produced from a British perspective, obviously does not deal with the German home front so a historian cannot gather information about the impacts of total war on Germany from this source. Added to this were the other aspects of Total War, such as the Direction of Labour distributing British workers amongst war-time industries, or ersats (substitution goods) produced in Germany as a result of the British Naval Blockade. While the source is useful in showing us that bread shortages featured in the British home front, a historian would need to consult other sources to gain a more holistic perception of the German home front and other aspects of life changed as a result of Total War.