America in the Great War: The Rise of the Welfare State is a work of non-fiction by Ronald Schaffer concerning World War I in the U.S. As Schaffer (1994) explains, while the origins of the war may have seemed distant to an average American citizen, the conflict soon became worldwide and incredibly influential. This is large because World War I, or the Great War, was a conflict defined not solely by manpower, courage, and abilities of the soldiers but by the characteristics of civilians that supported their armies. Production, endurance, emotional, and material sustenance played a large role in the ability of soldiers to persist within the war. As such, the introduction of the U.S. into the war had placed large demands on the people, soldiers, and the government of the nation which was not entirely prepared. Essentially, Schaffer hypothesizes that wartime and related factors have sculpted the development of American society and its infrastructure. While Schaffer provides several arguments for this, the most essential is the need for regulations, the impacts of the economy of war, the rise of equality, and the control of the war.
While it was not yet known to authorities within the U.S., the nation had the potential to be the most suited for a conflict the size of the Great War. This is large because the industrial power of the U.S. provided an economic might to rival the military skills of their opponents. Transportation was highly developed, resources were incredibly rich and unexhausted, and a recently developed banking system. Despite this, most of these tools had been directed towards internal development after the Civil War which caused difficulty for the American military when mobilization began. A very sudden turn to military spending that occurred at the onset of the Great War was likely the beginning of what is now known as war capitalism. It paved the way for a system in which large corporations had begun to make decisions concerning the military conflict. This is a process that continues to exist within modern American society and infrastructure, and the origins of this form of social politics can be linked to the abrupt change that occurred during the Great War.
While regulations were still a largely internal practice and dictated the size of military spending, the war itself was also crucial in developing the magnitude of the military spending sector of the economy. Nearing the end of the year 1918, a war-centered economy had long been established and implemented within the U.S. Agencies such as the WIB supervised and made authoritative decisions over elements such as private industries, agricultural products, consumption of fuel, and additional materials that were essential for the conduct of war. These changes limited the liberty of many corporations that were not directly involved in the control of the war. Businessmen were essentially disallowed to provide for private customers, produce items they had not prior, and relinquish distribution networks. Despite these drawbacks, several corporations readily participated in the new economic format and transformed their factories or workplaces to be centered around war production. While strict economic controls such as those imposed on the civilians of the Great War are no longer present, the situation has left an imprint on modern economics. Several companies within the U.S. continue to benefit from producing directly for the military even though the desperation of the era has long passed.
Before 1914 and even during the war, parties or individuals that had argued for reform were often persecuted or largely disregarded both by corporate elites and government officials. Though it cannot be said that the Great War was directly responsible for social reform and improved benefits, certain factors influenced the progressivism that was especially prevalent after the war. Before the war, industrialization had largely adverse effects on workers, as much of the employment in such sectors required the sacrifice of one’s health and time for disproportionate wages and benefits. While certain goals were reached before the beginning of the war, such as the installation of the minimum wage and maximum work hours laws, mobilization had threatened any further progress. The war had encouraged the relaxation of such laws, with even children being required to work on farms and other enterprises. While these incidents may have suggested a continuous decrease in the quality of work and life in the U.S., mistreatment of employees had only made the arguments of progressive parties stronger. A common theme in the fight against poverty illustrates that poor people cannot be efficient, and as such, for their efficiency to increase they must be lifted from poverty. Though motions that followed after including benefits and laws did not eradicate poverty, the effects of the war had influenced the way the poor are established within the system of welfare.
The period of the Great War was also filled with disparity and discrimination against marginalized groups, particularly women and African Americans. Much of the crusade of the U.S. against authoritarianism in Germany to achieve liberty for oppressed Germans looked slightly ironic as a majority of African American citizens suffered under cruel segregation, violence, and political repression. Following the demand for employment, many African Americans left the south for better wages and employment in the north. However, discrimination, violence, and even lynching followed with governmental authorities doing little to oppose this. Though this facet is the one that was the least affected by the war in terms of progression as racism and discrimination persisted during and after the war, certain amendments were reached by progressive groups, at least in the minds of certain citizens. A kind of unified front emerged among African Americans, often as the result of the church, which promoted patriotism and support for the war. As such, the Great War had benefited from millions of liberty bonds and efforts of African Americans, though how much of it was returned is questionable.
One of the more interesting movements that emerged from the Great War is its presence in the promotion of certain ideologies, schools of thought, or political leanings. As the war began, intellectual groups and individuals within the U.S. became agitated on both spectrums of the opinions of the conflict. The opposition was as prevalent as the promotion of the war within several social classes and groups. One thing was similar as well, with many using the scale of the war to advocate for other causes, whether they were related or not. While certain parties meant to utilize the conflict to advance progressivism or adhere to traditional ideals, certain liberals suggested a novel and almost radical idea. The war allowed for the first emergence of a concept that dictated that war could be controlled. Either through the decoding of the motives of political figures or by interpreting a future peace settlement, certain parties hypothesized that the U.S. could be altered. Essentially, the ideology advocated that it was the war that would begin reforms in America by changing policy, the figureheads of the current government, or something else entirely. Though such a concept may seem less obvious in the modern day, corporations and individuals with influence in the military sector continue to control the economic, social, and other factors of the U.S. infrastructure.
Though it cannot be decisively stated that Schaffer’s thesis is entirely correct, it is also impossible to ignore the obvious influences of the Great War on the modern welfare and political state of the U.S. Essentially, certain changes were made in desperation to mobilize for war, their permanence resonates today within laws, social structures, and even human behavior. As such, Schaffer’s thesis that wartime aspects of the Great War have altered how the U.S. economical, political, and social structure is formed is accurate. There is evidence that economic regulations, workplace reforms, social climates, and emerging ideologies of World War I continue to emanate from modern practices and philosophies. While the Great War may be the first example of such impactful events altering the state of a nation, such serious implications continued with other conflicts at the end of the century.
Work Cited
Schaffer, Ronald. America in the Great War: The Rise of the Welfare State. Oxford University Press, 1994.