910 Ch. 22 • The Great War

Soldiers and Civilians

In some ways, life in Britain and in the other combatant powers seemed to
go on as before, which increasingly outraged soldiers returning from the
front. Elegantly dressed people of means dining in the finest restaurants or
watching the races at Derby and Ascot contrasted dramatically with the
returning trainloads of badly wounded soldiers, and with the rationing of
coal and food. A newspaper headline in 1917 gave equal emphasis to its
two lead stories: “Battle Raging At Ypres. Gatwick Racing—Late Wire.”
Some big businessmen found the war very profitable, amassing fortunes on
war supplies: Anglo-Persian Oil, which had lost money in 1914, enjoyed
profits of 85 million pounds in 1916, 344 million in 1917, and over 1 bil­
lion in 1918. Profits of rubber companies increased fourfold.
In every belligerent country, women made contributions to the war.
Nurses served courageously at the front and were acclaimed as heroines.
Women took over many of the jobs of men who left to fight, or who had
been wounded or killed. These included the enormous, back-breaking tasks
of working the land. Over 1 million British women stepped into jobs from
which they had previously been excluded, ranging from skilled and semi­
skilled jobs in munitions factories (“Shells made by a wife may save a hus­
band's life” went one poster in Britain) to positions as tram conductors and

Russian sharpshooters in a trench on the eastern front.