15. The Home Front

France Since 1871 (HIST 276)

1917 is a critical moment in World War I, as the Bolsheviks seize power in Russia and Woodrow Wilson leads the U.S. into war on the side of the Allied powers. Although morale held steady on the home front in France, there were multiple mutinies and strikes as the war progressed. These mutinies were not in favor of German victory; rather, they were in protest of corruption at home, in the form of incompetence and profiteering. Literary and historical records of World War I bear witness to the difficulty faced by soldiers in reentering civilian life after returning home.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Advice for the Midterm Exam
04:48 - Chapter 2. The Turning Point in 1917: The Russian Revolution and American Involvement
17:05 - Chapter 3. Social Tensions of War: Profiteers, Women and Refugees
24:19 - Chapter 4. Mutinies and Strikes: Popular Revolt on the Front and at Home
36:53 - Chapter 5. Ludendorff's Last Push: The German Offensive of 1918
41:30 - Chapter 6. The End at Last: The Human Cost of War

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.