Editing History of Germany (section)

====Homefront====
Although war was not expected in 1914, Germany rapidly mobilized its civilian economy for the war effort, the economy was handicapped by the British blockade that cut off food supplies.<ref>Feldman, Gerald D. "The Political and Social Foundations of Germany's Economic Mobilization, 1914–1916", ''Armed Forces & Society'' (1976) 3#1 pp 121–145. [http://afs.sagepub.com/content/3/1/121 online]</ref>

Steadily conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. Causes involved the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, an overburdened railroad system, shortages of coal, and especially the British blockade that cut off imports from abroad. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter", because that vegetable, usually fed to livestock, was used by people as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry people, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the rations for soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chickering |first=Roger |title=Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914–1918 |date=2004 |pages=141–142}}</ref> Morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink. According to historian [[William H. McNeill (historian)|William H. MacNeil]]:
:By 1917, after three years of war, the various groups and bureaucratic hierarchies which had been operating more or less independently of one another in peacetime (and not infrequently had worked at cross purposes) were subordinated to one (and perhaps the most effective) of their number: the General Staff. Military officers controlled civilian government officials, the staffs of banks, cartels, firms, and factories, engineers and scientists, workingmen, farmers-indeed almost every element in German society; and all efforts were directed in theory and in large degree also in practice to forwarding the war effort.<ref>William H. McNeill, ''The Rise of the West'' (1991 edition) p. 742.</ref>

1918 was the year of the deadly [[1918 flu pandemic|1918 Spanish Flu pandemic]] which struck hard at a population weakened by years of malnutrition.