ABSTRACT

The term “home front” had its origin in World War I. In that global conflict all societal assets and groups mobilized to support the war effort. Men volunteered for military service, women left their traditional station and volunteered to work outside the house in factories or as nurses, and children volunteered their time to collect household items or scrap material that might aid war production. Domestic industries converted from peacetime to military production. Society at large accepted deprivation and sacrifice as a patriotic duty. In World War II, large-scale mobilization of the home front was essential for almost every combatant nation. As in the previous war, industries converted from peacetime to war production and, owing to technological advances in mobile warfare, industries sprang up to produce the new war machines. Again, women marched into factories in unprecedented numbers to work in jobs formerly performed by men gone off to war.