Family life in Germany was very tough during World War 1. The home front had a number of obstacles to overcome such as the crippling British naval blockade of German ports, economic inflation and the misconception by the German military leaders that the war was going to be a quick and easy victory.
The blockade was especially painful on German family life; although German agriculture was very strong, fertilisers and animal supplements needed to be imported from other countries, and therefore as the blockade began to set in, agriculture production and efficiency decreased. Furthermore the best food had to be sent to the front lines to keep the troops energy levels high and therefore food was short at home. The Government took measures to try to increase food production and increasingly turned to science as an alternative to produce food. For example, margarine was produced as an alternative to butter. The Potato had become a major source of food for the German people during the war, however in the winter of 1916, virtually all of the potato harvest was wiped out due to an extremely harsh winter. Instead people had to turn to turnips as they were not affected by the frost. Additionally due to the food shortages there were very strict rationing and economic inflation meant that wages used to buy food became almost worthless.
Not only did agricultural problems make family life in Germany difficult during WW1 but so did industrial ones. The main problem was that the traditional workforce of the factories, young and middle-aged men were now conscripted into the army and fighting in the trenches. Therefore women and men between the ages of 17 and 60 who were not in the armed services had to work long hard hours in the factories, to maintain the production of weapons and ammunition.
These factors together with people not knowing if they would see their husband/father/son again meant that life in Germany in World War 1 was a rather terrible ordeal.
