The War 1914 – 1918 in the Depths of suffering

By 1917 all the fighting countries were suffering as never before. The French had sustained 3.3 million casualties, the Germans 2.5 million and the British over 1 million. It had become clear that if Germany did not starve Britain then Britain would starve Germany.

Attrition on the German home front

In Mid 1916 Germant faced the grim consequences of prolonging the war. Verdun had failed to break Frances spirit and there had been no grate breakthrough to justify hopes for victory. The only other possibility was to break Britain who had assessed the people only had 12 weeks of food left. Ordinary people became experts on British weaknesses and the press demanded action. After the peace overture in December 1916 fell on stony ground the German government decided in January 1917 to return to unrestricted submarine warfare. However Britain did not collapse and USA came into the war bringing another industrialised power into the equation. This intensified the war instead of attaining victory for the Germans. It lead to its own destruction.

For German people liofe became a total misery. October 1916 30,000 people gathered in Frankfurt to demand peace. This became known as ‘ turnip winter’ as turnip flour was used in place of wheat flour. In 1917 a daily food ration 1,000 calories. The birth raye halved and infant mortality rose by 25 per cent. The average 3 year old weighed 2 pounds 3 ounces and also tuberculosis took its toll.

This suffering of the German people was mocked by the growth of the black market. Starvation was rife and they had to watch the wealthy get all their supplies ok cause they could afford it on the black market. All dairy and meat products cost 10 times as much. There was great unease and suspicion and unrest threatened to spread. The British were conceived as a lesser enemy. In April 1917 125,000 workers in Berlin and Leipzig went on strike in protest.

The Blockade of Britain

Britain acquired a dictator of their own Lloyd George who became Prime Minister in December 1916 He command through 6 cabinets ministers and introduced ration books and prices.The merchant ships he had arranged for delivery of the food many were sunk. The coal industry was about to collapse. Food and fuel ran very low. They restricted beer production and all the flor mills were put under Government control. Lots of queues ensued outside butchers, bakers, fish mongers etc. Rationing worked and the person who brought it in was Lord Rhondda but he dies 1918 with stress the toll of the job had taken his life.

WWE Smackdown 2021.

I am really enjoying watching all the Wwe Smackdown episodes from 2021 from three years ago on the Wwe Network at the minute. I haven’t seen most of the episodes I missed at lot of them when they were on LIVE at the time. I have 49 more 2021 Smackdown episodes to watch catch up with and see then I have seen all the Smackdown episodes from that year then I move on to the Wwe Smackdown 2022 episodes on the Wwe Network. The 2021 Smackdown episodes were on when I was thirty four and then thirty five years old when I was in my mid thirties.