ABSTRACT
The emergence of total war fundamentally altered economies, politics, ideologies, and the lives of the people on the home front. When World War I erupted in the summer of 1914, the consensus among leaders of all belligerent countries was that the conflict would be short. Millions of men left their everyday occupations to march off to battle, and economic activity in the warring states largely stopped. Once war came in the summer of 1914, the empires of the European belligerents became important sources of manpower and economic support. The Allied colonial powers relied heavily during the war on their empires' vast economic resources, from raw materials and food to war bonds and loans. India made a substantial financial contribution, and provided minerals, military hardware, and animals for the war. The demands of war halted politics as usual in all belligerent countries, albeit in different ways. The domestic political unity that carried them during the first months of the conflict disintegrated.
