War effort: Encyclopedia - War effort

War effort

In military affairs, the war effort refers to the harnessing of economic and human resources towards support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size of the armed forces and the society supporting them, the style of government, and the popular support for the military objectives, the war effort can range from a small industry to complete command of society.

Although many societies were retroactively perceived to be engaged in a war effort, the concept was not generally used until the nineteenth century, when the leaders of the French Revolution called for the levee en masse and a general mobilization of society to prevent monarchist forces from reclaiming control of the French government. The concept was subsequently adapted and used by Prussia, Great Britain, and the United States, especially during the First and Second World Wars. The term war effort was coined in conjunction with these efforts.

Although certain societies, especially nomadic raiders and mobile cavalry societies such as the Mongols, specialized in providing war effort-like support for their armies, the idea of a specialized war effort that diverted supplies, means of production, and people to military support came into general use only with the increased specialization of the industrial revolution. Previously, most military supplies were either common elements of the economy (food, clothing, horses, gunpowder) or specialized instruments produced only for war purposes by industries dedicated to the task (mainly weapons and vehicles). Crossover use of peacetime elements of society and economy for wartime uses became important due to scarcity of manpower (due to the large size of armies) and specialized materials used for war production (rubber, aluminum, steel, etc). The complex decisions involved in conversion to wartime use also necessitated organization and a bureaucracy; the term war effort was coined to describe these collective tasks. Implicit in the concept of war effort was that the entire society was expected to contribute in some way; this served the double purpose of improving morale as well as resource conservation.

Category: War

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "War effort", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki