The most read and discussed historical accounts of the Second World War (WWII) are usually about the military strategies and the political maneuvers that each of the warring factions took in order to defeat the opposing party. It is very rare to find discussions of what the civilians were doing during the great war. Hence, this paper provides a discussion of the home life of civilians from three countries: UK, US, and USSR.
Interestingly, while the three countries were immersed heavily in the war, their governments have their corresponding ways in persuading their citizens to help or participate in the war. In UK, home life is characterized by fear due to threats of air strikes from the Germans. The British government made sure that the people are always on their toes to do necessary preparations to avoid getting killed by airstrikes. In the US, the government streamed propaganda advertisements and posters to encourage even the women at home to loan the government as well as provide their farm an backyard harvest to the soldiers. In USSR, the people were penalized and threatened so that they would dare not go against the plans of Stalin.
With regards to similarities, all countries lied to their people. They over exaggerated the evilness of their enemies so that people from their homes would hate the enemies and fear getting killed. Another similarity is that the there is very little choice for the people at home to do what they like. All governments, although different in minute ways, have made sure that the people at home will be distressed or feel guilt if they do not support their respective leader's decisions for the war.
Bibliography
"The Home Front," BBC, Last Modified 2017. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/05/.
"The Maerican Homefront," ushistory.org, Last Modified 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/51b.asp.
"World War II: Soviet Civilians," Historical Boy's Clothing, Last Modified 27 Oct 2013. http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/sov/home/sov-civ.html.
