How does war affect families?

Answer 1

War affects families in many ways. It can tear families apart. When a loved one goes to war, there is stress in the family as well as stress for the person going to war. There is the worry of will they come back, or will they be alright. It can tear families by being affected in the area of the war.

Answer 2

I can speak for Germany during and after the 2nd world war. The Nazis didn't mobilize the entire population until 1942-43, unlike in the UK and the Soviet Union. The Germans wanted to maintain normalcy and keep the civilian population placated and loyal to the regime. As the war turned against the Third Reich, Hitler and Goebels decided to draft women into the armaments industries. They also began to increase the numbers of foreign workers to Germany to produce weaponry of all kinds. Millions of foreign workers were forcefully separated from their families as a result. Millions others, especially Jews and Gypsies, were sent to concentration and death camps. That further decimated families from all over occupied Europe. By the end of the war, old men and young boys were fighting for Germany and dying in large numbers-being outnumbered and outgunned by the Allies. German civilian life was nothing short then miserble for most because of Allied Strategic Bombing raids that occured day and night till April 1945. Over 500,000 Germans died. German family life, after the war, was hard and miserable for its survivors. With millions of its men in Soviet and western allied POW camps, the women were responsible for maintaining the livlihood for its family and discipline. Hundreds of thousands of Germans died of exposure to the cold and malnourishment in the winter of 1945-46. There was a tremenous shortage of houses especially in the large cities that had been wiped out by allied bombers and heavy fighting! Crime was rampant especially committed by young German boys who had no father to look up to. Because of the atrocities committed during the war, the Germans were not respected nor was their much sympathy from the victorious allies, especially the Russians. Speaking of the Russians, over 2 million German women were raped by Soviet troops and thousands committed suicide then to be taken prisoner by the Red Army. Over 2 million German POWS were killed or died of malnutrition during their Soviet imprisonment. Most that survived captivity, weren't released till 1952 or later! Many German POWs

were forced to help rebuild Russian cities and towns they had destroyed. Others were sent to Soviet Gulags in Siberia where most died-manly SS officers and men. There was no mercy for the SS by the Russians. If your husband or father was a member of the SS or Waffen SS, chances were that you would never see him again. It would take years for German society to heal itself from the horrors of the war. Millions of widows would never remarry and the children were forced to grow up fast and begin the reconstruction of its country.

The Soviet Union would also take years to heal from the immense losses of life it suffered. Over 30 million people died and thousands of cities and villages were destroyed or heavily damaged. Since they had a "command economy", they were able over time to rebuld and force whatever changes that needed to be made then having to deal with a capitalist system.

The British economy never did recover from the war. It was heavily in debt and started to see the breakup of its empire. The government stifled free enterprises under the Labour Party and instituted the welfare state until Margaret Thatcher in 1979, became Prime Minister. I think British life was hard-there certainly was rationing as in Germany, for several years. Life was hard but most men survived the war and returned to England to help rebuld.

The United States was the only major country that came out of the war better off at the end then at the beginning. Its was the undisputed world power and compared to the German, Japanese, or Russians, suffered not nearly as much in manpower losses. Family life, although not easy during the war, was not nearly a hardship as in England, Germanany, Japan, or the Soviet Union. There was ratioting continued after the war for a couple more years, but then the economy took off and people were much better off. Today, in Germany, Russia, and Japan, the vast majority of the people are pacifist and are against unnecessary military spending!