Capital Cities At War: A Literary Analysis

In the reading Paris, London, and Berlin 1914-1919: Capital Cities at War, Jay Winter compares Paris, London, and Berlin during the Great War. To better understand the experiences of people during World War I, Jay Winter advocates understanding the community of life in wartime and analyzing how the war distorted the way in which ordinary people went about their lives. In this context the community is a social and geographic entity around which ordinary people construct their daily lives. The city is in the middle of the experienced community and the imagined community. There is a tendency to evaluate the effects of the war based on the economic view of the standard of living, however, well-being is a more encompassing term because it includes agency achieved, personal well-being and economic well-being. In London and Paris the entitlements (legal and moral distribution networks) of citizenship helped preserve communities by enforcing a balance of distribution of goods and services between civilians and the military. In Berlin the military came first, which disrupted the balance and economic system. The differing priorities lead to differing

Shared hardships, mobilization and military losses created a sense of community for those at risk for personal loss which rose above but did not eliminate pre-war social divisions. However, at the same time differences in society came into focus such as ethnic or national identity outsiders and marginalized populations such as the elderly, criminal, abandoned children, and other outcasts. Identities and loyalties shifted as did the relation between national well-being and individual or group well-being. Definitions of well-being arose from prewar traditions and norms. However, what people thought they could or couldn't do without changed. However the price for peace or victory was not limitless. The cry for fair shares for all meant fair shares for those who were