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Druck: BMLVS/Heeresdruckzentrum 13-0000
WoMen At War – k. u. k. Bilder 1914 – 1918
Temporarily photo exhibition 14.03. to 29.09.2013
ÖSTERREICHISCHES BUNDESHEER
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum
1030 Wien, Arsenal
Tel: +43 1 79561-0
Fax: +43 1 79561 10-17707
Internet: www.hgm.or.at
At the beginning of the 20th century service-based professions that required some formal training and experience
had already gradually evolved. Sales-girls and secretaries streamed into jobs previously occupied
solely by men. Within the family and household men still held the seat of supreme authority. They were in
the position of sole provider and accordingly, the family had to follow their every command. Even though
there were numerous institutions trying to provide some independence in life with education and training for
daughters from the middle classes, this most frequently came to an abrupt end when the young woman was
married. World War I should exert great infl uence on that social “norms”:
Within summer 1914almost every European nation participating in the confl ict was infl ected by a “goinginto-war”-enthusiasm
and war propaganda did most to keep up this feeling. Patriotic behaviour and actions
performed by women were the most popular theme of this new art of warfare. Otherwise women and children
were quintessentially seen as requiring special protection. In reality as sad as the separation of the man
who went into war may have been, it was also a big step forward towards the independence of women, as
they had to provide the sheer existence of their families and assumed the sole responsibility for the care of
children, the family apartment, home and farm. As war continuedthe struggle for daily survival became increasingly
diffi cult. The subsistence support, which the state provided families of enlisted men, was far from
suffi cient to survive on. Economizing and stretching their meagre rations was the paramount task faced by
the common woman during the war. At the home front numerous women’s groups and societies devoted
much effort in fund raising to assist other women that were in need.
War had a tremendous infl uence on society’s ever-changing sexual morality. With the continuation of the war,
the longing among soldiers for their wives and girlfriends increased tremendously…war soon also began to
represent the unfulfi lled desires between the sexes. The spatial separation of many couples had sexual relations
outside the conjugal bonds as result. Even before the war extramarital affairs, especially of women, had
moral and sometimes legal penalties, during the war these were considered almost as an “unpatriotic act”
against male soldiers at the front.
Within the Austro-Hungarian Military women served at the front line exclusively as volunteers. This work
ranged from sneaking across the enemy lines to gather military intelligence and information concerning the
strength or movement of the enemy, to delivering food and water supplies to troops at the front line, as well
as all those many other untold tasks on military bases and encampments. Whether their work was in the
civil service or in connection with military duties, women fulfi lled an immense service by freeing up men for
active military duties. Offi cially however, none of the branches of the Austrian-Hungarian military whether it
be the Army, the Austrian Landwehr, or the Hungarian Honved intended women to be combatants nor was
it ever desired. The war required women to be active in caring for wounded and sick soldiers, whether this
happened to be in the home country or close to the front lines.