We, the people standing here, weak and powerless, faced with destruction. War is the violation of the great mind, though labelled as culture or civilization! War is business, cruel and egoistic!
Karel Jagodič
The beginning of the war as well as the general mobilisation made an impact in various ways on the lives of civilians. Already during the first year of fighting, the severe effects of war were experienced in particular by the rural population, which was left without the most vital male workforce in the middle of the farming season. Soon, factories along with various workshops as well as offices would desperately seek new employees to fill their vacancies. Initially, men occupying prominent posts as well as those of established renown were initially exempt from draft. However, later with the lack of soldiers, only those of vital importance to society, as well as the well-connected and rich, were allowed to avoid military service. As a result, civilian matters were managed particularly by older men, while due to the lack of a male workforce, many posts and public functions were also assumed by women.
Already in the first days of the Great War, civilian life through the monarchy, even long distances from the front lines, was handed to the military and its needs. At the beginning, this remained unnoticed in everyday life. However, with the shortage of raw materials, particularly after the beginning of the military efforts along the Isonzo Front, which ran along the Slovenian territory nearby, the “military dictatorship” that had taken over the monarchy became omnipresent and more than apparent. The state seized complete control over the prices of goods and miscellaneous goods’ commerce. Traffic, the economy, public order, as well as the judicial and health care systems and other public services, were all rearranged to satisfy the military’s demands. Every major town and intersection of important roads was littered with soldiers and the wounded, while numerous schools and other public institutions were reorganised into hospitals, barracks or other facilities for military purposes. Regularly horses, carriages, materials and livestock would be confiscated, while control over civilian activities and the movement of goods was introduced even outside of the war zones.
The general population initially responded to the changes calmly due to their certainty that the war would not last long. As the Great War was drawing to its conclusion, with the population already annoyed and the general shortages, endless protests were held; civilians would also begin disobeying orders and engage in other efforts to defy the authorities. The black market illegal transfer of goods from the well-stocked Hungarian part of the monarchy flourished. War profiteering and fraudulence were rampant, signalling the general collapse of public morale. War left deep marks in every pore of society, instilling doubt into every fundamental social norm of the time. The war also made a strong impact on individuals, causing profound emotional and physical scars as well as raising existential issues, which affected various individuals in different ways. Despite the trauma, some would attempt to continue their normal lives, again others as a result of emotional distress and poverty, and sometimes merely because of the opportunity, would find themselves breaking the established rules and existing morals. Also on the spread were prostitution, mendacity, drinking, loitering, stupor, apathy and carelessness, leading to even greater poverty and misery, and the subsequent personal collapse of many families and individuals.
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