“‘Hold On’ is the Order of the Hour”: Consent, Dissent, and Mobilization in 1917

This essay considers 1917 in two large European cities: Munich and Manchester. The essay argues that 1917 saw an important change in the character of the war for many ordinary Europeans. Combatant states began to serious consider and discuss the possibility of social change in the aftermath of the war, ushering in a period of demobilization that began long before the end of hostilities. This had long-lasting consequences, because the failure of these visions of postwar life contributed to the collapse of support for the war in the subsequent decades.