What is "home front"

also homefront, 1918, from home (n.) + front (n.) in the military sense. A term from World War I; popularized (if not coined) by the agencies running the U.S. propaganda effort.\n\nThe battle front in Europe is not the only American front. There is a home front, and our people at home should be as patriotic as our men in uniform in foreign lands.

[promotion for the Fourth Liberty Loan appearing in various U.S. magazines, fall 1918]

n. The civilian sphere as opposed to the military; or specifically the civilian sphere which supports a military effort

n. the civilian population (and their activities) of a country at war

Home front is the informal term for the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of their military. Military forces depend on "home front" civilian support services such as factories that build materiel to support the military front.

Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in combat, except when the fighting happened to reach their dwelling places. However, the expanded destructive capabilities of modern warfare posed an increased direct threat to civilian populations. With the rapid increase of military technology, the term "military effort" has changed to include the "home front" as a reflection of both a civilian " sector" capacity to produce arms, as well as the structural or policy changes which deal with its vulnerability to direct attack.

This continuity of "military effort" from fighting combat troops to manufacturing facilities has profound effects for the concept of " total war". By this logic, if factories and workers producing material are part of the war effort, they become legitimate targets for attack, rather than protected non-combatants. Hence, in practice, both sides in a conflict attack civilians and civilian infrastructure, with the understanding that they are legitimate and lawful targets in war. This military view of civilian targets has effects on the equity of applied legal principles on which the prosecution of crimes against humanity are based.

The concept of civilians' involvement in war also developed in connection with general development and change of the ideological attitude to the state. In feudal society and also in absolute monarchy the state was perceived as essentially belonging to the monarch and the aristocracy, ruling over a mass of passive commoners; wars were perceived as a contest between rival rulers, conducted "above the head" of the commoners, who were expected to submit to the victor. However even given this, in feudal societies the income of estates and nations, and therefore the wealth and power of monarchs and aristocrats, was proportional to the number of commoners available to work the land. By killing, terrorizing, destroying property and driving away a nobleman's serfs, a tactic known as chevauchée, an attacker could hope either to diminish the strength of an opponent or to force an opponent to give battle.

In contrast, since the French Revolution, the state was increasingly perceived as belonging to "the People", a perception shared—though in different forms—by democracy, communism and fascism. A logical conclusion was that war has become everybody's business and that also those not taken into the military must still "do their part" and "fight on the home front".

Home Front is a lifestyle television series that aired on TVNZ's channel Television One in New Zealand. It combines "home makeover" ideas, home maintenance and DIY tips, and guided tours around the homes of well-known New Zealanders. The series ran since the early 2000s in several series of 13 episodes each.

Home Front was hosted by Jayne Kiely, Dave Cull, and Sally Ridge, each of whom covered a particular area of the show. Kiely was the primary presenter, and also presented the guided tours. Cull presented hints and advice for DIYers (do-it-yourselfers), and Ridge presented the home makeovers section of the show.

Originally hosted by Alison Mau, until she left TVNZ for Prime Television, this series was hugely successful for TV One. A rushed reshoot, of Jayne Kiely fronting many stories previously shot using Alison Mau, added to the demise of the series when it was finally axed in 2005.

Home Front is a British radio drama, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 4 August 2014. Set exactly one hundred years before the date of broadcast, Home Front tells the story of World War I from the perspective of those managing life in wartime Britain. It is part of the BBC’s World War I centenary season and is planned to run until 11 November 2018, the centenary of the Armistice.

Each twelve-minute episode tells a fictional story set against a background of historical truth with at least one historical ‘fact of the day’ built into each episode. Each episode follows one character’s day. Together, they build into a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of British society. Episodes are broadcast Monday to Friday at 12.04 on BBC Radio 4, with an omnibus edition on Fridays at 21.02. There will be fifteen seasons in total, each season with a subtitle and a particular theme. Seasons average at eight weeks, with an eight-week gap between. All episodes (both individual and omnibus) are available for download as MP3s and will remain so indefinitely.

The first season received generally favourable press coverage.

For seasons one and two, Ciaran Bermingham and Sarah Morrison were production co-ordinators, the assistant producer was Leo McGann and the studio manager Martha Littlehailes.

In an episode broadcast on the 29th April 2016 and referencing the Irish Easter 1916 rising, an Irish character talked about the terrible destruction of O'Connell Street in Dublin. Sackville Street was only renamed O'Connell Street in 1924 following the formation of the Irish Free State.

The theme music was composed by Matthew Strachan and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.