What was post WW2 Germany like after losing so many men in war?

by Comrade63

I was just wondering what it's like for a country to lose such a devastating war. Was there an economic backlash, or a struggle for people to find a partner with so many men gone?

Stefan094

I have an even more extreme example for you. In WW1 Serbia lost 50% of its male population even though we technically won. Since it was a pretty conservative society many woman went on and spent their entire lives without a partner. Combined with losing 25% population (this time more evenly distrubuted between genders as most died in exterminations and not in battle) in WWII it was a demographic disaster we never recovered from. At the start of WWI Serbia had about 4 million people, atm ethnic Serb population is just under 6 million.

Economically situation was similar. Since the end of WWI untill the end of WWII and communists rise to power country pretty much stagnated even as a part of greater Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On the positive note it brought forward and made possible womans participation in workforce and menagment. In a region called Mačva right over the border from Austro-Hungary where AH suffered several humiliating defeats at the beginning of the war numeros atrocoties were commited and after the war in many villages practically no man survived. Even a tradition of "making babies" before going to war was made ineffective as boys born during the occupations were often killed. Woman took over as primary (and only) workforce and it was something that could never be taken back. It became completely normal for a woman to be a head of the family or be an owner of a family buisness it's something that persisted to this day (look at it in the context of a conservative patriarchal society). Even today woman from there have a reputation of being hardheaded and bossy, of course now it's kind of a joke. In the rest of the country losses were less extreme as battles to the north allowed government and much of the combat capable personell and civilians to retreat to Greece. As a result those areas recovered faster after the war and less societal change took place.

3 wars in 1912-1918 with terrible losses of male populatin led to already present "cult"of male child to reach much bigger proportions. Only in the recent decades it can be felt that wanting male children at all cost is losing momentum (aborting unborn girls, divorcing woman or blaming them for not giving birth to a boy, etc.), I'm speaking of course about rural populations, people in cities are mostly over it.

If losses are bad enough even a century isn't enough to mitigate them.

Comparatively Germany lost ~8% of the populatiuon in WW2 and it was more evenly distrubuted between genders (still not perfectly though) so its effects were probably proportionally weaker. In addition it was a subject of Marshals plan for economic development so that took some of economic burden off.