Overview
The First World War not only overwhelmed societies, it also revolutionised the diet of European and North American countries. In 1918, 75 million soldiers of the Entente and the Central Powers had to be fed daily, an unprecedented challenge for armies. On the home front, hundreds of millions of civilians, indispensable to the war effort, had to be fed despite shortages. Food was an essential issue in this total war, as food production and distribution were areas where states intervened massively to provide the food essential to the survival of populations. Cutting off the enemy's food supplies was one of the objectives of economic warfare fought on a global scale. Even before 1914, starving the enemy became an explicit strategic objective in the context of economic warfare. Winston Churchill (1874–1965), one of its architects and first lord of the admiralty, wrote after the conflict that the shared aim was to “to starve the whole population – men, women, and children, old and young, wounded and sound—into submission”. In 1918, the defeat of the Central Powers, strangled by the food shortages, was also rooted in their approach to wartime supplies and the failures of the policies put in place. (1914-1918 Online Encyclopedia)
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| Wartime Public Kitchen, Great Britain |
Articles
How the War Was Lost: The Food Weapon?
The Coming of the "Turnip Winter"
How WWI Food Propaganda Changed the Way We Eat Today
FOOD: A Great Excuse for Invasive Government
America's "Progressive" Approach to Managing Its Food Supply During the War
Nexus: The Great War's Grain Crisis and the Coming of Prohibition in America
Out-Eating the Enemy: How Latin America Helped Feed the Allied Armies in Europe
Berlin at War: Deprivation, War Weariness, and Revolution
Did the U.S. Have Food Rationing in World War I?
Hunger Is the Best Sauce: The British Diet in Wartime
Proof That Soldiers Think About Food a Whole Lot
Eat Potatoes and “Spud” the Kaiser
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| Meatless Savory Rice Main Course |
Recipes
The Doughboy's Thanksgiving Day Pumpkin Pie
Red Cross War Cake for America's Doughboys
Food Photos and Recipes from the National World War I Museum
Victory Recipes: "Food Will Win the War"
The Girl Scouts and the Great War
A Great War Gourmet Delight: Oysters à la Foch
' In 1918 75 million soldiers of the Entente and Central powers had to be fed daily'. That seems like an excessive number or am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteYes, it seems like a very high end estimate. I've seen estimates of total mobilized forces as low as 61million and as high as 74 million over the years.
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