Figure 1.--Germany was not self suffuicent in food. It did nottake long for soup kitchens to appear in the streets of German cuties. Unlike World War II, the Germans did not have access to France's substantial agricultural output in World War I. Soup kitches became essential to prevebnt starvation, butthey did not prevent hunger. At first they were free. Eventually adults had to pay a small fee and give up ration cupons. The poor were deoebndentb on these soup kitchens. We believe there weres special soupm kitchens for children. Many of the soup kitchens were mobil. Here we see a mobil soup kitchen, apparently for children.

It did not take long for food shortages and associated problems to develop in Germany. Of all the World War I beligerants, Germany was the most vulnerable to food and raw material shortages as it was so dependent on imports and the Royal Navy could easily blockade its North Sea ports. Britain was also heavily dependent on imports, but could import what it needed from the Dominions, the United States, and other countries. As a result, the food suituation very quickly deteriorated in Germany. It was not just a matter of the British cuttuing off imports. Coonscription reduced the rural labor force, reducing producion. In addition the Germans managed the ratioing effort poorly, nitvas poorly as the Rusians and Austrians, but less effectively than the British and French. The Gernman Government dominated by the miitary was focused on the battlefield and the welfare of the civilian populationn was seen as a matter of secondary imprtance. The Turnip Winter (1916-17) was caused by potato shortages. But by the time the War ended, Germany was in the grip of very severe shortages and civikian miorale collapsed. . Other countries were also experiencing food shortages, but they were being assisted by American food aid. This was not lost on Adoplf Hitler when he launcghed Wiorkd war II, He woukod manage the home friont very differently.

1914

Germany could not have launched the War at a worst time, at least as far as food is concerned. The German Army smashed into Belgium just as German farmers were preparing for the 1914 harvest. The call up of the reserves, meant that many agricultural workers and farmers' sons, as well as younger farmers were called up for military service. This affected the 1914 harvest and as a result there were shortages in Germany almost from the beginning of the War. Crop shortfalls and the transport bottlenecks caused the shortages. Civilias soon experienced shortages of basic food-stuffs (bread and potatoes). This was one reason that the German Army seized the civilian food supply in Belgium which would had led to mass starvation had Americans not organized Belgian Relief. This would be the first step in a massive American relief effort to feed refugees and populations facing severe food shortages. The German War Plan had not provided for food measures because they expected victory after a short summer campaign.

1915

Food shortges which developed eatly in the war reached critival levels in many urban areas. City residents begn expressing resentment toward farmers and rural workers. Rumors spread of farmers hoarding food. The first foot riots were reported. Other basic amenities became increasingy scarce. Prices increased began to severely affect low-income families.

1916

Food shortages became more severe and widespread. Products like soap, fat, cheese, butter and eggs were generally unavailable. Scarcities of coal, shoes and textiles were reported. Food prices rose. The Government decreed price contrls, instituting maximum rices. This drove food on to the black market. Sugar and potatoes were affected. This was understandable for sugar which was mostly imported,but pottoes were a sraple. The German government mandated compulsory 'meatless' and 'fatless' days. The terrible Turnip Winter began at the end of the year. This was the first major food risis in Germany. Germany experienced a very rainy autumn. As a result, a substantial part of the planned turnip harvest rotted in the fields. With soi mny men in the army, apart of the problem was labor shortages for the hrvest. The end result was that the potato harvest was only about half of what was expected. And a very cold winter led to an increased demand for coal. Coal was the major fuel used in German homes. As production cold not be increased, coal shortges developed. Coal was also the fuel trains used. Shortages thus delayed rail transport, including the delivery of potatoes nd other food stuffs to the cities. This led to the loss of harvested potatoes due to spoilage. Spoiled in transit. In order to ensure that people at least survived, towns and parishes distributed turnips, which, for lack of any alternative, were prepared in every imaginable variation. This was in addition to the shortages created by the Royal Navy blockade, especially oils and fats. With food prices doubling since the start of the war, the government mandated tha towns with over 10,000 inhabitants expand their operation of soup kitchens, to ensure that people got at least one warm meal a day. Some 357 towns and cities operated 1,438 soup kitchens (October 1916).

1917

The Turnip Winter (1916-17) affected many families. Unable to find potatoes, German civilans were forced to turn to turnips. The turnip was a vegetable that before the War was mostly used for animal feed. It was much less nutritous than potatoes which constituted an important part of the German diet. German towns a cities hd to expand the soup kitchens. Some 472 towns were operating 2,207 soup kitchens (February 1917). 【Regulski, p.179.】 The operation of the soup kitchens was affected by the food available in the shops. As aesult of the failure of the 1916 potato harvest in 1916 and the harsh winter there was an increased in the demand for soup kitches. The harsh winter resulted in transportation and storage probkems. Some 6 million portions were served out in Hamburg (April 1917). Municipal authorities began having difficulty obtaining the food for the kitches. They began demanding that people exchange their weekly meat and potato ration cards to get a week’s ticket for a soup kitchen meal as well as pay a small fee. German doctors by 1917 were reporting the medical consequences of malnutrition. The Germans estimate that some 763,000 people died during the war as a result of malnutrition. The death rate from tuberculosis rose over 90 percent. Typhoid dearhs doubled. 【Regulski, p. 319-20.】 Dysentry rose in mjor cities. 【Tobin, p. 292.]. Children were partuicularly affected. Therec were high levels of anaemia and rickets. There were notably shorter and lighter. 【Chickering, p.144.】

1918

The food supply reached crisis levels during the last year of the War. German civilians had been forced to rely primrily on diet of bread and potatoes. But by the lat year of the War there were shortages frof even these staples. Prices rose and there were times in which they were not avilable at all. Many Germans by the time the war ended were close to starvation. About a fifth of the population were depedent on the soup kitchens. 【Chickering, p.166.】

1919

The Armistice ending the War (November 1918) did not end the food crisis. American food relief flowed into Europe to prevent starvaton. The British did not, however, end the blockade until the Germans agreed to the Versailles Treaty (July 1919). Civilm disturbances over food shortages continued throughout 1919. Germany maintauned price controls and rationing of some foods until (1922). Some million German children were being fed in 2,271 food kitchens run by the Quakers in 1,640 German communities -- Quäkerspeisung (1921). After the War, the Germsns would complain of food shortages, ignoring the food shortages they had caused in throughout Europe. The NAZIs learned the lessons of the Government’s failure to povide reasonablee food supplies on the home front. The NAZIs ensure that Germans had adequate food supolies during World War II. Unlike Wold War II, the Germans did not have access to France's substantial agricultural output. .

Sources

Chickering, Roger. Imperial Germany and the Great War (2014).

Regulski, Christoph. Klippfisch und Steckrüben: Die Lebensmittelversorgung der Einwohner Franfurt am Mains im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918 (Frankfurt am Main: 2012).

Tobin, Elizabeth. "War and the Working Class: The Case of Düsseldorf 1914-1918", Central European History Vol. 13, No. 3/4 (1985), pp. 257-98.

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