Blockade of Germany

Blockade of Germany
Part of World War I Atlantic naval campaign Mediterranean naval campaign
Bread rationing coupons issued in Alsace-Lorraine during World War I.
Date 1914–1919 Location Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Allied Powers:  British Empire  Italy (1915–19)  France  United States (1917–19)	Central Powers:  German Empire  Austria-Hungary  Ottoman Empire  Bulgaria (1915–18)

The Blockade of Germany, or the Blockade of Europe, occurred from 1914 to 1919. It was a prolonged naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers during and after World War I^[1] in an effort to restrict the maritime supply of goods to the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. It is considered one of the key elements in the eventual Allied victory in the war. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 claimed that 763,000 German civilians died from starvation and disease caused by the blockade up until the end of December 1918.^[2][3] An academic study done in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000.^[4]

Both the German Empire and the United Kingdom relied heavily on imports to feed their population and supply their war industry. Imports of foodstuffs and war material of all European belligerents came primarily from the Americas and had to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, thus Britain and Germany both aimed to blockade each other. The British had the Royal Navy which was superior in numbers and could operate throughout the British Empire, while the German Kaiserliche Marine surface fleet was mainly restricted to the German Bight, and used commerce raiders and unrestricted submarine warfare to operate elsewhere.

Background

Prior to World War I, a series of conferences were held at Whitehall in 1905–1906 concerning military cooperation with France in the event of a war with Germany. The Director of Naval Intelligence—Charles Ottley—asserted that two of the Royal Navy′s functions in such a war would be the capture of German commercial shipping and the blockade of German ports. A blockade was considered useful for two reasons: it could force the enemy′s fleet to fight and it could also act as an economic weapon to destroy German commerce. It was not until 1908, however, that a blockade of Germany formally appeared in the Navy′s war plans and even then some officials were divided over how feasible it was. The plans remained in a state of constant change and revision until 1914, the Navy undecided over how best to operate such a blockade.

Meanwhile, Germany had made no plans to manage her wartime food supplies since in peacetime, she was able to produce some 80% of her total consumption. Furthermore, overland imports from the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Romania would be unaffected by any naval blockade. However, the combined issues of conscription of farm labourers, the requisition of horses, poor weather, and the diversion of nitrogen from fertiliser manufacture into military explosives, all combined to cause a considerable drop in agricultural output.^[5]

Blockade

The British—with their overwhelming sea power—established a naval blockade of Germany immediately on the outbreak of war in August 1914, issuing a comprehensive list of contraband that all but prohibited American trade with the Central powers, and in early November 1914 declared the North Sea to be a War Zone, with any ships entering the North Sea doing so at their own risk.^[6] The blockade was unusually restrictive in that even foodstuffs were considered "contraband of war". There were complaints about breaches of international law, however most neutral merchant vessels agreed to dock at British ports to be inspected and then escorted—less any "illegal" cargo destined for Germany—through the British minefields to their destinations.^[7]

The Northern Patrol and Dover Patrol closed off access to the North Sea and the English Channel respectively.

The Germans regarded this as an illegal attempt to starve the German people into submission and wanted to retaliate in kind.

The blockade hurt American exports. Under pressure especially from commercial interests wishing to profit from wartime trade with both sides, Washington government protested vigorously. Britain did not wish to antagonize the U.S. It set up a program to buy American cotton, guaranteeing the price stayed above peacetime levels and mollifying cotton planners. When American ships were stopped with contraband, the British purchased the entire cargo, and released the empty ship.^[8]

A memorandum to the British War Cabinet on 1 January 1917 stated that very few supplies were reaching Germany or its allies either via the North Sea or other areas such as Austria's Adriatic ports (which had been subject to a French blockade since 1914).^[7]

Effects on war

The first official accounts of the blockade, written by Professor A. C. Bell and Brigadier-General Sir James E. Edmonds, differed on their accounts of its effects upon German food supplies. Bell, who used German data, argued that the blockade had led to revolutionary uprisings in Germany and caused the collapse of the Kaiser′s administration.^[9] Edmonds, on the other hand, supported by Colonel Irwin L. Hunt, who was in charge of civil affairs in the American occupied zone of the Rhineland, held that food shortages were a post-armistice phenomenon caused solely by the disruptions of the German Revolution of 1918–19.^[10]

More recent studies also disagree on the severity of the blockade′s impact on the affected populations at the time of the revolution and the armistice. Some hold^[11] that the blockade starved Germany and the Central Powers into defeat in 1918, but others maintain that while the German population indeed went hungry as a result of the blockade, Germany′s rationing system kept all but a few from actually starving to death. German success against the Russians on the Eastern Front, culminating in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, gave Germany access to the resources of Poland and other eastern territories, which did much to counter the effects of the blockade. The armistice on 11 November was forced by events on the Western Front, rather than any actions of the civilian population. Also, Germany's largest ally Austria-Hungary had already signed an armistice on 3 November 1918, exposing Germany to an invasion from the south.

Nevertheless, it is still accepted that the blockade made a large contribution to the outcome of the war. By 1915, Germany′s imports had already fallen by 55% from its prewar levels and the exports were 53% of what they were in 1914. Apart from leading to shortages in vital raw materials such as coal and nonferrous metals, the blockade also deprived Germany of supplies of fertiliser that were vital to agriculture. That led to staples such as grain, potatoes, meat, and dairy products becoming so scarce by the end of 1916 that many people were obliged to instead consume ersatz products including Kriegsbrot ("war bread") and powdered milk. The food shortages caused looting and riots not only in Germany but also in Vienna and Budapest.^[12] The food shortages got so bad that Austria-Hungary hijacked ships on the Danube that were meant to deliver food to Germany. Also, during the winter of 1916 to 1917, there was a failure of the potato crop, which resulted in the urban population having to subsist largely on Swedish turnips. That period became known as the Steckrübenwinter or Turnip Winter.^[5]

The German government made strong attempts to counter the effects of the blockade; the Hindenburg Programme of German economic mobilisation was launched on 31 August 1916 and designed to raise productivity by the compulsory employment of all men between the ages of 17 and 60. A complicated rationing system initially introduced in January 1915 aimed to ensure that a minimum nutritional need was met, with "war kitchens" providing cheap mass meals to impoverished civilians in larger cities. All of those schemes enjoyed only limited success, and the average daily diet of 1,000 calories was insufficient to maintain a good standard of health, resulting by 1917 in widespread disorders caused by malnutrition such as scurvy, tuberculosis and dysentery.

German official statistics estimated 763,000 civilian malnutrition and disease deaths were caused by the blockade of Germany.^[2] That figure was disputed by a subsequent academic study, which put the death toll at 424,000.^[4] The German official statistics came from a German government report published in December 1918 that estimated the blockade to be responsible for the deaths of 762,796 civilians, and the report claimed that that figure did not include deaths caused by the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. The figures for the last six months of 1918 were estimated.^[13] Maurice Parmelle maintained that "it is very far from accurate to attribute to the blockade all of the excess deaths above pre-war mortality" and believed that the German figures were "somewhat exaggerated".^[14] The German claims were made at a time that Germany was waging a propaganda campaign to end the Allied blockade of Germany after the armistice that lasted from November 1918 until June 1919. Also in 1919, Germany raised the issue of the Allied blockade to counter charges against the German use of submarine warfare.^[15][16]

In 1928, a German academic study sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace provided a thorough analysis of the German civilian deaths during the war. The study estimated 424,000 war related deaths of civilians over the age of one in Germany, not including Alsace-Lorraine, and the authors attributed the civilian deaths over the prewar level primarily to food and fuel shortages in 1917–1918. The study also estimated an additional 209,000 Spanish flu deaths in 1918^[17] A study sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1940 estimated the German civilian death toll at over 600,000. Based on the above-mentioned German study of 1928, they maintained, "A thorough inquiry has led to the conclusion that the number of 'civilian' deaths traceable to the war was 424,000, to which number must be added about 200,000 deaths caused by the influenza epidemic".^[4]

After armistice

The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919. According to the New Cambridge Modern History food imports into Germany were controlled by the Allies after the Armistice with Germany until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.^[18] The total blockade was lifted on 17 January 1919 when the Allies allowed the importation of food under their supervision. The Allies requested that the German government send German merchant ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies. However the Germans considered the armistice a temporary cessation of the war and refused, believing that should fighting break out again the ships would be confiscated.^[19] The German government notified an American representative in Berlin that the shortage of food would not become critical until late spring. Food deliveries were delayed until March 1919 when the German government agreed to the restrictions imposed by the Allies. From March food imported from America in American ships arrived in Germany.^[20] The restrictions on food imports were finally lifted on 12 July 1919 after Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles.^[18]

C. Paul Vincent maintains that for the German people, these were the most devastating months of the blockade because "in the weeks and months following the armistice, Germany's deplorable state further deteriorated."^[21] However, Sally Marks believes that the German accounts of a hunger blockade are a "myth". She points out that although the Germans had denied Belgium and northern France food during the war, leading to starvation, the Allies made no effort to deny Germany food. According to Marks the food situation in 1919 in Belgium, northern France and Poland was worse because the Germans had confiscated the harvest.^[22]

Not included in the German government's December 1918 figure of 763,000 deaths are civilian famine related deaths during 1919. A recent academic study maintains that there is no statistical data for the death toll of the period immediately following the Armistice in November 1918.^[2] Dr. Max Rubner in an April 1919 article claimed that 100,000 German civilians had died due to the continuation blockade of Germany after the armistice.^[23] In the UK a Labour Party anti-war activist Robert Smillie issued a statement in June 1919 condemning continuation of the blockade, and claiming that 100,000 German civilians had died.^[24][25]

Impact on children

The impact on childhood was assessed in 2014 using a newly-discovered dataset based on heights and weights of nearly 600,000 German schoolchildren measured between 1914 and 1924. They indicate that children suffered severe malnutrition. Family class was a major factor, as the working-class children suffered the most but were the quickest to recover after the war. Recovery to normality was made possible by massive food aid organized by the United States and other former enemies.^[26][27]

See also

• Economic warfare
• U-boat Campaign (World War I)
• North Sea Mine Barrage
• Northern Patrol
• Dover Patrol

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence: "The blockade of Germany". 301540920.

Further reading

• Bell, A.C. A history of the blockade of Germany and of the countries associated with her in the Great War, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, 1914-1918 (London: HM Stationery Office, 1937). online
• Davis, Belinda. Food Politics, and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin: Home Fires Burning (U of North Carolina Press, 2000) online
• Howard, N. P. "The social and political consequences of the allied food blockade of Germany, 1918-19." German History 11.2 (1993): 161-88. online
• Hull, Isabel V. A scrap of paper: breaking and making international law during the Great War (Cornell UP, 2014).
• Kennedy, Greg. "Intelligence and the Blockade, 1914–17: A Study in Administration, Friction and Command." Intelligence and National security 22.5 (2007): 699-721.
• Link, Arthur S. Wilson: the struggle for Neutrality 1914-1915 ((1960), passim the legal and diplomatic aspects of blockade from American perspective
• McDermott, John. "Total War and the Merchant State: Aspects of British Economic Warfare against Germany, 1914-16." Canadian Journal of History 21.1 (1986): 61-76.
• McKercher, B. J. C., and Keith E. Neilson. "‘The triumph of unarmed forces’: Sweden and the allied blockade of Germany, 1914–1917." Journal of Strategic Studies 7.2 (1984): 178-199.
• Osborne, Eric W. (2004). Britain's Economic Blockade of Germany, 1914–1919. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5474-4.
• Siney, Marion C. The allied blockade of Germany, 1914-1916 (U of Michigan Press, 1957).
• Vincent, C. Paul. The Politics of Hunger: The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915-1919 (Ohio UP, 1985).
• Woodward, Llewellyn. Great Britain and the War of 1914-1918 (1967) pp 186-205; legal and diplomatic aspects of blockade from British perspective