Princess Elizabeth in Wartime

Rationing and Food Shortages during the First World War

A wartime food queue; A wartime food queue in Reading during the First World War. The need to queue was lessened when rationing was introduced during 1918. Rationing also ensured equality of food distribution.

A wartime food queue

photographs

A wartime food queue in Reading during the First World War. The need to queue was lessened when rationing was introduced during 1918. Rationing also ensured equality of food distribution.

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Hunger stalked the civilian populations of all the combatant nations. Agriculture and food distribution suffered from strains imposed by the war and naval blockades reduced food imports. Some countries met this threat more successfully than others....

Hunger stalked the civilian populations of all the combatant nations. Agriculture and food distribution suffered from strains imposed by the war and naval blockades reduced food imports. Some countries met this threat more successfully than others.

The war took men and horses away from farm work. Imports of nitrate fertilizers were hit. Reduced agricultural output forced up prices and encouraged hoarding. Governments responded by putting price controls on staple foodstuffs. Food queues formed of women and children became a common sight in cities across Europe.

In Russia and Turkey the distribution of food broke down. The Russian revolution had its origins in urban food riots. In Turkey many starved. Austria-Hungary eventually succumbed to the same calamity.

Germany introduced numerous government controls on food production and sale, but these proved to be badly thought out and worsened the effects of the British naval blockade. Substitute foodstuffs were produced from a variety of unappetising ingredients, but their nutritional value was negligible and Germans became increasingly malnourished from 1916 onwards.

Germany’s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare was intended to expose France, Italy and, especially, Britain to the same food crisis. These countries relied heavily upon imported grain and viewed the submarine campaign as a deadly threat. They attempted to increase their own food production, but their main success was in introducing successful systems of rationing. Britain introduced rationing in London early in 1918 and extended it nationwide by the summer. British civilians defied German expectations by accepting this state intrusion into their daily lives.

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  • Beech nut collection

    posters

    Beech nut collection; German poster exhorting civilians to collect beech nuts for the production of cooking oil. The diet of Germans during the First World War was increasingly supplemented by substitute foods.

  • British wartime butter dish

    souvenirs and ephemera

    British wartime butter dish; It bears a message from the Prime Minister, encouraging economy in the consumption of food. Even before the German unrestricted submarine campaign of 1917-1918, the pressures of importing both food and war materials placed a strain on Britain’s shipping fleet.

  • Dog delivering rations to German soldiers.

    photographs

    Dog delivering rations to German soldiers.; The German Army ensured that its men were adequately fed, even if this aggravated shortages on the home front. By 1917, the Army consumed 70 per cent of Germany’s officially available food.

  • The Women's Land Army and German Prisoners, 1918, by Randolphe Schwabe

    art

    The Women's Land Army and German Prisoners, 1918, by Randolphe Schwabe; In Britain, the shortage of farm labour as men were conscripted into the forces, coupled with the need to grow more food, led in February 1917 to the establishment of the Women’s Land Army. By 1918, there were over 113,000 women working on the land. Female labour alone was still not enough to meet the shortfall and prisoners of war were also used as agricultural labourers, often working alongside land girls, as depicted in Schwabe's painting.

  • French poster

    posters

    French poster; French poster encouraging the consumption of potatoes to economise on bread. This is one of a series of posters designed by French schoolchildren.

  • German war bread

    souvenirs and ephemera

    German war bread; This bread, known as K-Brot, was highly unpopular, as it increasingly contained such ingredients as dried potatoes, oats, barley and even pulverised straw. This slice was preserved as a souvenir by a liberated British prisoner of war.