ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the twentieth century, industrial workers in Western Europe had finally gained access to a diet of previously unknown luxury – daily meat, white bread, and fresh vegetables – only to see it vanish again in the misery of global war and depression. The twin currents of industrialization and nationalism conspired to mobilize entire continents for warfare from 1914-18 and again from 1937-45. In an age of total war, hunger became simply another weapon to reduce the enemy’s will to fight. World War I also fueled the rise of totalitarian states that were ruthlessly determined to control food supplies in order to ensure national survival. Between war and dictatorship, Europe reverted to a pre-modern moral economy in which life depended on uncertain entitlement to limited supplies of food.
