ABSTRACT

The First World War demonstrated more clearly than any previous conflict the importance of adequate food supplies. Although the dietary needs of armies had long been recognized, the 'Kaiser's War' was the first to involve civilian populations no less than armies and the first to depend importantly on the civilian population's industrial efficiency and morale. 'The food question ultimately decided the issue of this war,' wrote Lloyd George at the end of the conflict. It was a justifiable exaggeration, for military experts regarded as one of the major causes of the Italian rout at Caporetto the reduction in the cereal ration of the Italian soldier some months earlier, and knew that the collapse of the Central Powers in the autumn of 1918 was due in part to the sheer hunger and fatigue of German workers and fighting men.