ABSTRACT
Long before the war, the National Socialist leadership had been conscious of the uncertain supply of a variety of materials, agricultural as well as industrial. In both sectors, policies had been enacted to ameliorate these weaknesses and also to replace imports with increased domestic output, particularly those imports originating from countries thought likely to be unreliable with the prospect of war. The success of these measures was highly variable between sectors. Moreover, the territorial annexations and conquests from 1938 onwards to some extent undercut their purpose. The industrial and raw material capacities of a long line of European states soon became at Nazi Germany's disposal. And states which threw in their lot with Germany added to the total. Rumania dominated the latter group with its large mineral oil output, most of which became available to the German cause.
