ABSTRACT
During the Great War, Norway and the Norwegian economy were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as global conflict disrupted traditional trade flows and supply routes. This chapter examines the chronological development of Western economic warfare policy between 1914 and 1919 in the context of Norwegian economic and foreign policy. It analyses how public policy facilitated dramatic economic growth during the first half of the conflict, while failing to prevent equally rapid contraction. The chapter explores a study of diplomatic correspondence with the findings of earlier works on Western and Norwegian wartime policy. It argues that the relative reluctance of the Norwegian government to engage diplomatically with the warring parties during the first two years of the war left it increasingly incapable of resisting Western economic warfare efforts from 1916 onwards. British authorities would seek to prevent Norwegian exports to Germany of domestic produce – especially of Norwegian goods as were important to the German war industry.
