ABSTRACT
F
A loosely coordinated Allied relief effort under Herbert Hoover as DirectorGeneral began to function early in , and brought food and relief to the peoples of eastern Europe facing starvation. The bulk of food supplies and services came from the United States, and Britain also made a major contribution, but Germany was excluded from the relief grants. The blockade was maintained against Germany, a later potent propaganda plank used by the Nazis to discredit all the proceedings of Versailles. The French demanded immediate reparations payments and the handing over of the German merchant fleet. This was made an additional condition of renewing the armistice on January . At first Germany refused, but Allied agreement was eventually reached, in Brussels on March , on German payments in foreign securities for food and the surrender of the German merchant fleet; before the end of the month food supplies began to reach the Germans. The blockade was relaxed but not finally raised until July , after the German ratification of the peace treaty.
