ABSTRACT
During World War II, several European countries experienced severe hunger and famine conditions. While existing historical studies primarily focus on national contexts and examine domestic political factors, particularly enemy occupation, this chapter shifts the focus to international wartime food politics. It does so by comparatively investigating the effects of the Allied economic blockade on famines in three different contexts: (1) the Spanish famine under Franco’s dictatorship (1939–42), (2) the famine in Axis-occupied Greece (1941–44), and (3) the ‘Hunger Winter’ in the German-occupied Netherlands (1944–45). Drawing on extensive archival research, this study reveals the pivotal role of geopolitical interests in causing and exacerbating these famines. This examination brings to the fore the global political dynamics underlying modern wartime famines.
