ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the collapse of Austria-Hungary's wartime food rationing system, the ensuing shortages, and their role in eroding imperial loyalty in the Bohemian Lands and Slovenia during the final months of the First World War. It traces worsening provisioning up to 1918, when famine loomed in regions such as northwestern Bohemia. Engaging with famine historiography, it explores black market operations, violent popular responses, grassroots food procurement, and state measures-often ineffective or counterproductive. The chapter also considers limited charitable relief and the emergence of alternative authorities controlling supplies. It argues that the political breakthroughs of post-imperial successor states were closely tied to their ability to secure food for their populations.
