Hunger Redraws the Map: Food, State, and Society in the Era of the First World War (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare)

By: Claire Morelon and Mary Elisabeth Cox

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Synopsis: The First World War resulted in major economic and agricultural strains to neutral and belligerent countries alike, including shifts in trading patterns, blockades, and extensive physical destruction on a unique scale. The resulting hunger crises transformed relationships between the state, citizens, and civil society and had a profound and lasting impact on the twentieth century. As civilians across Europe and the Middle East struggled to survive, new emphasis was placed on the state's responsibility to provide food for its citizens, leading to emerging concerns about 'nutritional sovereignty', the viability of new states, and a huge expansion of international humanitarianism. This innovative history utilises both contemporary and modern maps to analyse food shortages and responses to them across Europe and the Ottoman Empire from 1914 to 1923. Through a comparative approach, the authors demonstrate the consequences of civilian hunger in its military, international, political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions.