Blockading Britain and Germany during World War I: preparations, conduct, and consequences of economic warfare

Economic warfare was employed as a complement to military action during World War I by both the Allies and the Central Powers. Britain tried to starve Germany through surface blockade while Germany tried to starve Britain through submarine blockade. Outcomes were very different from what many commentators had predicted before 1914. Germany protected its agriculture and produced the bulk of its consumption. Britain, by contrast, allowed free trade in agricultural goods, and produced just one third of its requirements, leaving itself highly dependent on seaborne imports. In theory, then, Germany should not have suffered greatly from blockade, while Britain should have succumbed quickly to famine. And yet, Britain managed to feed its population adequately throughout the war, while Germans suffered grievously. In this chapter, we adopt a framework of preparations, conduct, and consequences to understand these outcomes.