Krämer, Daniel; Pfister, Christian; Segesser, Daniel Marc (eds.) (2016). «Woche für Woche neue Preisaufschläge»: Nahrungsmittel-, Energie- und Ressourcenkonflikte in der Schweiz des Ersten Weltkrieges. Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Umweltgeschichte (WSU): Vol. 6. Basel: Schwabe 10.24894/978-3-7965-3542-0
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Conflicts over food, energy and resources in general were an essential aspect of the First World War. Although formally neutral in the war, Switzerland could not escape from this. Its open economy and its dependency on imports of everyday goods made the country vulnerable and changed the course of the war. Nevertheless these aspects have not yet been very well researched so far.
British historian Avner Offer's point that at the latest from 1916 onwards the First World War revolved around the issue of bread and potatoes is the staring point of this edited volume and the thirteen authors focus on food and energy security as well as the allocation of resources during the First World War in several parts of Switzerland. They look at global as well as local aspects and from different perspectives deal with governmental attempts to make sure that the supplies could be ensured in Switzerland in the years between 1914 and 1918.
The second half of the war is the focal point of the book, as the issues of food and energy security became one of national importance. In case studies the different chapters of the book look at ways that federal, cantonal and local authorities dealt with the scarcity of food, energy and other resources. Together with the Spanish Flu, which is dealt with in one separate chapter, and the so-called "Landesstreik" of November 1918 this scarcity at the end of the First World War led to one of the gravest crisis of the country in the 20th century. The volume brings together different historiographic approaches of this global conflict in a new way and puts actors at the centre of its considerations.
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