Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)

The Blockade of Germany, or the Blockade of Europe, occurred from 1914 to 1919. The prolonged naval blockade was conducted by the Allies during and after World War I in an effort to restrict the maritime supply of goods to the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. The blockade is considered one of the key elements in the eventual Allied victory in the war. The restricted supply of strategic materials such as metal ores and oil had a detrimental effect on the Central Powers' war effort, despite ingenious efforts to find other sources or substitutes.

However, through a sequence of events, the Allies declared foodstuffs contraband and it is this aspect of the blockade that remains most controversial. In December 1918, the German Board of Public Health claimed that 763,000 German civilians had already died from starvation and disease caused by the blockade. An academic study done in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000, with similar or lower numbers given by more recent scholars, noting however complications with the degree of attribution of Spanish flu deaths. Around 100,000 people may have died during the post-armistice continuation of the blockade in 1919. However, it has been pointed out that there was an even slightly larger civilian excess mortality during the war in the United Kingdom and France, both countries that were much less affected by food shortages (although this can also be attributed to the influenza epidemic and diseases such as bronchitis and tuberculosis which were not strictly nutrition-related).

Germany, France and the United Kingdom relied heavily on imports to feed their population and supply their war industry. Imports of foodstuffs and war materiel to the European belligerents came primarily from the Americas and had to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, which made Britain, France and Germany aim to blockade each other. The British Royal Navy combined with the French Navy were superior in numbers and could operate throughout the British Empire and French colonial empire, while the German Kaiserliche Marine surface fleet was mainly restricted to the German Bight, using its commerce raiders and submarine warfare elsewhere. Germany was initially able to use neutral countries as a conduit for global trade, but eventually British and French pressure, American involvement, and German missteps led to full economic isolation.