The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation
This is a completely new interpretation of the First World War. Dr. Offer weaves together the economic and social history of the English-speaking world, the Pacific Basin, and Germany, with the development of food production and consumption. The roots of Germany's defeat went back to the late-Victorian decline of British agriculture and the development of Canada, Australia, and the United States as agrarian exporters, while the agrarian interests of America and Australia were crucial in...
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In this book, Offer presents a new interpretation of World War I, weaving together the economic and social history of the English-speaking world, the Pacific basin, and Germany, with the development of food production and consumption. In the special field of United States history, Offer shows the effect of American agricultural power on world politics, both before and after World War I. He describes how the social institutions of American agriculture undermined farming in Britain, and forced the British Empire to rely increasingly on overseas imports of food. Detailing the role of agrarian production and consumption in British and German defense, Offer examines the moral and legal implications of setting up whole societies as strategic targets.
List of PlatesxvList of FiguresxviList of TablesxviiAbbreviationsxviiiIntroduction: Economic and Social Interpretation of the First World War1Part 1.How was Germany defeated?211.Society under Siege: Germany, 1914-1918232.Food Reform and Food Science393.Did Germany really Starve?454.Food and the German State545.Collapse69Part 2.The Agrarian Bond: The United States, Canada and Australia796.Late-Victorian Britain: An Import Economy817.Causes of the Agricultural Depression, 1870-1914938.The Sod House against the Manor House1049.'Like Rats in a Trap': British Urban Society and Overseas Opportunities12110.Coast, Interior and Metropolis13511.Wheat and Empire in Canada14412.Asian Labour on the Pacific Rim: The Struggle for Exclusion, 1860-190716413.Mackenzie King's Odyssey17614.Asian Labour and White Nationalism, 1907-1914198Part 3.The Atlantic Orientation21515.Fear of Famine in British War Plans, 1890-190821716.Power and Plenty: Naval Mercantilism, 1905-190823317.The Atlantic Orientation: Hankey, Fisher and Esher24418.The Dominion Dimension26419.Morality and Admiralty: 'Jacky' Fisher, Economic Warfare and International Law27020.Blockade and its Enemies, 1909-191228521.Preparation and Action, 1912-1914300Part 4.The Other Side of the North Sea31922.Economic Development and National Security in Wilhelmian Germany32123.Germany: Economic Preparation and the Decision for War33524.'A Second Decision for War': the U-Boat Campaign35425.Shaping the Peace: The Role of the Hinterlands36826.Neither Dominion nor Peace: Germany after the Armistice386Conclusion402List of Sources Cited409Index439
