Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War

Abstract

The Second World War drove an unprecedented search for resources at a global scale to supply military activity in Europe, Asia, and beyond. This article contributes to recent debates about the environmental consequences of global warfare by examining how total war produced new commodity chains over distance to deliver scarce military goods to combat zones and how those commodity chains precipitated different social and environmental effects along chains. Focusing on aluminum, a critical mineral used in alloys for aircraft construction, the article traces various stages in its production and processing. From the bauxite mines of British Guiana, through transshipment points on Trinidad, the smelting facilities of Quebec, and the cryolite mines of Greenland, the aluminum commodity chain delivered the consequences of wartime military demand to distant production and manufacturing sites, making the landscapes of war global in reach. Although similar commodity chains existed in the interwar period, the war drove a vast increase in production, militarized the production and transportation of the commodity, and introduced new environmental consequences.