Economic War, Russia, and the Problem of the Post-War World in 1918

Abstract

Competition between Germany and the West for access to Russian raw materials in 1918 reflected the exceptional importance of raw materials to both the war effort and to plans for the post-war. Anxieties about the weaknesses in their own strategies were reflected in reports on both sides about the enemy gaining access to Russian material when they themselves could not. These anxieties highlighted competing ideas about the ability of markets to allow coercive pressure to be exerted at a distance.