When bench and food gained parity with trench: A transnational perspective on the history and historiography of food and non-European workers in Europe’s First World War

Abstract

While at the beginning of the First World War military considerations clearly dominated the field, at the latest from the end of 1915 the issue of workers on industrial benches as well as the issue of feeding the population and the armed forces became essential aspects on all sides. This presentation / lecture will take a transnational perspective on the issue, focusing on the global food market (available to the entente, but not the Central Powers) and on the recruitment of non-European workers, in order to analyse their role in the history and the historiography of Europe’s First World War. The main emphasis will be on the two years 1916 and 1917 that are usually not at the centre of the historical analysis of the Great War.