AHC/ WI Feed Germany and allies during WW1

Was there any combination of agricultural and international policies that would have enabled the Central powers populations to be to eat healthily enough that they would tolerate the war?

If so how long does the war last?
 
Was there any combination of agricultural and international policies that would have enabled the Central powers populations to be to eat healthily enough that they would tolerate the war?

If so how long does the war last?


They did tolerate the war until they suffered irretrievable military defeat. Then, their morale would still have collapsed even had they been eating somewhat better.
 
Have the UK on their side. They also win the war quickly.

Next?

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Seriously, they can't grow enough food of their own. Fertilizer competes with explosives for nitrates, farming competes with the military for man power.

Their best bet is a large source of external food - which means that either Britain (so there's no effective blockade) or Russia needs to be neutral, at least, in this war. Which makes it a very, very different WWI.
 
Mechanize farming and use mass production methods for producing nitrates. This means building up both of these changes before the war, as doing them during the war would cause a small drop in production while they were implemented, which obviously won't be acceptable during the war.
 
Mechanize farming and use mass production methods for producing nitrates. This means building up both of these changes before the war, as doing them during the war would cause a small drop in production while they were implemented, which obviously won't be acceptable during the war.


Though transportation would still have been a problem. With so many trains and horses requisitioned by the army, it was difficult to get food from the farms to the cities.

I suspect quite a few Germans would have gone hungry even had there been no blockade at all - though even with the blockade there was little likelihood of Germany collapsing without defeat on the battlefield. The blockade made life miserable but it wasn't a war winner in itself.
 
Was there any combination of agricultural and international policies that would have enabled the Central powers populations to be to eat healthily enough that they would tolerate the war?

No crop failures in 1916, Romania remains neutral, or this policy idea by @wiking gets implemented prior to or during the war. Any of these, or a combination of them, could've greatly increased German food production/imports enough to fend off the threat of starvation due to the blockade temporarily or in the long term.

If so how long does the war last?

It depends upon which one of the above you use. If you just use the German domestic ones in order to keep the war largely parallel to OTL, then the conflict will last into 1919 at which point somebody collapses. If the German home front is still stable, my money is on the Anglo-French collapsing and thus forcing the US to the table as well. If you use the Romania PoD, the war likely ends sooner because Austria-Hungary will remain viable and more pressure can be brought down upon other fronts.
 
Though transportation would still have been a problem. With so many trains and horses requisitioned by the army, it was difficult to get food from the farms to the cities.

I suspect quite a few Germans would have gone hungry even had there been no blockade at all - though even with the blockade there was little likelihood of Germany collapsing without defeat on the battlefield. The blockade made life miserable but it wasn't a war winner in itself.
Rolling stock and trucks could be made with mass production methods as well, but that would have effects far beyond just agriculture during a war- military logistics would be revolutionized. It would also require a lot of preparation before the war, just like the earlier suggestions. Farmers would have to go without horses, though- there's not much that can be done about that.
 
How important were the supplies they were able to obtain from the Russian Empire in helping cover any shortages in the last year or so? I was wondering what sort of situation Germany might of been in had the Eastern Front gone as in our timeline but with the Russians managing to avoid having to make the Great Retreat and the lines mostly settling down into a stalemate.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
You just need a series of fairly easy POD.

  • One way is to keep Romania neutral or an ally. You gain 1 million tons of cereal.
  • You can bring on the Nitrogen plants faster. Small technical POD combined with some spending.
  • Germany did not start rationing until early 1915. Caloric consumption actually increased as they looted Belgium.
  • Actually have a plan for a long war, or a long war planning department.
  • Draft fewer farmers, more city folks.
  • Don't bring USA in war via USW.
  • Avoid Hindenburg taking over the GHQ.

Really easy to do really, if you mean avoid revolt. If you mean each German gets as much food as he likes, that is not really possible. You can give each German enough food to be healthy.
 

NoMommsen

Donor
Something that would/could have improved german food stituation considearbly : Give Falkenhayn a wee bit more "belief" in his own believes about the duration of the war and some more serious talks with his brother, who run the ... "family estates".

He as the War Minister knew quite well about the "material" preparedness or better unpreparedness of Germany for a longer war (6 months plus). Therefore he jumped happily on the occasion, when Rathenau offered him to "run" the raw material management for (mostly military) industrial production.
Somehting achieved with quite remarkable good results. Esp. if you keep in mind, that such a task on a "reichsweit" (nation-wide) scale was something completly new and heavily opposed by almost every other industrialist and industrial economist by that time in Germany.

Unfortunatly for Germany :

Falkenhayn wasn't able to adapt his thinking of the needs and duration of the war to food and agriculture sector as well. ... Though Rathenau proposed to apply the by that time only thought of methods for industry to agriculture as well.
Couriosly Falkenhayn rejected this offer made by Rathenau in late August/beginning September 1914 (again), referring to the then assumed shortness of the war as well as an assumed sufficient capability of the existing agricultural sector ( a position as unfortunatly also taken by Falkenhayns 2nds in charge at the War Ministry Franz von Wandel and Wild of Hohenborn).

For the OP :
If you look for a suitable POD let Falkenhayn give Rathenau also the agriculture to "reorganize" in late summer/early autumn 1914.
You will get a much more efficient agricultural production with effective allocation and use of fertilizers, man and horse power, transportation etc. in accordance with the needs of the industrial sector as well and a much more efficient buying of food-stuff in the neutral neighbour-countries than OTL. You might even see some "forced" reorganisation of agricultural land-ownerships for more effectiveness (Flurbereinigung).
I am quite sure, that something as catastrophically felt like the turnip-winter wouldn't have occured (I am as sure, that the usage of turnip would have been implemented much earlier but in a much more ... "relaxed" way than OTL).
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Or at least give him a different sidekick.

Had Ludendorff been badly wounded or otherwise unavailable in August 1914, might the replacement have been a bit smarter?

Not sure. I just don't know enough about the available German officers.

And I think the really costly H & L mistake may have been in 1915. If they attack southward out of Poland instead of into the Baltics, the Germans might well have cutoff a Russian Army. And even if they don't cut off the army, the Germans can take Poland faster in 1915 in this manner.
 
Not sure. I just don't know enough about the available German officers.

Von Seeckt might be a possibility. OTL he became to Von Mackensen rather what Ludendorff was to Hindenburg. However, I've no idea whether he'd be any wiser than Ludendorff on matters economic.



And I think the really costly H & L mistake may have been in 1915. If they attack southward out of Poland instead of into the Baltics, the Germans might well have cutoff a Russian Army. And even if they don't cut off the army, the Germans can take Poland faster in 1915 in this manner.


Possible, but of course Russia had plenty of manpower, and I don't think the Germans were looking to push much further into Russia than they did anyway. $64000 question is where it leads to the Russian Revolution coming a few months sooner, ie before the decision for USW has been taken.
 
Possible, but of course Russia had plenty of manpower, and I don't think the Germans were looking to push much further into Russia than they did anyway. $64000 question is where it leads to the Russian Revolution coming a few months sooner, ie before the decision for USW has been taken.

Avoiding USW doesn't even require something that radical, it was a pretty contentious decision IOTL, largely adopted because the Germans felt that they were losing, that the USA was basically already siding with the Entente (while being unaware of the rifts beginning to form between them), as well as the perception that the war would be won or lost (preferably won, of course) before the US became a relevant factor on the front-line.

Make more of Germany's leaders confident in the war's present course leading to victory and they'd be more hesitant to rock the boat too much, meaning USW doesn't get implemented. More victories early on and a better position for Germany would be quite sufficient. Romania not joining in, Italy remaining neutral, better Ottoman and Austrian performance (the Austrians were, for example, in the confused mess of Galizia mid-1914, in position to encircle and annihilate one Russian army, but decided to retreat instead ... to disastrous consequences), a clearer rift between the Entente and USA (one that goes public) or at least a better German Foreign Office, but that last one's just asking for a miracle.
 
I wonder how much of an effect a victory garden type scheme would have on germany.

A neighbour of ours recently put a 10 meter x 10 meter back garden out in potatoes and got close to 90kg of potatoes.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Possible, but of course Russia had plenty of manpower, and I don't think the Germans were looking to push much further into Russia than they did anyway. $64000 question is where it leads to the Russian Revolution coming a few months sooner, ie before the decision for USW has been taken.

The question is more about can the Germans cut some of the railroads behind the retreating Russian Army fast enough to get an encirclement. Hard to know really, probably worth the try.
 
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