Attention directed toward the environment in recent decades has motivated scholars to examine how earlier history has impacted the environment.  War History Network readers will appreciate the fourteen essays of “Environmental Histories of the First World War” focus on several ways that World War I changed the environment and economy of the world. The influences chronicled in this collection are more indirect than are frequently thought of.

Part I, “Europe and North America: Battle Zones and Support Systems”; contains essays on the use of food as a weapon, the role of Austria-Hungary’s dysfunctional food system in its weakening and demise and the creation of militarized environment .as demonstrated by the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.

Part II  “War’s Global Reach: Extracting Natural Resources”; examines the importance of minerals, the impact of the War on the North Sea fisheries and the changes in the Far East as Japan’s expansion during the war enabled it to incorporate areas on the Asian mainland and islands of the Pacific into its economic plan.  In my opinion the most important essay in this part is the one on the War accelerated the growth in the importance of oil on the world stage.

Part III, “The Middle East and Africa: Ecosystems, Refugees, and Famine”; studies the creation of Lebanon, reasons why famines of that era were so deadly and how transition from German to British and Belgian colonial rule in Africa impacted the wood trade in the affected countries.  

Part IV, “The Long Aftermath: Environmentalism and Memory”. deals with long term disruptions in international conservation efforts and colonial relationships. New metals are in use, oil drives nations and fuels wars.  Commemorations of World War I are sanitized or modified to reflect the past as contemporary viewers wish to see it. 

The authors and editors have supplemented the text with charts, maps and photos that aid in the understanding of the issues involved.  For the non-expert reader, although relatively short, this book requires a significant effort to gather new information.  The emphasis on the role of food as a weapon and the competition between demands for nutrition and explosives gives a sense of how total, total war can be.  Examination of American food aid to non-belligerents and the importance of resources spurs reflection of how the evens of World War I have lingering effects on the world in which we live.   I think that it is a valuable supplement for one with a general understanding of the War.