“ Dummes Geld ”: Money, Grain, and the Occupation of Romania in WWI

Powers. The offensive against Verdun had been an extraordinarily bloody stalemate, one that sapped the officer corps' confidence in the leadership of General Erich von Falkenhayn. In June, Russia launched its great Brusilov offensive, pushing Austria-Hungary to the verge of capitulation. Soon thereafter, the British offensive against the Somme, itself a blood-soaked disaster, nonetheless revealed an astounding Entente advantage in war material. The first part of 1916 had not been kind to the armies of the Dual Alliance. The difficulties were in no way limited to the battlefield. The material advantage demonstrated by the British at the Somme suggested that Germany's purported martial virtues could be trumped by sheer weight of firepower. Germany would need to mobilize greater resources to keep up. The signs here, however, were likewise troubling. By spring 1916, the sales of war bonds no longer covered the financial needs of the state. This forced a growing reliance on discounted short-term notes and the inflationary Darlehenskassen (special banks created to issue loans). Concern for the external value of the mark necessitated sweeping controls on foreign exchange by January 1916, and on all foreign trade by 1917. Meanwhile, food supplies in the munitions-producing cities were becoming dangerously short. General Groener recalled in his memoirs that, "in the course of the summer of 1915 it became impossible to overlook the growing difficulty of feeding the population and army." By February 1916, the War Minister was reporting to General Headquarters that peace must be made soon given the food crisis.1 The creation of the War Food Office (KEA) in May 1916 could not compensate for terrible weather in 1915 and labor shortages in the agricultural sector. The government could not prevent spreading food riots and an expanding black market. From the beginning, the KEA could not hope to meet a proposed standard of 3,000 calories daily for an adult male, aiming instead to introduce a daily ration of 1,985 calories. Ultimately, the KEA was unable to permit more than 1,336 calories. Riots, looted shops, and