The Weaponization of Food in France, 1919-1949

Throughout the Second World War, at least 20 million people were killed by the weaponization of food - the strategic and intentional use of food to control, manipulate, and eliminate populations. My thesis will examine the weaponization of food in France from 1919 to 1949 by looking at atrocities related to food - including mass starvation, forced migration, confiscation of foodstuffs, and elimination of agricultural laborers - the motivations behind them, the laws and policies made in the interwar years to support them, and the everyday experience of hunger across France during World War II.