Raw materials were vital during the First World War. Due to the armaments production, the belligerents’ needs increased significantly, while the available resources fell.
Explanation:
Each country intended both to increase its resources and to use them more efficiently. This required broad state intervention that consisted in controlling the needs of domestic populations and administering the distribution of products. Raw materials were also at the core of the Allied cooperation to provide Europe and North America with all necessary supplies. This leads to the question of whether the war led to a change in the global trade of raw materials.
Many Social Darwinists embraced laissez-faire capitalism and racism. They believed that government should not interfere in the “survival of the fittest” by helping the poor, and promoted the idea that some races are biologically superior to others.
