Essay On The Cold War And Postwar Economic Recovery: 1945-1970

Back in the years during and after the Cold War from 1945, almost every country had a key wartime strategy that had a heavy focus on limiting the basic domestic food consumption. Different governments therefore employed control mechanisms and enforced the reduction of citizen’s consumption through the food rationing implementation. This tactic allowed governments to equally apportion certain amounts of basic commodities resources to large groups of people instead of the normal free-for-all allowance that would have compromised the limited resources. Citizens were therefore allowed only so much of some of the scarce foods that were available and food was to be shared equally. Every family member had rationing books that gave exact details of the total amounts of certain food types that were allowed for a period of one week. Bacon and ham for instance had measured values of 100g, meat was rationed at 6p other food commodities like butter, margarine and cheese on the other hand had rationed values of 50g, 100g, and 50g respectively. Milk was also rationed to 1800ml with tea similarly being rationed at 50g as well as sugar, jam and eggs too among others just to mention a few. According to publications by the Economic Intelligence Services of the League of Nations, the rationing of food was perceived as important particularly during war time to control consumption and effectively mobilize resources for war time. With time it was quite evident that governments that effectively employed the food rationing programs were able to efficiently manage their resources for the efforts abroad on war. The rationing and the war had significant effects to the economy as well as social and political effects.
The strain of the enormous war efforts and the extreme cutbacks in trade because of the naval forces forced politicians to of implement elaborate rationing mechanisms to distribute resources. The German occupation in Austria on the other side forced the restrained availability of goods to the Austrians due to the allocation of resources of war by the Germans. There was social unrest that followed the cuts and rationing as citizens expressed mixed views on the forceful resource consumption control. This is because the citizens on both sides in the case of Austria and The Great Britain were forced to make extreme and major cuts in their consumption because of the rationing. Governments therefore had to consider their options and react to the public opinion on the introduced rationing policy. The World War 2 had forced the government in Britain to make drastic changes and regulations and citizens had been subjected to enormous strain from the numerous cuts in their daily normal lives.
The economy was also on the receiving end of the negative effects of the war as early as the beginning stages when German U-boats had blockaded the Great Britain. This created a significant trade barrier and Britain had to find alternative ways to distribute their limited resources to the population. Rationing became an important topic amongst the British citizens during and after the war. Public opinions from news at the time had negative orientations on rationing. Citizens were particularly disappointed with the coupon system that was used in most of their food purchases since it controlled so many items. There was similarly a lot of disappointment on the quality of food since the introduction of the rationing program whereby British people were discontented with the lower quality of goods as a result of less food and hence more red tape and goods of lower quality.
Politically, rationing had significant effects that shaped the path for major reforms. The wartime rationing that had been widely rejected by the public had later on been viewed as necessary for the war. However, when the rationing kept on even after the end of the war the political force was pulled in. Due to the attitudes on rationing, the Labor Party could take some licenses from the restrictions on people under the disguise of their actions being for the good of the war. After the war had ended people had expected a shift to the consumption policy before the war and when more restrictions kept on being imposed. The Labor Party Politicians had neglected the culmination of the swing-in mood. The political scene was therefore tarnished as people rejected the actions of the politicians.
Today, food is similarly one of the most significant topics. There are an astonishing number of people today who attempt to discuss means for further rationing. Rationing in the present time emphasizes on substitution for different unprocurable goods. There are numerous advocacies on the significance of a shift from luxury foods to healthy food choices like fruits, foods rich in fiber and vegetables.
Generally, food rationing is still a significant term even in the current world. Calorie intake is now similarly a major topic. Obesity has been linked to high calorie intake and efforts to control the unhealthy growth of the population that feed on low quality foods have sparked food-rationing ideologies. A general observation on food rationing during and after the war to the present time is the significance of a thin diet with the current world struggling to initiate a switch to the consumption of more cereals and vegetables than meat and fats.