Germany obtains a great deal of her meat, wheat, eggs, barley, coffee, maize, butter, etc., from beyond her borders. In 1913, for example, Russia sent her grain and cereals to the extent of 3,600,000 tons, valued approximately at £30,000,000. In 1912 Argentina exported to her grain and livestock products worth nearly £11,000,000. From Hungary she received last year cereals valued at £4,000,000; and even little Roumania contributed £1,000,000 worth of wheat to the total.
The following short table, giving the import figures for 1911 and 1913, will show to what extent Germany is indebted to foreign countries for some common grain and cereal products:
---------------+-------------+------------- | 1911. | 1913. ---------------+-------------+------------- | |(£ sterling.)|(£ sterling.) Wheat | 19,943,750| 21,472,850 Barley | 23,105,250| 20,347,750 Maize | 4,336,000| 5,309,600 Rye | 3,800,600| 4,100,200 Oats | 3,742,800| 3,946,300 Rice | 4,408,200| 3,926,000 Cocoa | 2,775,300| 2,796,000 Coffee | 12,578,450| 12,450,500 Eggs | 8,567,900| 4,504,800 ---------------+-------------+-------------
With her coast blockaded by the British Fleet; France, Belgium, and Russia hostile; and squadrons of the Navy alert for prizes in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it is not likely that Germany can rely upon any imports of food until the war is over. Austria-Hungary, at grips with Servia, will require for her own use all the food she can get, even if the Straits of Otranto were open. The hostility of Servia prevents any possibility of food being imported via Greece.
On this point a remarkable article, obviously inspired, and showing clearly enough why the Teutonic Powers were paying so much attention to the Balkans, appeared in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_ so far back as January 7th, 1914. The writer said:
The countries comprising the Triple Alliance are changing daily from agricultural States to industrial States; and they are more and more compelled to depend upon the uninterrupted importation of their raw materials. A war with England, France, and Russia at the same time appears, fortunately, to be ever more improbable; but the possibility of such a conflict cannot be excluded, and far-seeing statesmen must reckon with it. The Triple Alliance countries, which are compelled to have recourse to large armies, cannot hope to compete successfully with the fleets of England and France on the high seas. In the event of a struggle, therefore, our oversea imports would, in a short time, be done away with, and our industries would languish for want of raw material. As things stand to-day, it is not merely the lack of wheat and meat that would drive the country to destruction. Coal and iron and heaven knows what else have also become essential to us. Where, then, shall the Triple Alliance countries look for their raw material if the sea routes are cut off? There is only one means of land communication, and it leads through Roumania, Bulgaria, and Turkey into Asia Minor. It follows that the Triple Alliance can never see this route barricaded by hostile States; the Triplice must keep this route open at all costs.... The German military mission in Constantinople is not merely helping to reorganise the Turkish army out of pure joy; it must, at the same time, serve both Turkey and the German Empire. One should also take notice of the determination of Germany and Austria not to consent to the proposal for the inter-nationalisation of the stretch of the Orient Railway between Adrianople and Constantinople. The States lying between the eastern border of Hungary and Asia Minor have, indeed, no choice; they must be the friends and allies of the Triple Alliance; or they must reckon with the unflinching hostility of the Triple Alliance in any conflict which threatens their independence. Austria, too, has no choice. Either the countries on the Lower Danube must be her friends, or she must seek to annihilate them. It is as Napoleon said: "the Power that commands Constantinople can command the whole world, provided that it can maintain itself there." And when Bismarck said that the whole Balkan Peninsula was not worth the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier, he could not have foreseen that this territory would one day become so essential a route for German imports that we should not, if necessary, shirk a conflict with Russia to maintain our freedom of trade there.