Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War
The Second World War drove an unprecedented search for resources at a global scale to supply military activity in Europe, Asia, and beyond. This article contributes to recent debates about the environmental consequences of global warfare by examining how total war produced new commodity chains over...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:envhis:16/1/69 2023-05-15T16:29:03+02:00 Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War Evenden, Matthew 2011-01-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/16/1/69 https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 en eng Oxford University Press http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/16/1/69 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 Copyright (C) 2011, American Society for Environmental History ARTICLES TEXT 2011 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 2011-05-29T09:53:03Z The Second World War drove an unprecedented search for resources at a global scale to supply military activity in Europe, Asia, and beyond. This article contributes to recent debates about the environmental consequences of global warfare by examining how total war produced new commodity chains over distance to deliver scarce military goods to combat zones and how those commodity chains precipitated different social and environmental effects along chains. Focusing on aluminum, a critical mineral used in alloys for aircraft construction, the article traces various stages in its production and processing. From the bauxite mines of British Guiana, through transshipment points on Trinidad, the smelting facilities of Quebec, and the cryolite mines of Greenland, the aluminum commodity chain delivered the consequences of wartime military demand to distant production and manufacturing sites, making the landscapes of war global in reach. Although similar commodity chains existed in the interwar period, the war drove a vast increase in production, militarized the production and transportation of the commodity, and introduced new environmental consequences. Text Greenland HighWire Press (Stanford University) Greenland Trinidad ENVELOPE(-60.734,-60.734,-63.816,-63.816) Environmental History 16 1 69 93 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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English |
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ARTICLES |
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ARTICLES Evenden, Matthew Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
topic_facet |
ARTICLES |
description |
The Second World War drove an unprecedented search for resources at a global scale to supply military activity in Europe, Asia, and beyond. This article contributes to recent debates about the environmental consequences of global warfare by examining how total war produced new commodity chains over distance to deliver scarce military goods to combat zones and how those commodity chains precipitated different social and environmental effects along chains. Focusing on aluminum, a critical mineral used in alloys for aircraft construction, the article traces various stages in its production and processing. From the bauxite mines of British Guiana, through transshipment points on Trinidad, the smelting facilities of Quebec, and the cryolite mines of Greenland, the aluminum commodity chain delivered the consequences of wartime military demand to distant production and manufacturing sites, making the landscapes of war global in reach. Although similar commodity chains existed in the interwar period, the war drove a vast increase in production, militarized the production and transportation of the commodity, and introduced new environmental consequences. |
format |
Text |
author |
Evenden, Matthew |
author_facet |
Evenden, Matthew |
author_sort |
Evenden, Matthew |
title |
Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
title_short |
Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
title_full |
Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
title_fullStr |
Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aluminum, Commodity Chains, and the Environmental History of the Second World War |
title_sort |
aluminum, commodity chains, and the environmental history of the second world war |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/16/1/69 https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.734,-60.734,-63.816,-63.816) |
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Greenland Trinidad |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Trinidad |
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Greenland |
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Greenland |
op_relation |
http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/16/1/69 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2011, American Society for Environmental History |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq145 |
container_title |
Environmental History |
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16 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
69 |
op_container_end_page |
93 |
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1766018741824389120 |