The Causes of War Time Scarcity

The causes of war time scarcity were understandable. The needs of the army came first, both in terms of what was produced and who got priority use of the railroads. There's also just a very basic supply and demand problem here. You take all those rural workers who were conscripted into the army or who took jobs in the city; you're turning people producing food into people who need food. And as i just said, the populations of the cities increase by about six million in just years.