The
Blockade of Germany (1939–1945) also known as the Economic War, was carried out during the
Second World War by Great Britain and France in order to restrict the supplies of minerals, metals, food and
textiles Germany needed to sustain its war effort. While mainly consisting of a
naval blockade, the economic war, which formed part of the wider
Battle of the Atlantic, also included the preclusive buying of war materials from neutral countries to prevent them going to the enemy, and the widespread use of strategic bombing.