In hindsight this is no surprise; Germany was the world’s biggest importer of Chilean nitrates. It was utterly dependent on the fire drug both to nourish its soils and to manufacture explosives. So when the First World War began, no other country was more exposed. Indeed, it’s telling that the war’s very first naval engagement between German and British ships occurred not in the seas of Europe but off the Pacific coast of Chile, as the nations attempted to wrest control of the shipping lanes for nitrates.
