The management of an army’s food supply is essential to victory during a long war—a starving soldier cannot fight. As bread was one of the main foodstuffs given to soldiers, civilians were asked to reduce their consumption of it—a deeply felt sacrifice since bread constituted more than 50 percent of the diet of the average French citizen at the time. Throughout most of World War I, the cost of bread was fixed by the government, meaning that while other items rose dramatically in price, bread did not. This ended in 1918, when bread was rationed—emphasized here by the caption proclaiming that: “It’s our duty not to waste bread.”