Central and Western Europe the main provider of coal was Britain. In Britain by the middle of 1918 the production of coal was reduced by 13 per cent. Already in 1917 the principal industries were practically without supplies of coal. Electrical works were receiving only one-sixth of the coal they needed, while textile undertakings were receiving only one-eleventh of the pre-war supply. At the time of the “peace” conference at Versailles nearly all the countries in the world were affected by a terrible coal crisis. Factories were closed down for lack of fuel and the railway services were reduced. An extensive disorganisation of industry and transport ensued.
The same thing happened in Russia. In 1917 the war had led to very bad conditions in the matter of coal supply. The industries of the Moscow district required 12,000,000 poods of coal per month (61 poods = 1 ton). Kerensky’s administration promised to supply 6,000,000 poods, half the normal amount. The actual supplies were as follows :
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