Chapter 1 situates the famine in its historical context and elaborates on other defining moments of the German occupation of the Netherlands. It explains how lessons learned from the First World War motivated the Dutch to prepare carefully for a new wartime food system. These preparations ensured that the agricultural transition to self-sufficiency was achieved in an orderly manner once the Netherlands was occupied. The new rationing apparatus and the Dutch bureaucrats involved were largely a continuation of the pre-war organisation of food supply and their adequate food governance prevented a serious shortage of food until September 1944.