Original scientific paper
BOSNIAN-HERCEGOVINIAN BAUXITE AS A STRATEGIC RAW MATERIAL (1918-1945)
Seka Brkljača
; Institute of History, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
The bauxite deposits of Bosnian-Hercegovina were first tapped under the direct influence of foreign interests and capital in the 1930s. With this, the mining industry in Bosnian-Hercegovina experienced structural change. The industry had been established on the mining of coal, iron ore and salt. The needs of the Third Reich stimulated the production of bauxite in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to the extent that it came to dominate total mining output, and Bosnian-Hercegovinian production made up 45.5% of that total by 1937.
The importance of bauxite for the strategic (military and economic) interests of the Third Reich, which expected to supply 25% of its needs from Bosnian-Hercegovinian and Dalmatian mines, had an important impact on strategic developments in this region, and ultimately even beyond during the course of the war.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
212213
URI
Publication date:
1.12.1999.
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