Rubber | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)
During World War I, motor vehicles took on a key role as transport facilities for troops and equipment. They needed tires made of rubber, which as a result became a raw material of strategic importance. The plantation economies of the British colonies Malaya and Ceylon dominated the caoutchouc market; the Entente practically had a monopoly. Between 1914 and 1918, the US car and tire industries outclassed their German competitors by far and had an important share in the Allied victory over the Central Powers.
The International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin
