The Blockade of Germany (1939–1945) also known as the Economic War, was carried out during the Second World War by Great Britain, France and later the United States in order to restrict the supplies of minerals, metals, food and textiles Germany needed to sustain its war effort. While mainly consisting of a naval blockade, the economic war, which formed part of the wider Battle of the Atlantic also included the preclusive buying of war materials from neutral countries to prevent them going to the enemy, and the widespread use of strategic bombing.