BLOCKADE

Simon Renner is a postdoctoral fellow of BLOCKADE and part of the Trondheim-based team. His project explores the vulnerabilities and resilience of blockaded belligerents, analyzing how they adapted to the challenges posed by blockade. It focuses on Italy’s state-level blockade resilience strategies and German corporate responses, contextualized through comparison with Japanese approaches. The chronological focus
is on the 1930s and the Second World War, while also considering learning effects from the First World War and long-term consequences for the post-WWII period. Among the concrete strategies investigated in the project are the relocation of supply chains, the development of domestic resources, rationing of supplies, and substitution programs; with a special emphasis on the collaborative strategies pursued by the three blockaded
states.

Renner’s wider research interests revolve around 20th-century economic history, particularly the economic dimensions of warfare – its causes, preparations, and aftermath – explored through the lens of state policies, corporate strategies, trade dynamics, and environmental effects. His analyses are based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative sources, compiled from public and private archives in several countries, including Britain, Germany, Italy, and Norway. He studied history, economics, and German studies at LMU Munich and conducted his PhD at NTNU Trondheim as part of the “Fate of Nations” project; he was a visiting fellow at Coventry University, LMU Munich, and the EUI in Florence. His PhD, defended in 2025, explored British raw material strategies in the aftermath of the First World War.