Frontline and Factory: Comparative Perspectives on the Chemical Industry at War, 1914–1924

Description

The First World War is often called the ‘chemists’ war’. But few realise precisely how, or the extent to which modern chemistry became a significant factor in the struggle, and would be in turn deeply shaped by it. Gathering momentum at first, by 1916, success in applying scientific knowledge to ‘frontline and factory’ became a measure of a nation’s capacity to win an industrial war. In the end, the titanic contest was won in large part through the command of raw materials and industrial output. This book represents a first considered attempt to study the factors that conditioned industrial chemistry for war in1914-18. Taking a comparative perspective, it reflects on the experience of France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Britain, Italy and Russia, and points to significant similarities and differences. It looks at changing patterns in the organisation of industry, and at the emerging symbiosis between science, industry and the military, which contributed to the first ‘academic-military-industrial’ complex of the 20th century. At the same time, it reflects on the world’s first, and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to monitor ‘dual-use’ chemical technologies, and so restrict the proliferation of an important category of weapons of mass destruction. Technological Mobilization and Munitions Production: Comparative Perspectives on Germany and Austria....Pages 1-20 Mobilization and Industrial Policy: Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals In The French War Effort....Pages 21-30 First World War Explosives Manufacture: The British Experience....Pages 31-46 Transforming a Village into an Industrial Town: The Royal Prussian Powder Plant in Kirchmöser (Brandenburg)....Pages 47-60 Wartime Chemistry in Italy: Industry, the Military, and the Professors....Pages 61-74 Munitions, the Military, and Chemistry in Russia....Pages 75-101 Technical Expertise and U.S. Mobilization, 1917–18: High Explosives and War Gases....Pages 103-122 Operating on Several Fronts: The Trans-National Activities of Royal Dutch/Shell, 1914–1918....Pages 123-144 Kuhlmann at War, 1914–1924....Pages 145-166 Organizing for Total War: DuPont and Smokeless Powder in World War I....Pages 167-178 Science and the Military: The Kaiser Wilhelm Foundation for Military-Technical Science....Pages 179-202 Managing Chemical Expertise: The Laboratories of the French Artillery and the Service des Poudres....Pages 203-219 The War the Victors Lost: The Dilemmas of Chemical Disarmament, 1919–1926....Pages 221-245