13
Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
‘Fixation’ and gas warfare
1
‘The heathen civilisation of poison gases … [from] … the ammonia-breathing
Germanic war god’ …
Joseph Roth. The Auto-da-Fé of the Mind, 1933.
13.1 Something Wicked This Way Comes …
Great Britain’s declaration of war on the evening of Tuesday 04 August 1914
came as a complete surprise to Germany. Throughout July, His Majesty’s
Government and its Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey, attempted to mediate
the quarrelsome parties, in turn trying to remain aloof from the dispute. To
many this appeared as British ‘dithering’. It was only as the war began that the
British position suddenly solidified into support for Belgium, predicated upon
the arcane, ‘Treaty of London’, and the fact that a German army just across
the channel was far too uncomfortable to countenance. The general feeling at
the time was that, had Britain come out clearly on the side of Belgium and
France earlier in July, Germany would have instructed Austria-Hungary to
settle her differences with Serbia and war could have been avoided. With no
such indication, Germany believed Britain would stay out of the war, limiting
herself to diplomatic protests. Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently
proceeded under the belief that war would be fought solely against France and
Russia. The official report
2 by Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador to
Berlin, regarding the breaking of diplomatic relations with Germany on 04
August 1914 describes in vivid detail the ‘betrayal’ Germany felt at Great
Britain’s position.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_13
241
Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
‘Fixation’ and gas warfare
1
‘The heathen civilisation of poison gases … [from] … the ammonia-breathing
Germanic war god’ …
Joseph Roth. The Auto-da-Fé of the Mind, 1933.
13.1 Something Wicked This Way Comes …
Great Britain’s declaration of war on the evening of Tuesday 04 August 1914
came as a complete surprise to Germany. Throughout July, His Majesty’s
Government and its Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey, attempted to mediate
the quarrelsome parties, in turn trying to remain aloof from the dispute. To
many this appeared as British ‘dithering’. It was only as the war began that the
British position suddenly solidified into support for Belgium, predicated upon
the arcane, ‘Treaty of London’, and the fact that a German army just across
the channel was far too uncomfortable to countenance. The general feeling at
the time was that, had Britain come out clearly on the side of Belgium and
France earlier in July, Germany would have instructed Austria-Hungary to
settle her differences with Serbia and war could have been avoided. With no
such indication, Germany believed Britain would stay out of the war, limiting
herself to diplomatic protests. Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently
proceeded under the belief that war would be fought solely against France and
Russia. The official report
2 by Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador to
Berlin, regarding the breaking of diplomatic relations with Germany on 04
August 1914 describes in vivid detail the ‘betrayal’ Germany felt at Great
Britain’s position.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_13
241