of Europe, and ‘although the conflict began in Europe it spread to the Middle
East, to Africa, Asia and beyond. It became the first world war and by 1918
four empires were in ruins and four royal dynasties ended. The face of the
continent was changed by revolution and by death which it seemed could
never claim too many. Tens of millions died, every one mourned by people
who loved them, and angels’ tears fell on half the world. But here’s a funny
thing, Austria and Russia, whose quarrel took everyone to the edge were the
last to declare war on each other, and when they did … no one really
noticed’.
31
But the provenance of Oppau and Leuna was so fragile. Had any link in a
chain of otherwise innocuous events been broken, Germany may not have
had a synthetic ammonia industry worthy of the name at the start of the war.
Had Haber never accepted the Margulies contract, if he had favoured publishing at the lower yield of ammonia of 0.005% in 1905, if Haber had solved
the riddle of the Third Law not Nernst, if Le Rossignol had gone to Abegg
instead of Haber, if Haber had not met Nernst in Berlin in 1908 and if
Mittasch and Kranz had followed Bosch and left the Karlsruhe demonstration
in July 1909 things might have been so different. Like Ostwald’s claim to be
the ‘intellectual father’ of ‘fixation’,
32 so too Haber and Le Rossignol became
the intellectual fathers of Oppau and Leuna. But their ‘true father’ was Carl
Bosch, and their ‘Master’ was undoubtedly the German State machine. The
infant Haber-Le Rossignol process was conceived in innocence and in hope,
but it grew up to change the world in so many unexpected ways.
13.6 Gas Warfare and Haber
Gas! GAS! Quick boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets
just in time: But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, and flound’ring
like a man in fire or lime …. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he
plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning … My friend, you would not tell
with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie;
Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.
Lines from ‘Dulce et Decorum est (pro Patria mori)’, It is sweet and proper (to
die for one’s country). Wilfred Owen, 1917.
Haber’s contract with the BASF and his membership of the nitrate commission placed him in a unique position. The poacher had turned gamekeeper. Over the years of the war and with an ever-escalating need for fixed
nitrogen he was able to use his position to facilitate the BASF’s business
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
255
East, to Africa, Asia and beyond. It became the first world war and by 1918
four empires were in ruins and four royal dynasties ended. The face of the
continent was changed by revolution and by death which it seemed could
never claim too many. Tens of millions died, every one mourned by people
who loved them, and angels’ tears fell on half the world. But here’s a funny
thing, Austria and Russia, whose quarrel took everyone to the edge were the
last to declare war on each other, and when they did … no one really
noticed’.
31
But the provenance of Oppau and Leuna was so fragile. Had any link in a
chain of otherwise innocuous events been broken, Germany may not have
had a synthetic ammonia industry worthy of the name at the start of the war.
Had Haber never accepted the Margulies contract, if he had favoured publishing at the lower yield of ammonia of 0.005% in 1905, if Haber had solved
the riddle of the Third Law not Nernst, if Le Rossignol had gone to Abegg
instead of Haber, if Haber had not met Nernst in Berlin in 1908 and if
Mittasch and Kranz had followed Bosch and left the Karlsruhe demonstration
in July 1909 things might have been so different. Like Ostwald’s claim to be
the ‘intellectual father’ of ‘fixation’,
32 so too Haber and Le Rossignol became
the intellectual fathers of Oppau and Leuna. But their ‘true father’ was Carl
Bosch, and their ‘Master’ was undoubtedly the German State machine. The
infant Haber-Le Rossignol process was conceived in innocence and in hope,
but it grew up to change the world in so many unexpected ways.
13.6 Gas Warfare and Haber
Gas! GAS! Quick boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets
just in time: But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, and flound’ring
like a man in fire or lime …. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he
plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning … My friend, you would not tell
with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie;
Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.
Lines from ‘Dulce et Decorum est (pro Patria mori)’, It is sweet and proper (to
die for one’s country). Wilfred Owen, 1917.
Haber’s contract with the BASF and his membership of the nitrate commission placed him in a unique position. The poacher had turned gamekeeper. Over the years of the war and with an ever-escalating need for fixed
nitrogen he was able to use his position to facilitate the BASF’s business
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
255