research into cellulose and rubber in this position. Staudinger spent 14 years in
Zurich from 1912 to 1926, turning down offers from Graz and Hamburg Universities. “For a good reason”, as the journalist Siegfried Heimlich points out, because
“he was able to observe the unspeakable acts of his German fatherland in the First
World War from a neutral location in Switzerland without being involved actively
himself” [2, p. 82]. However, the years Staudinger spent in Switzerland were not a
period in which he kept his head down or looked the other way as though it was
none of his business. Staudinger did not maintain silence in a backwater as political
and military battles were fought elsewhere. On the contrary: physical distance
encouraged independent thinking; Staudinger developed into a man who positioned
himself in the frontline against the political and scientific mainstream. Unimpressed
by the nationalistic euphoria in his German fatherland, he predicted the military
defeat and advocated negotiations to find a peaceful solution as early as 1917. And,
not long after the war, he shook up the academic community in his capacity as a
scientist, breaking with the past in 1920 by formulating his macromolecule concept
in organic chemistry.
1.4 Prophecies of Doom During the War
But let’s take things one at a time: in 1917, the third year of the two-front war in
which the central powers (Germany, Austria–Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and
Bulgaria) were fighting against an alliance of more than 30 different countries
(particularly Russia, France, England and the United States), Staudinger published
an essay with the title “Technik und Krieg” in the magazine Friedens-Warte that
appeared in Zurich [3] (this essay was reprinted in [4], pp. 20–40). In it, he stated
that “superhuman” technical forces would determine the outcome of the war. The
more coal and iron a country had at its disposal to fuel its armaments production,
the greater the prospects of victory: “Technology did not play this role in earlier
wars [. . .]. It is, however, already apparent from some of the wars that were fought
in the last century that the winner was always technically superior, i.e. that the
country with more coal and iron triumphed in the end. For example, the production
of coal and iron in Germany was far larger than in France at the time of the FrancoPrussian War” (1870–1871, editor’s note) [4, p. 29]. Germany’s chances had been
good this time as well (cf. [4], p. 48), until America’s decision to enter the war in
April 1917 changed the balance of power so much in favour of the alliance that
“Germany’s chances of winning had become minimal” [4, p. 34]: “Separate peace
with Russia, which many people in Germany are hoping for, is likely to have little
impact in this respect, because the technical superiority of the alliance would only
be reduced to a minor extent as a result. It would therefore be very important for the
central powers not to try and win the war by military means” [4, p. 34]. In other
words, efforts needed to be made to arrange a truce and find a peaceful solution as
quickly as possible.
Courageous Questioning of Established Thinking: The Life and Work of Hermann. . .
85
Zurich from 1912 to 1926, turning down offers from Graz and Hamburg Universities. “For a good reason”, as the journalist Siegfried Heimlich points out, because
“he was able to observe the unspeakable acts of his German fatherland in the First
World War from a neutral location in Switzerland without being involved actively
himself” [2, p. 82]. However, the years Staudinger spent in Switzerland were not a
period in which he kept his head down or looked the other way as though it was
none of his business. Staudinger did not maintain silence in a backwater as political
and military battles were fought elsewhere. On the contrary: physical distance
encouraged independent thinking; Staudinger developed into a man who positioned
himself in the frontline against the political and scientific mainstream. Unimpressed
by the nationalistic euphoria in his German fatherland, he predicted the military
defeat and advocated negotiations to find a peaceful solution as early as 1917. And,
not long after the war, he shook up the academic community in his capacity as a
scientist, breaking with the past in 1920 by formulating his macromolecule concept
in organic chemistry.
1.4 Prophecies of Doom During the War
But let’s take things one at a time: in 1917, the third year of the two-front war in
which the central powers (Germany, Austria–Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and
Bulgaria) were fighting against an alliance of more than 30 different countries
(particularly Russia, France, England and the United States), Staudinger published
an essay with the title “Technik und Krieg” in the magazine Friedens-Warte that
appeared in Zurich [3] (this essay was reprinted in [4], pp. 20–40). In it, he stated
that “superhuman” technical forces would determine the outcome of the war. The
more coal and iron a country had at its disposal to fuel its armaments production,
the greater the prospects of victory: “Technology did not play this role in earlier
wars [. . .]. It is, however, already apparent from some of the wars that were fought
in the last century that the winner was always technically superior, i.e. that the
country with more coal and iron triumphed in the end. For example, the production
of coal and iron in Germany was far larger than in France at the time of the FrancoPrussian War” (1870–1871, editor’s note) [4, p. 29]. Germany’s chances had been
good this time as well (cf. [4], p. 48), until America’s decision to enter the war in
April 1917 changed the balance of power so much in favour of the alliance that
“Germany’s chances of winning had become minimal” [4, p. 34]: “Separate peace
with Russia, which many people in Germany are hoping for, is likely to have little
impact in this respect, because the technical superiority of the alliance would only
be reduced to a minor extent as a result. It would therefore be very important for the
central powers not to try and win the war by military means” [4, p. 34]. In other
words, efforts needed to be made to arrange a truce and find a peaceful solution as
quickly as possible.
Courageous Questioning of Established Thinking: The Life and Work of Hermann. . .
85