Energie für den Krieg. Schweizer Unternehmen als Zulieferer und Produzenten in der deutschen Stickstoffwirtschaft während des Ersten Weltkriegs

Abstract

The supply of the dual-use resource nitrogen became an existential problem for Germany during World War I. This article discusses how the German war economy attempted to solve the supply problem and how successful it was in doing so. The supply of nitrogen from their neutral neighbour Switzerland is discussed in order to show that Swiss companies produced nitrogen compounds in Switzerland itself, while at the same time also exporting intermediate products and resources to Germany for the manufacture of nitrogen compounds. Swiss companies also built factories on German soil that were part of the German nitrogen industry and were in some cases even operated with Swiss resources and labour.