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For an interesting take on this, I'd recommend reading The Alchemy of Air. It's not specifically about either of the world wars. It's about the work that led t
by rpeden 8y ago
For an interesting take on this, I'd recommend reading The Alchemy of Air.
It's not specifically about either of the world wars. It's about the work that led to the discovery of the Haber-Bosch process that makes it possible to produce ammonia by extracting nitrogen from the atmosphere.
This was a hugely valuable discovery - and the companies that formed as a result ended up having a significant impact on both wars.
The book talks about how the German chemical industry formed, how the discovery of the Haber-Bosch process affected the industry, how Fritz Haber helped lead Germany's chemical weapons development during WW1, and how the major chemical companies were eventually merged to form IG Farben, which was responsible for some pretty horrible things during WW2.
- saiya-jin 8y ago> how the major chemical companies were eventually merged to form IG Farben ... and how it seamlessly became Bayer after the war, with same folks running it. Acquired by Monsanto this year, what else to say
- rpeden 8y agoThere were a few well known companies that were merged into IG Farben, and they were split back out after the war. Several of them still exist and are very well known. There were also spinoffs and mergers that happened later, and bit sand pieces of some very large chemical and pharmaceutical companies can trace parts of their lineage back to IG Farben. The summary on Wikipedia covers it pretty decently.
- hef19898 8y agoBayer aquired Monsanto, not the other way round. But yeah, these two companies truely are a fit made... well not heaven but maybe the hotter counter part of it.
- CaptainZapp 8y agoPlease don't knock Bayer. Those are the chaps, after all, that developed (and trademarked) Heroin. As a cough medicine for children. (I really hope that this doesn't need a <sarcasm> tag)
- Isamu 8y ago>seamlessly became Bayer after the war, with same folks running it Well, there was the war crimes trial for executives in IG Farben, as well as for other industrialists. Not exactly seemless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben_Trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben_Trial
- whatshisface 8y ago>Of the 24 defendants arraigned, 13 were found guilty on one or the other counts of the indictment and sentenced to prison terms ranging from one and one half to eight years, including time already served; 10 defendants were acquitted of all charges. That's only a little stiffer than what happens to a US company when the SEC discovers fraud.
- stickfigure 8y agoThe SEC has no authority to prosecute criminal complaints and cannot put anyone in jail.
- tomjakubowski 8y agothey certainly can and have referred their cases to law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]