What if Fritz Haber (and/or Carl Bosch) were not able to develop/commercialize the synthesis of ammonia as quickly as they did in OTL? What if by 1914, mass production of synthetic ammonia is still not possible? How does this affect WWI?
What if Fritz Haber (and/or Carl Bosch) were not able to develop/commercialize the synthesis of ammonia as quickly as they did in OTL? What if by 1914, mass production of synthetic ammonia is still not possible? How does this affect WWI?
I would think Germany goes under much sooner - 1916 or even 1915, maybe. No ammonia -> no explosives -> no artillery -> no war effort.
Well, that was broadly my idea. The question I had was how long they would hold out. Also, how this does affect the post-war world. I can't imagine the "Dolchstosslegende" arising in this timeline.
I'm inclined to agree with Zyzzyva et. al. on this one: all it would take to slow down development of a commercial-scale process would be one sizable accident. You're working with compressed gases and ultimately with anhydrous ammonia, both of which have the potential to do damage and bodily harm. Don't forget that although Germany led the world in the chemical industries in that time, chemical engineering was nowhere close to what it is now: at the time, most chemical plants were engineered by mechanical engineers working in concert with chemists, and a lot of the design guidelines, correlations, etc. used today didn't exist.
So: an accident in 1915 (let's say) slows down development. Importation of Chilean nitrates are strangled by the blockade. I'm thinking Germany comes to the conference table via feelers sent through Switzerland, Sweden, and perhaps the United States in early 1916 at the latest. It might come early enough so that the Brusilov offensive didn't take place, thus buying the tsarist regime in Russia a bit more time. I'm guessing a less draconian peace than that arrived at via Versailles: possibly even a status quo ante bellum peace.
They had Haber-Bosch at the beginning of the war. If you think they could have made it to 1916 without it, you have no idea how many munitions a WWI army ate.
One thing that always got me, couldn't they just be more economical with munitions? There is no real set requirement in how much heavy artillery you need to have firing at a trench is there?
One thing that always got me, couldn't they just be more economical with munitions? There is no real set requirement in how much heavy artillery you need to have firing at a trench is there?
They had Haber-Bosch at the beginning of the war. If you think they could have made it to 1916 without it, you have no idea how many munitions a WWI army ate.