Die Logik des modernen Krieges und die Unternehmen: Überlegungen zum Ersten Weltkrieg

The First World War was a disaster for German industry but one it could not avoid. Once war had begun, the modern war of supplies developed a fatal dynamic. On the one hand, it destroyed or restricted civilian markets: on the other, it forced companies - as the price for their future existence - into becoming part of, or at least cooperating with the armaments industry in order to secure the reserves which seemed necessary for the return to a peacetime economy. The military and political policy thus cannibalized capitalist mass production without which the war of supplies could not have been waged. In the process they became dependent on the readiness of companies to cooperate and as a result the weight of private interests increased greatly during the war. Research has focused on this aspect for far too long: what appeared to be a kind of profit logic within the war economy was in fact the reflection of a situation in which companies had little choice but to participate in the war economy in order to secure their own future existence. Therefore the war was not driven by the greed for profits but it was the war with all its catastrophic social consequences that pushed the economy and society into ruin. If it had been the decision of business and industry, the war would not have taken place.