The Germans Created Gunpowder & Food From Thin Air

Fertilizer Has Never Been So Terrifying

Fritz Haber — The Nobel Foundation [Public domain]

“What is the most important invention of the twentieth century? Aeroplanes, nuclear energy, space flight, television and computers will be the most common answers. Yet none of these can match the synthesis of ammonia from its elements. The world might be better off without Microsoft and CNN, and neither nuclear reactors nor space shuttles are critical to human well-being. But the world’s population could not have grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to today’s six billion without the Haber–Bosch process.”

— Vaclav Smil, Journal Of Nature|VOL 400 | 29 JULY 1999

At the outbreak of World War I, the Germans were a fairly landlocked country. Certain things needed for industrial production would need to be shipped in from overseas. One of these items being saltpeter, which is a primary ingredient of gunpowder and explosives. If a modern nation couldn’t produce gunpowder, how long would it be able to fight a war?

With this idea in mind England began a naval blockade of Germany and their allies. The so called “hunger blockade” would interrupt the flow of foodstuffs and raw material to Germany. Ships from neutral powers would have their cargo inspected and banned items would be removed. The North Sea itself would be called a…