Page 7 - 76_04

VOL. 76 (4), 459-478, 2010 INNOVATION VS. TRADITION: THE ELECTION…

capitalist system, which until then had been limited to textile manu-
facture, the iron and steel industry and mining.

At the beginning of the First World War, German predominance in
the chemical sector was unquestionable; no other world power was
able to compete with the German giant. German leadership was evi-
dent from 1871 on, dating from the end of the Franco-Prussian war
and the commencement of German unification. The main field of ac-
tion was that of dyestuff industries, appearing in the middle of the
19th century, due to the reuse of residues originated in the operations
of distilling bituminosus coal distillation. With reference to the organ-
ic chemistry industry in particular, more than half the total of the
chemical production exported by Germany in 1912 corresponded to
dyestuffs, perfumes or drugs, and the sales abroad of these products
exceeded the total figure of exports in the rest of the world (11). This
was, without doubt, the golden age of the German chemical industry,
after which the figures descended gradually due to competition of oth-
er countries such as the United States, France or England. In 1916,
there were 4.000 chemical remedies synthesised in Germany (more
than 200 were the most used and exported), representing the greater
part of those existing in the world and which were produced in no
less than 20 large factories (12). In 1924 the German contribution to
the world market of synthetic dyestuffs was barely 40% of the exports,
although still the highest in the world, they had dropped considerably
(13). This productive centres basing their activities on the tars ob-
tained from diversity was not capricious. They were coaltar, residues
from other industries and at the same time raw materials for the elab-
oration of these articles and others, as important for national defence
as the explosives. This concept of integrated chemical industry is es-
pecially useful for the understanding of the tentacular scheme of en-
terprises in the cleaning industry.

The devastating advance of the German chemical industry would
have repercussions especially in those countries which, until then, had
been leaders in this market. The most representative case perhaps is
that of England; leader of this industry during the central decades of
the 19th century, it underwent a progressive deterioration, almost in-
versely proportionate to German growth, and would acquire almost
critical overtones during the change of the century. The conflict of
1914 would oblige them to carry out a profound examination of con-

463