Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T11:14:16.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Industrial Mobilization in World War I: The Prussian Army and the Aircraft Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

John H. Morrow Jr.
John H. Morrow Jr.
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study, based on primary sources, shows that the army's role in the wartime mobilization of the industry was fundamental and extensive. It determined aircraft prices and labor exemptions, regulated the industry's supply of credit and raw materials, limited patent rights, and ultimately interfered in management-labor relationships. Its policies resulted in the industry's expansion and concentration and in above average real wages for the industry's labor force. The article concludes that while the mobilization of the aircraft industry was successful, military regulation of the German war economy in World War I was generally inefficient.

Type
Papers Presented at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 36 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 On prewar aviation see my article, “The Prussian Army and the Aircraft Industry, 1909–14,” Aerospace Historian, 20 (1973), 76–83.Google Scholar

2 August Euler to Idflieg (Inspectorate of Flying Troops), 4 Aug. 1913, Vol. 262, NE (Nachlass Euler), BA (Bundesarchiv). Entwicklungsgeschichte des Flugzeugwesens, pp. 46–7, Vol. II L 234/32, MA (Militaerarchiv).

3 Protocols of 1st and 2nd meetings of the Commission of Parliamentary Deputies, 6 and 7 Aug. 1914, Vols. 59 and 267, NE, BA.

4 KM (War Ministry) No. 785.8.14 Al, Vol. K10–4/2532, MA. Koehler, Karl, “Auf dem Wege zur Luftwaffe,” Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 16 (1966), 354–55.Google Scholar

5 Protocol of War Ministry meeting on aircraft industry, 2 Sept. 1914, Vol. 59, NE, BA.

6 Mueller, Alfred, Die Kriegsrohstoffbewirtschaftung 1914–1918 im Dienste des deutschen Monopolkapitals (Berlin, 1955), passim.Google Scholar

7 Report of the Parliamentary Commission to Examine Contracts on War Deliveries (9th meeting), 31 Oct. 1917, p. 57, app. 4., Vol. K10–4/2540, MA. Euler to Idflieg, 9 Sept. 1914, Vol. 253, NE, BA.

8 KM No. 2089/9.14. A7L to Deputy General Commands, 5 Oct. 1914, Vol. MKr 1385, BKA (Bavarian War Archive). Report of the Commission on War Deliveries (1st meeting), 19 Dec. 1916, p. 12.

9 Report of the Commission on War Deliveries (9th meeting). 31 Oct. 1917, p. 63, app. 15. Walter Froebus (LFG) to Elder, 2 Dec. 1914, Vol. 257, NE, BA. Euler correspondence with aircraft firms on expenditures, 14 and 15 Jan. 1915, Vol. 19, NE, BA. A. R. Weyl, Fokker: The Creative Years (London, 1965), p. 131.

10 Froebus to Euler, 2 Dec. 1914, Vol. 257, NE, BA.

11 Report of the Commission on War Deliveries (1st meeting), 19 Dec. 1916, pp. 9–13.

12 von Buelow, Hilmer, Geschichte der Luftwaffe (Frankfort, 1934), pp. 57–8.Google Scholar

13 Report of the Commission on War Deliveries, (1st and 9th meetings), pp. 9–13, 48–9.

14 “Die Lohnbewegung in den Betrieben der Flugzeugindustrie Berlins,” Metallarbeiter-Zeitung, 22 May 1915; “Teuerungszuschlag in den Johannisthaler Flugzeugbetrieben,” Vorwaerts, 2 Oct. 1915; Vol. M Kr 1386, BKA. Bry, Gerhard, Wages in Germany, 1871–1945 (Princeton, 1960), p. 211, Table 53.Google Scholar

15 Chief of Field Aviation No. 400, 5 June 1915, Vol. IL 42/14, MA.

16 Report of the Commission on War Deliveries (9th Meeting), p. 47. Chief of Field Aviation No. 7610, app. 22, 20 Nov. 1915, Vol. II L 234/37, MA.

17 Based on annual totals in Bauer, M. H., “Aus dem deutschen Flugzeugbau, 1914–1918,” Der Flieger (1953), p. 117.Google Scholar

18 Buelow, Luftwaffe, pp. 80–1.

19 Siegert memorandum on construction surveillance and acceptance of military aircraft, 19 September 1916, Austro-Hungarian Aviation Documents, KA (Austrian War Archive).

20 von Wrisberg, Ernst, Heer und Heimat, 1914–1918 (Leipzig, 1921), pp. 2, 159.Google Scholar

21 Idflieg No. 210/17 to Directors of aviation firms, 31 July 1917, Vol. IL 41/1, MA. 2nd aircraft conference, 14 February 1917, Siemens Schuckert Works, Siemens Schuckert File, GC (Peter Grosz Collection). Goebel, Otto, Deutsche Rohstoffwirtschaft im Weltrieg (Stuttgart, 1930), pp. 111, 117Google Scholar.

22 Euler, notice in files, mid-Oct. 1916, Vol. 236, NE, BA.

23 Proceedings of the Conference on Patents, 20 Jan. 1916, Vol. 267, NE, BA. See also Vols. 59 and 267, passim. “Haftet der Lieferant eines Flugzeugs fuer Reparaturkosten des Bestellers,” Flugsport, 9 (1917), 109–12Google Scholar. “Sind die Betriebserfahrungen usw. der Flugzeugfirmen vogelfrei?” Flugsport, 10 (1918), 634–35.Google Scholar

24 Feldman, Gerald D., Army, Industry, and Labor in Germany, 1914–1918 (Princeton, 1966), p. 126.Google Scholar

25 Report of the Commission on War Deliveries (9th meeting), pp. 51–2, apps. 4 and 5. Bry, Wages, p. 200, Table 49. Zimmermann, Waldermar, “Die Veraenderungen der Einkommens und Lebensverhaeltnisse der deutschen Arbeiter durch den Krieg,” Die Einwirkung des Krieges auf Bevoelkerungsbewegung, Einkommen und Lebenshaltung in Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1932), p. 378.Google Scholar

26 On raw material prices see Euler to Idflieg, app., 23 July 1917, Vol. 265, NE, BA. On G-plane prices see unsigned document in Idflieg-KM correspondence, Feb. 1917, GC.

27 Bavarian Aviation Inspectorate's plenipotentiary to Idflieg, 9 Feb. 1917, Vol. II, No. 16, GC. Entwicklung der deutschen Luftstreitkraefte bis zum 7.8.18, p. 14, Vol. IIL 234/47, MA.

28 Chief of the General Staff No. 58034 to KM, 25 June 1917; Bavarian Engineers Inspectorate No. 31576, 13 July 1917, Vol. IL 41/1, MA. Ludendorff, Erich, ed., Urkunden der Obersten Heeresleitung ueber Ihre Taetigkeit, 1916/18 (Berlin, 1920), p. 162.Google Scholar

29 Gilles, J. A., Flugmotoren 1910 bis 1918 (Frankfurt, 1971), p. 101Google Scholar. Austro-Hungarian n Flying Arsenal Representative at Idflieg, memorandum on production increases 21 Aug. 1917, Austro-Hungarian Aviation Documents, KA. Idflieg Nachrichtenblatt, No. 48 (24 July 1917), Vol. IL 43/41, MA.

30 Idflieg No. 210/17, 31 July 1917, Vol. IL 41/1, MA. Siegert-Euler Correspondence, July-Dec. 1917, Vols. 66, 265, 272, 273, NE, BA.

31 Junkers file, passim, GC. Blunck, Richard, Hugo Junkers: Ein Leben fuer Technik und Luftfahrt (Dusseldorf, 1951), pp. 105–10.Google Scholar

32 Bavarian Aviation Inspectorate plenipotentiary to Idflieg, monthly reports, Dec. 1917-June 1918, Sept. 1918, Vol. IL 41/1, MA. On wood prices see War Office KM HF103/9, 11 Dec. 1917, Vol. 269, NE, BA.

33 Bavarian Aviation Inspectorate plenipotentiary to Idflieg, Monthly reports, Dec. 1917- June 1918. Nachrichtenblatt, 1, No. 3 (18 Nov. 1917) and No. 4 (3 Dec. 1917), Vol. IL 43/31, MA.

34 Naval Liaison Officer to Seaplane Test Command, 12 June and 28 July 1918, Vol. 6470 Lu IV-28, MA Luftstreitkraefte, p. 14, Vol. IIL 234/47, MA.

35 Seifert, Karl D., Geschaeft mit dem Flugzeug (Berlin, 1960), p. 49.Google Scholar

36 Calculations derived from figures in Entwicklungsgeschichte, p. 150, Vol. IIL 234/32, MA. Bauer, M. H., “Aus dem deutschen Flugzeugbau 1914–1918,” Der Flieger (1953), p. 117.Google Scholar

37 Based on company and capital figures in Mueller, Kriegsrohstoffbewirtschaftung, p. 22. Aviatik figures in Seifert, Geschaeft, pp. 23, 37.