ABSTRACT

Merchants of death was an epithet used in the USA in the 1930s to attack industries and banks that supplied and funded the First World War (then called the Great War). The term was popular in anti-war circles of both the left and the right and was used extensively regarding the Senate hearings in 1936 by the Nye Committee. Originally published in 1934, this book uses the term to expose the international arms industry at the time. It is a careful and subtle, but still passionate, attack on those who would use government to profit themselves at the expense of other people's lives and property. The book not only makes the case against the war machine; it provides a scintillating history of war profiteering, one authoritative enough for citation and academic study.

chapter Chapter 1|11 pages

Consider the Armament Maker

chapter Chapter 2|10 pages

Merchants in Swaddling Clothes

chapter Chapter 3|16 pages

Du Pont—Patriot and Powder-Maker

chapter Chapter 4|18 pages

American Musketeers

chapter Chapter 5|13 pages

Second-Hand Death

chapter Chapter 6|16 pages

Krupp—The Cannon King

chapter Chapter 7|10 pages

Automatic Death—The Story of Maxim’s Machine Gun

chapter Chapter 8|13 pages

Super-Salesman of Death

chapter Chapter 9|13 pages

Stepmother of Parliament

chapter Chapter 10|19 pages

Seigneur de Schneider

chapter Chapter 11|15 pages

The Eve of the World War—The Arms Merchants

chapter Chapter 12|18 pages

The World War—The War in Europe

chapter Chapter 13|17 pages

The World War—Enter Old Glory

chapter Chapter 14|16 pages

Plus Ça Change–

chapter Chapter 15|13 pages

The Menace of Disarmament

chapter Chapter 16|18 pages

From Konbo to Hotchkiss

chapter Chapter 17|23 pages

Status Quo

chapter Chapter 18|17 pages

The Outlook