A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World

Alan Belk is a sessional instructor in the Philosophy Department at the
University of Guelph.

Around 1866 Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, an explosive more powerful
than gunpowder that could be manufactured safely relative to the
production of other explosives. Dynamite became de rigueur for
constructing dams, tunnels, and canals, and Nobel’s major problems
were enforcing his patents and acquiring adequate supplies of nitrates.

Though dynamite is the focus of this book, nitrates are the real
subject. Humans have two major uses for nitrates: as fertilizer, which
enables the intensification of crop production, and as an ingredient of
gunpowder and explosives. Naturally occurring nitrate deposits result
from animal excrement; large natural deposits, which require centuries
to agglomerate and almost continuous drought for the nitrates to avoid
being washed away, are rare. The discovery of Peruvian guano and Chilean
caliche gave a boost to both agriculture and explosives. But, as is the
case with oil, vast demand all too quickly depleted the resource. So, in
the case of nitrates, it was the job of science to find a solution, and
that came in the form of the Haber-Bosch process for synthesizing
ammonia. This was convenient for the Germans during World War I because
it enabled their army to fire many more shells than the French or
British, who were short of the nitrates needed to launch their shells.

Bown is an engaging writer, and this book is a great read. He avoids
moralizing, but shows that explosives can be used for good or bad ends.
I’m not sure that any amount of goodness can make up for the evils
that guano miners and processors experienced, but progress justifies
many things and dynamite has certainly brought progress.