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This ground-breaking book tells the full story of British exploitation for the first time and sheds new light on the legacies of the Second World War.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One: The Scientific War
- Science and Strategy
- Spying on Science
- Forerunners to Exploitation
Chapter Two: The Origins of Exploitation
- The Exploitation Idea
- Wartime Deployment
- Into the Reich
Chapter Three: Exploitation in Earnest
- Committees and Agencies
- Investigators and Exploiters
- Competition and Co-operation
Chapter Four: The Spoils of War
- Material Spoils
- Chemical and Biological Warfare
- Rocketry and Aeronautics
Chapter Five: Exploiting Expertise
- Dustbin and Epsilon
- Detention and Interrogation in Germany
- Detention and Interrogation in Britain
Chapter Six: The Brain Drain
- Defence Recruitment
- Civil Recruitment
- The Émigrés
Chapter Seven: Allies and Rivals
- The United States
- Europe
- The Global Diaspora
Chapter Eight: A New Adversary
- Working with the Soviets
- ‘A Completely Open Race’
- Denial Policy
Chapter Nine: Exploitation and the Occupation
- The British Zone
- Control of Science
- Denazification and Demilitarisation
Chapter Ten: Exploitation in Context
- Reparations
- Legality and Morality
- The Public Domain
Conclusion
- Epilogue I: The End of Exploitation
- Epilogue II: Impacts and Legacies
- Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Charlie Hall is Associate Lecturer in History at the University of Kent.
Summary
This ground-breaking book tells the full story of British exploitation for the first time and sheds new light on the legacies of the Second World War.
Additional text
This book is not only a page turner for anyone interested in science, national security, and the postwar order, it also fills a void in our understanding of Britain’s role in exploiting Germany’s technological breakthroughs as it set out on a new role in world affairs.
- Jonathan Moreno, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, University of Pennsylvania
In this thoroughly researched and engaging read, Hall argues that the British exploitation programme became primarily shaped by concerns about beating the Soviet Union to Germany’s treasure trove of science and technology. In doing so, this book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the close of the Second World War and the origins of the Cold War.
- Brian Balmer, Professor of Science & Technology Studies, University College London
A scholarly history of the British exploitation of German science and technology after World War II is long overdue. Charlie Hall’s book is very well written, thoroughly researched, comprehensive, and balanced in its judgments. I recommend it to anyone interested in how the Allies seized and utilized German technology and personnel as the war ended and the Cold War began.
-Michael Neufeld,Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
