Prehistory and Beginnings of I.G. Farben (up to 1933)
With the development of organic chemistry in the nineteenth century, industrial manufacture of synthetic dyes in Germany gained increasing importance. Starting in 1861, new firms were founded, including the precursors of what later would become I.G. Farbenindustrie AG. Chemical products also took on military significance for the German Reich during World War I, and in 1917 the German army used poison gas at the front for the first time. After the loss of the war by the German Reich and the constraints imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, the German chemical firms succeeded in restoring their high profit levels within a short time and managed to acquire a leading position in the domestic and global markets by forming cartels. In 1925, the leading German chemical companies joined together to form a conglomerate—I.G. Farbenindustrie AG—and thus pooled their economic and political influence.