The Tank Producers: British Mechanical Engineering in the Great War
Journal of Industrial History, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1998, pp. 88-106, 1998
Posted: 18 Dec 2009
Date Written: 1998
Abstract
This paper examines the British government’s creation of an extensive network of firms based around the traditional heavy engineering sector for the purpose of manufacturing tanks during the First World War. The effectiveness of the government’s entrepreneurial efforts at this time suggests that a greater degree of state involvement in planning the engineering industry after the war would have been beneficial in the modernization of this sector of British manufacturing.
Keywords: British government, Heavy engineering, Tanks, Manufacturing, World War 1, Modernization
JEL Classification: N44, N54
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation