The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National AdvantageAngell, Norman
History
The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National Advantage
Angell, Norman
Commercial policy; Disarmament; Imperialism; War; War, Cost of
He might, like Mr. Harrison, put the case conversely--that if Germany
could get command of the sea she could cut England off from its
customers and intercept its trade for her benefit. This notion is as
absurd as the other. It has already been shown that the "utter
destruction of credit" and "incalculable chaos in the financial world,"
which Mr. Harrison foresees as the result of Germany's invasion, could
not possibly leave German finance unaffected. It is a very open question
whether her chaos would not be as great as the English. In any case, it
would be so great as thoroughly to disorganize her industry, and in that
disorganized condition it would be out of the question for her to secure
the markets left unsupplied by England's isolation. Moreover, those
markets would also be disorganized, because they depend upon England's
ability to buy, which Germany would be doing her best to destroy. From
the chaos which she herself had created, Germany could derive no
possible benefit, and she could only terminate financial disorder, fatal
to her own trade, by bringing to an end the condition which had produced
it--that is, by bringing to an end the isolation of Great Britain.
With reference to this section of the subject we can with absolute
certainty say two things: (1) That Germany can only destroy British
trade by destroying British population; and (2) that if she could
destroy that population, which she could not, she would destroy one of
her most valuable markets, as at the present time she sells to it more
than it sells to her. The whole point of view involves a fundamental
misconception of the real nature of commerce and industry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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