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
It is one of the humors of the whole Anglo-German conflict that so much
has the British public been concerned with the myths and bogies of the
matter that it seems calmly to have ignored the realities. While even
the wildest Pan-German has never cast his eyes in the direction of
Canada, he has cast them, and does cast them, in the direction of Asia
Minor; and the political activities of Germany may centre on that area,
for precisely the reasons which result from the distinction between
policing and conquest, which I have drawn. German industry is coming to
have dominating interests in the Near East, and as those interests--her
markets and investments--increase, the necessity for better order in,
and the better organization of, those territories increases in
corresponding degree. Germany may need to police Asia Minor.
What interest have we in attempting to prevent her? It may be urged that
she would close the markets of those territories against us. But even if
she attempted it, which she is never likely to do, a Protectionist Asia
Minor organized with German efficiency would be better from the point of
view of trade than a Free Trade Asia Minor organized _à la Turque_.
Protectionist Germany is one of the best markets in Europe. If a second
Germany were created in the Near East, if Turkey had a population with
the German purchasing power and the German tariff, the markets would be
worth some two hundred to two hundred and fifty millions instead of some
fifty to seventy-five. Why should we try to prevent Germany increasing
our trade?
It is true that we touch here the whole problem of the fight for the
open door in the undeveloped territories. But the real difficulty in
this problem is not the open door at all, but the fact that Germany is
beating England--or England fears she is beating her in those
territories where she has the same tariff to meet that Germany has, or
even a smaller one; and that she is even beating England in the
territories that the English already "own"--in their Colonies, in the
East, in India. How, therefore, would England's final crushing of
Germany in the military sense change anything? Suppose England crushed
her so completely that she "owned" Asia Minor and Persia as completely
as she owns India or Hong Kong, would not the German merchant continue
to beat her even then, as he is beating her now, in that part of the
East over which she already holds political sway? Again, how would the
disappearance of the German navy affect the problem one way or the
other?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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