HIST 1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Financial Centre, Appeasement, Infinite Crisis
The Remaking of the Liberal Capitalist World Order
The CCU
- Re “Club”
o 7 or 8 powers almost entirely European
o Masters of colonial empires
o Club of relatively equals
o UK, US, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Japan
o Junior: Netherlands, some Latin American powers
o Capitalist countries operate on free wage labors on homeland
o 1860s freedom of serfs and abolition of slavery in America
- Capitalism
o World trade on unprecedented heights
o Financial center is London
o New York was on the rise for firms’ headquarters
o Establishment of visa system
- Liberalism
o Constitutional—written or unwritten → except for Russia
o None was fully democratic
o Russia was capitalist but not liberal, but after Russo-Japanese War the problem was no liberalism
Challenges to the CCU
- State-to-state rivalries
o Danger was more about the threat of an all-out war
o Mostly with Britain, the dominant empire
o Britain often yielded some power in Latin America to US to prevent conflict
o Britain made first formal alliance with Japan
o Britain became closer to France and Russia
• “Splendid Isolation” was not going to work
o Rising power of Germany
• Formed Germany in 1871
• Wanted a place in the sun
• Rich, sophisticated, best army in the world
• Not good at making friends
• Rivalry with France was permanent → Alsace-Lorraine
• Then tried to rival Britain with naval forces
• Pushed Britain into alliance with France and Russia
- Rival ideologies
o Liberalism and conservatism
o Problem for both is socialism
- Economic cycle
o Economic challenge
o What would happen if there is a prolonged economic downfall?
o Linked to capitalism and ideology
The First Crisis 1914-1922
- The First World War 1914-1918
o Rocked the liberal capitalist world orders to its foundation
o Culmination of decades of trying to deal with Germany
