#40 Geopolitics and Racial World Dominance
The last possible explanation was that the British political classes willed this war. In this argument, Britain wanted world dominance, and there was never any place for a competitor of any size like Germany. This thought, that Britain willed and manipulated the way towards the 1914 war, has been so unthinkable to British historians and the public alike that it has never been widely discussed. Unlike German scholarship - where the issue was widely discussed - those few scholars who suggested that a major section of the ruling classes consciously decided to go to war with Germany have been side-lined and ignored.
The argument has been made, however, by a small number of historians whose work is as well researched as those mentioned above. In essence, they argue that a part of the British ruling elites willed and planned the war. The question I ask in these blogs is: was this plausible?
The historical context of the time provides essential background and is now examined.
19th Century, Political Power, Geopolitics and Racial World Dominance
The idea of Empire had been popularised by a range of key thinkers and politicians since the 1850s. John Ruskin - art critic, social reformer and professor of fine art - had argued in 1870 that imperial duty was Britain's mission: Britain had a destiny to found colonies and to settle them with young Englishmen:
“There is a destiny now possible for us, the highest ever set before a nation. That is what England must now do or perish she must found colonies as fast and as far as she is able, formed of her most energetic and worthiest men; seizing every bit of waste ground fruitful she can set her feet on, and there teaching these that chief virtue is to be fidelity to their country and their first aim is to advance the power of their country.”
- A quotation from Ruskin’s final part of an inaugural lecture as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University in February 1870
“The Flags of a Free Empire, Showing the Emblems of British Power Throughout the World” by Mee, Arthur. 1910. The Childrens' Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. Retrieved from Cornell University – PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography.
Ruskin was articulate and eloquent, able to appeal to young men: a romantic who believed in the feudal traditions of chivalry. He had never travelled further than Ireland; he was an ideologue. He enthused leaders like Cecil Rhodes and Milner, who would take his ideas further and attempt to create a mighty British Empire. Ruskin was not alone. Benjamin Disraeli similarly glamorised Empire, exciting students with English morality. Other lesser-known figures also described Britain's destiny in similar terms. Empire was infused with ideas of the survival of the fittest, of the greatest empire the world had ever known.
Ideologically, strange things happen to people’s psyches when a country begins to persuade itself that it is a 'Great Power', superior to all others. Words like 'civilisation' take on specific meaning. Ruskin and Disraeli were early ideologues who had the words to enthuse young educated men that they were not just special, but superior and that they had the right and the duty to invade and colonise, all for a higher purpose of their country. It was not surprising that these ideas were linked to religion, and missionary work to ‘civilise’ natives. Religion, race and nationalism were intimately linked. This was the temper of the time, which is too often side-lined when writing about the origins of the 1914 war.
“From the Cape to Cairo. Tough the Process Be Costly, The Road of Progress Must Be Cut.” Udo Keppler, Puck, December 10, 1902. Source: Library of Congress. The illustration shows Britannia carrying a large white flag labeled "Civilization" with British soldiers and colonists behind her, advancing on native forces, one carrying a flag labeled "Barbarism".
Political power through democracy, where every adult would have a vote, was still some decades away. Absolute monarchical power, the centre of the feudal order, was coming to its end in most of Europe. France, the Netherlands and Britain had begun to use legislatures to create law. Women did not have the vote anywhere in the world in 1890; it was still a men's-only game; 40% of adult men did not have the right to vote. Politics was considered a 'gentleman's' activity. Members of Parliament were not paid; only the richest could afford to stand. In Britain, the most advanced democracy politically speaking, politics was still very much a question of a ruling class. Abroad, colonies were run with despotic power, considered normal for "lesser" peoples.
By 1890, many of the aristocracy, the newly acquired wealthy industrial barons, and the hugely wealthy bankers felt strongly that political power was something for them only. The 'ruling classes' - those men who ran politics, industry, commerce and banking - often knew each other intimately and intermarried. They had buttressed themselves from the mainstream through privileged education, the public schools, and a tiny number of Universities, (Oxford and Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Trinity Dublin), followed by elite London clubs. Access to monarchy, politics, and law provided this group with an integrated social infrastructure, cut off from the people.
The Bank of England’s Court of Directors, 1903. Retrieved from the Bank of England via Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0.
The global political economy was by 1880 or 1890 dominated by Britain. Britain was undoubtedly the world’s foremost power. Militarily her navy controlled the world sea lanes, and her merchant marine was the largest in the world, (she owned 39% of the world ocean-going shipping) which gave her control of the world sea-going transport. She gave the world industrialisation, rail, steamboats, telegraph and telephones. The Industrial Revolution had begun in Britain two generations before; it began to spread elsewhere, to Europe and the Americas. Britain manufactured finished goods and imported raw materials. British savings tended to flow outwards to North and South America, as well as Asia. By 1914, British outflows of capital were greater than all other countries’ foreign investments put together.
In 1914, British overseas investments were around $20 billion, 25% of British national wealth. Comparatively, France had investments of $9 billion and Germany $5 billion. London controlled most of the world’s commercial commodity markets, such as cotton, rubber, and tin. The auction prices of global commodities were set in London. London controlled the world’s money markets through the Gold Standard. London was the headquarters of the world’s financial and commercial systems; she was the centre of industrial financial power, globally.
Britain had achieved this dominant role by imposing her rules globally. Countries had to fully accept the Gold Standard; prices had to be free to rise or fall free from domestic interference. International trade - money and goods - had to flow freely; and above all that, the international financial economy was organised through one centre: London.
In brief, Britain had the necessary conditions to attempt to become the leader of the world. She had the rationality to want to knock Germany out. None of this argues that this is what happened, of course.
This entire system was broken apart by the wars from 1914 to 1945. Not till the Bretton Woods system of monetary management was internationally agreed in 1944 was the world’s financial global system replaced.
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Ideology alone was of course not enough for Hitler to rise to power. The question remains: how was Hitler able to revive the German economy sufficiently to fight a global war in a mere six years? Hitler had taken political power in Germany in 1933. Once this question has been asked, the direction of the answer is obvious: the German economy would have to be supported by the great powers, France, Britain or America; there was no other way.