Title Planning Armageddon : British economic warfare and the First World War / Nicholas A. Lambert

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 651 pages) Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Map -- Introduction -- The Pre-War 1901-1914 -- The Short War 1914-1915 -- The Long War 1915-1916 -- Conclusions -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Primary Sources -- Acknowledgments -- Index Summary Before the First World War, the British Admiralty conceived a plan to win rapid victory in the event of war with Germany--economic warfare on an unprecedented scale. This secret strategy called for the state to exploit Britain's effective monopolies in banking, communications, and shipping--the essential infrastructure underpinning global trade--to create a controlled implosion of the world economic system. In this revisionist account, Nicholas Lambert shows in lively detail how naval planners persuaded the British political leadership that systematic disruption of the global economy could bring about German military paralysis. After the outbreak of hostilities, the government shied away from full implementation upon realizing the extent of likely collateral damage--political, social, economic, and diplomatic--to both Britain and neutral countries. Woodrow Wilson in particular bristled at British restrictions on trade. A new, less disruptive approach to economic coercion was hastily improvised. The result was the blockade, ostensibly intended to starve Germany. It proved largely ineffective because of the massive political influence of economic interests on national ambitions and the continued interdependencies of all countries upon the smooth functioning of the global trading system. Lambert's interpretation entirely overturns the conventional understanding of British strategy in the early part of the First World War and underscores the importance in any analysis of strategic policy of understanding Clausewitz's "political conditions of war." Before World War I, the British Admiralty conceived a plan to win rapid victory over Germany--economic warfare on an unprecedented scale. The secret strategy called for the state to exploit Britain's monopolies in banking, communications, and shipping to create an implosion of the world economic system. The plan was never fully implemented Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Print version record Subject World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects -- Great Britain Sea-power -- Economic aspects -- Great Britain HISTORY -- Military -- World War I. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic History. Economic policy Economics Military policy Sea-power -- Economic aspects Seemacht Weltkrieg 1914-1918 Wirtschaftskrieg Första världskriget 1914-1918 -- ekonomiska aspekter -- historia. SUBJECT Great Britain -- Economic policy -- 20th century Great Britain -- Military policy Subject Great Britain Großbritannien Form Electronic book ISBN 9780674063068 0674063066

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