Sep

14

Stefan Jovanovich on Colonialism

September 14, 2006 |

In reference to recent posts, one cannot explain the world war of 1914 without reference to the literal rage for empire among the English, French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians and the peoples of both German-speaking empires. None of the governments or popular majorities questioned the right of Europeans to carve up ownership of the rest of planet in the name of the White Man's (NB: not Woman's) Burden. The greatest public gathering in England between the observance of the death of Queen Victoria and the coronation of Elizabeth I was the spontaneous celebration for the relief of Ladysmith - a town where the imperial forces were under siege for 118 days during the Anglo-Boer War which, as Churchill addicts know, was also the central event in his young life. The notion of free trade was considered a quaint relic of a prior age when "uneducated" (sic) people failed to understand the essential role of government in the conduct of economic affairs (Marshall wrote something like that, but I cannot find the exact cite for it right now.) Keynes may have questioned the weight of reparations from the Treaty of Versailles, but he had no doubt about the justice of the French, English, and Italians taking over the German colonies or the importance of Empire for its own sake.


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