Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Regional Developments
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- 12 Population and Human Development since 1700
- 13 Proximate Sources of Growth: Capital and Technology, 1700–1870
- 14 Underlying Sources of Growth: First and Second Nature Geography
- 15 Institutions
- 16 Consequences of Growth: Living Standards and Inequality
- 17 International Transactions: Real Trade and Factor Flows
- 18 Monetary Systems and the Global Balance of Payments Adjustment in the Pre-Gold Standard Period, 1700–1870
- 19 War and Empire, 1700–1870
- Index
- References
19 - War and Empire, 1700–1870
from Part II - Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2021
Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Regional Developments
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- 12 Population and Human Development since 1700
- 13 Proximate Sources of Growth: Capital and Technology, 1700–1870
- 14 Underlying Sources of Growth: First and Second Nature Geography
- 15 Institutions
- 16 Consequences of Growth: Living Standards and Inequality
- 17 International Transactions: Real Trade and Factor Flows
- 18 Monetary Systems and the Global Balance of Payments Adjustment in the Pre-Gold Standard Period, 1700–1870
- 19 War and Empire, 1700–1870
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter shows how developments in military technology and strategy since the 1600s joined the political ambitions of states and merchants’ commercial interests to create European rules in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Why did warfare in early modern times produce this outcome? Wars and empires had existed before. The European warfare outside Europe, the chapter suggests, could exploit more resources than the other major powers in Eurasia could, leading to decisive shifts in the balance of power. At the same time, trade entailed violence, whether we consider the Atlantic slave trade or the impact of European wars upon the actions of the Indian Ocean merchant firms. A final section asks how empires shaped economic change in the world; and shows that the emergence of empires had lasting effects on commercialization, though direct effects on living standards until 1870 were ambiguous.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 468 - 487Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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