War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures, and DebtThe world was wild for gold. After discovering the Americas, and under pressure to defend their vast dominion, the Habsburgs of Spain promoted gold and silver exploration in the New World with ruthless urgency. But, the great influx of wealth brought home by plundering conquistadors couldn't compensate for the Spanish government's extraordinary military spending, which would eventually bankrupt the country multiple times over and lead to the demise of the great empire. Gold became synonymous with financial dependability, and following the devastating chaos of World War I, the gold standard came to express the order of the free market system. Warfare in pursuit of wealth required borrowing—a quickly compulsive dependency for many governments. And when people lost confidence in the promissory notes and paper currencies issued during wartime, governments again turned to gold. In this captivating historical study, Kwarteng exposes a pattern of war-waging and financial debt—bedmates like April and taxes that go back hundreds of years, from the French Revolution to the emergence of modern-day China. His evidence is as rich and colorful as it is sweeping. And it starts and ends with gold. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
PART | 9 |
Sweat of the Sun | 11 |
Rival Nations England and France | 24 |
Revolutions | 39 |
Pillars of Order | 52 |
Great Republic | 66 |
London 1914 | 81 |
Weary Titans | 171 |
Japan Incorporated | 189 |
Imperial Retreat | 202 |
The Impact of Oil | 223 |
Thatcher and Reagan | 242 |
The Creation of the Euro | 262 |
The Rise of China | 282 |
Delusions of Debt | 301 |
PART II | 95 |
Guns and Shells | 97 |
Victors and Vanquished | 111 |
World Crisis | 125 |
Bretton Woods | 138 |
PART III | 151 |
Pax Americana | 153 |
Crises and Bailouts | 322 |
Epilogue | 345 |
Conclusion | 355 |
Value of Gold Stock to World GDP | 361 |
395 | |
Acknowledgements | 411 |
Other editions - View all
War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures, and Debt Kwasi Kwarteng Limited preview - 2014 |
War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures and Debt Kwasi Kwarteng Limited preview - 2014 |
War and Gold: A Five-hundred-year History of Empires, Adventures and Debt Kwasi Kwarteng No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
1st edn Alan Greenspan American assignat balanced budgets Bank of England bankers believed billion borrowing Bretton Woods Britain British bubble budget deficits Bush’s capital cent central bank century Chancellor China Chinese committed Company consequence conservative countries crisis decade December Despite devaluation dollar economic economist euro Europe European eurozone exchange rate exports Federal Reserve foreign France French funds German global gold standard government spending government’s Greek Greenspan Ibid increase industrial inflation interest rates investors issue J. P. Morgan Japan Japanese John Maynard Keynes June Keynes’s Krugman Law’s loans London Margaret Thatcher Martin ment Milton Friedman Minister monetarism monetary union national debt Niall Ferguson Nixon observed paper money Paul Krugman payments political politicians President President’s problem Reagan Republican September shares silver single currency sterling tax cuts Thatcher tion trade Treasury United Volcker William McChesney Martin York yuan