Norman Angell and the war
Norman Angell won a Nobel Peace Prize. What he was recognized for? Mainly for the book The Great Illusion. Its argument was economic, not moral: in a world of credit, integrated finance, and interdependent trade, military conquest cannot pay. The interest rate of belligerent countries was higher than that of peaceful countries. Angell was not the man who said that war was impossible, but rather the one who showed just how costly it was. His claim was that war is futile - that victory brings no economic gain - which is fully compatible with states going to war anyway out of miscalculation or illusion. That is the point of the title: the illusion is the belief that conquest enriches. The award landed at a grim moment: Hitler took power in 1933, Japan left the League, and the Geneva disarmament talks were collapsing. Giving the prize to the great popularizer of interdependence looked either brave or naive, depending on your view. Notably, Angel...