War in a Globalized World

From 1904 on, the British government conducted further studies into the strategic implications of globalization. The fragility of the globalized economic system deeply impressed those involved in these investigations. This impression underlay the widespread pre-1914 belief that a major war between urban-industrial societies must be short, lest the disruption to economic systems swiftly lead to social revolution. Seeing opportunity as well as danger, the Admiralty devised a plan, approved by the government, to exploit British monopoly control over the underpinning infrastructure of the global trading system—finance, ships, and communications. It envisioned a massive denial-of-service attack upon Britain’s enemies. Upon the outbreak of war, British plans to wage economic warfare both offensively and defensively met with mixed success. Over the next few months, policy was modified and adapted according to experience.