caa a22 4500 386390347 CHVBK 20180307112112.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1989 xx s 000 0 eng 10.2307/4049929 doi S0095139000029604 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.2307/4049929 McDermott John "A Needless Sacrifice”: British Businessmen and Business As Usual in the First World War [Elektronische Daten] [John McDermott] The First World War ended Great Britain's nineteenth-century world economic supremacy, which had been steadily eroded in the decades before 1914. Within Britain, the war also changed the way in which individuals carried on business, the attitudes of the business community toward government, the government's own policies toward trade and traders, and public opinion on these matters, as reflected in the press. Although it is far too simplistic to claim that the war spelled the end of laissez-faire in Britain, state control of the economy did increase in a country whose economic culture was based on free trade and minimal government interference in business. Moreover, before 1914 Britain had to export to pay its way in the world, and its economy, more than that of any other great power, depended upon peace for prosperity. In this setting, Germany was the biggest European customer for British exports, as well as being the source of vital imports, such as aniline dyes, optical, and electrical goods. Thus the application of economic warfare against Germany and its allies deeply affected the British economy and businessmen who were suddenly forced by official edict to relinquish a traditional market in patriotic support of their government's blockade of the German Empire. Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1989 Albion Cambridge University Press 21/2(1989), 263-282 0095-1390 21:2<263 1989 21 ALB https://doi.org/10.2307/4049929 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.2307/4049929 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- McDermott John NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Albion Cambridge University Press 21/2(1989), 263-282 0095-1390 21:2<263 1989 21 ALB CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge