Good Morning:
This is research and analysis into one reason the Neo-Keyneisan/Liberalist West despise gold so much. In the attached 18 minute podcast, we explore the roots of Gold antipathy, and examine antecedent causes of both World War 1 and World War 2. In doing this we uncover the roots of all of it... prevention of German unification by England and the Catholic powers of France and Spain. Sadly, the modern Neo-Liberal mentality cannot accept its own culpability in this situation. Therefore those in power today use an inanimate object (Gold) as their scapegoat for failed ideologies
We would submit, it was not just German/Italian nationalism that caused both world wars, but the suppression of healthy economic competition from Germany for a century prior that resulted in the atrocities that came from the subsequent backlash. In essence, the greed of incumbent existing powers prevented healthy competition. Their perverse centralizing fetishistic inability to let self-clearing mechanisms operate almost always ends up with pent-up systemic risk exploding in their faces.
Specifically, ideologues like WEF leaders cannot admit personal culpability easily, much less humanity's error. Therefore, their errors are doomed to repeat. This time, however, it will likely be done not due to (preventing) rising nationalism, but actually in the name of over-reaching Supranationalism.
Flow
CLIP: Monty Python Spanish Inquisition first appearance
Personal context
Intro: Gold in History
THESIS: History of Gold Hatred
**Spanish Inquisition » Germany Stifled » WW1 » WW2 » Blame Gold
Feudalism » Mercantilism/Gold » 1st Globalism » Colonialism
State Formations threaten Church power
GERMANY UNIFICATION DELAYED
Religious schism, State formation, Catholic Church
**Inquisition actively seeks to keep Germany divided
The Gray Eminence: Brother Joseph’s role
France, GB, Spain prosper under mercantilism and Gold standard
Germany plays catch up
Germany colonization frustration
Germany » No colonies » No Gold » No Trade under mercantilism
WW1: room to grow
WW2 as extension of WW1 reasons
**Gold Hatred: Europe, Ideological midwit WEF types
Trigger words: Nationalism, Gold, Mercantilism
Summary Restated: Why do Neo-Keynesians hate Gold and Nationalism?
Libertarian view… market was prevented from balancing itself naturally
GERMAN UNIFICATION DEEP DIVE
The German states before unification
The 39 states that made up the German Confederation created in 1815 varied in size, government, economy, religion, influence and even dialect. On the one end of the scale were the two rival powers in the Confederation, Prussia and Austria—both large powerful monarchies with modern militaries—one Protestant, one Catholic. At the other end of the scale were the free cities such as Frankfurt. In between these two ends of the spectrum were all manner of states generally ruled by some form of monarch. Although the industrialisation of the German states had begun earlier, it accelerated rapidly after 1850.
As in other states, the industrialising process was driven by an expansion of railways throughout the region. Railways made raw materials such as coal and iron available to industries far from their sources. Products that had once enjoyed limited local markets now found consumers throughout Germany. Between 1850 and 1870 the length of rail in Germany more than tripled. The absolute length of track in Germany was three times what it was in Austria. After 1850, Prussia's coal and iron industry began to expand rapidly. An exploding population worked in these new industries. The states of the German Confederation experienced a 60 per cent increase in population between 1816 and 1865.
In Prussia this increase was over 80 per cent but in Austria only close to 50 per cent. In 1800 there were three German cities with a population over 100,000; by 1870 there were 11.
Economic unification – the Zollverein
The first important steps towards unification were driven by economic considerations. In the early 1820s there had been efforts to take apart the many customs and tax regulations that restricted trade across Central Europe. The end result of this was the creation in 1834 of a customs union called the Zollverein that by 1842 encompassed 28 of the 39 states in the German Confederation. The Zollverein was a customs union in Central Germany, in which internal tariffs were abolished and a common trade policy with outside states was developed. Importantly, Austria remained outside the Zollverein while Prussia emerged as the acknowledged its leader.
The emergence of Prussia: Otto von Bismarck, von Motke and army reform.
When Friedrich Wilhelm I came to the Prussian throne in 1860 there were a number of powerful forces on the move in both Germany and Prussia. Ideologically there was resurgence in liberalism during this period. As in Britain, the new industrialists embraced a liberalism that looked to a constitutional basis for Prussian society and a more limited role for government. This liberalism was combined with a renewed German nationalism that had been dormant in the aftermath of 1848. The rivalry between Prussia and Austria had also became more apparent. Into this situation stepped the new Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
When he came to power in 1862 Bismarck had no grand scheme for German unification, but rather responded to opportunities to strengthen Prussia. Bismarck would come to epitomise an approach to politics known as Realpolitik. Principles mattered less than outcomes. Ideology mattered less than the exercise of power. Alliances were tools of policy and once they had served their purpose could be abandoned. It was this Prussian focus that drew Bismarck to the conclusion that the future of Prussia depended on the exclusion of Austria from German affairs and that this required a strong military capability.
The inability of Prussia to play significant role in the Crimean War had illuminated the fact that the once fierce Prussian army, had fallen into neglect. This was to be rectified with the appointment of Helmut von Moltke to the position of army chief of staff in 1857. Moltke instituted a series of military reforms in the early 1860s that were to transform the Prussian military into the model of a modern army.
The Danish War 1864
Germany was famously unified after a series of three wars. The first of these was the Danish War. When the new king, Christian IX, came to the throne, he moved to absorb Schleswig into Denmark by way of a new Danish constitution. While this was met with great approval by Danish nationalists, German nationalists were outraged and the German Confederation voted for armed intervention. When the Danes would not back down, a joint force of Austrians and Prussians moved into the duchies in early 1864. After eight months of fighting, the Danes capitulated. Prussia annexed Schleswig and Austria Holstein.
The Austro-Prussian War 1866
Both Prussia and Austria were ambitious and jealously guarded their major power status. Austria had been fighting against growing nationalism within its borders since 1815. By the 1860s it had seen its European stature rocked first by the Crimean War and later by the loss its Italian influence. Prussia, on the other hand, had seen its fortunes rise in this period. Economically Prussia's mines and factories were consistently increasing production while the Zollverein increased trade revenues. Bismarck had as his goal the expansion of Prussian power and authority both within Germany and within Europe as a whole at the expense of Austria. Before provoking war with Austria, Bismarck carried out a complex set of diplomatic negotiations to keep France out of the war. The combination of effective troop movement and tactical advantage helped the Prussians deliver a crushing defeat on the Austrians at Sadowa on 3 July 1866. The treaty that emerged in August 1866 cemented Prussia as the dominant German power.
By the Treaty of Prague Prussia annexed Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hessen-Kassel, Nassau, and Frankfurt. The German Confederation was dissolved and replaced by a North German Confederation, which consisted of an expanded Prussia and 21 other northern German states.
The Franco Prussian War
The Treaty of Prague left southern Germany in an unstable situation. The states were militarily allied to Prussia and economically part of the Zollverein, but politically independent. Public opinion in the southern states largely opposed any unification with the north and Bismarck was concerned that the Catholic southern states might become natural allies to Austria or France. German nationalists, however, saw the exclusion of these states from the North German Confederation as an affront to national unity. Popular nationalism and the popular press were to become important tools in the next stages of Bismarcks plans for further Prussian expansion.
The unlikely cause of war between France and Prussia was an argument over the future king of Spain. French opposition to the Prussian candidate, Leopold of Hohenzollern and Bismarck’s manipulation of public opinion most infamously through his editing of the Ems telegram (see right) led to the declaration of war by France in July 1870. The perceived French aggression was important to Bismarck’s plans to frighten the south German states into seeking Prussian protection and consequent German union. The Prussian military machine quickly mobilised over a million soldiers and transported over 400,000 to her western frontier. Mobilising far more slowly, the French could bring only 250,000 troops to meet them.
The Ems Telegram
A report of an encounter between King William I of Prussia and the French ambassador. Bismarck’s edited version, made it seem that each man had insulted the other and with the support of hostile public opinion France declared war. Because France was seen as the agressor the southern German states supported Prussia.
Moltke outmanoeuvred one of the main French armies and with Napoleon III in attendance encircled them at the Battle of Sedan on 1-2 September 1870. (Below a painting by Wilhelm Camphausen shows Napoleon III and Bismarck after the Battle of Sedan). With the capture of the Emperor came the downfall of his government in Paris.
Peace talks eventually led to the Treaty of Frankfurt in May. The Treaty of Frankfurt had two notable clauses. The first was the requirement that France pay compensation of five billion gold francs to the victorious Germans. The other significant element of the Treaty of Frankfurt was the annexation of the French frontier territories of Alsace and Lorraine by the new German Empire. From the French point of view the annexation of the territories was a constant reminder of the humiliation of 1871. It would remain so until 1914 when the outbreak of the First World War gave the French army the opportunity to reclaim this honour with disastrous results. (Matu 7)
The German Empire
Even before Paris surrendered, the German princes had gathered in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles to proclaim the foundation of the German Empire. (Below: The third version of the proclamation of Prussian king Wilhelm I as German Emperor at Versailles, by Anton von Werner).
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