To Arms

by Hew Strachan

  49 Nouailhat, France et États Unis, 283.

  50 Burk, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XXXII (1979), 408.

  51 Chandler, Strong, 91.

  52 Soutou, L’Or et le sang, 120–7, 344–53, 462–3; Burk, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XXXII (1979), 405–16.

  53 Chandler, Strong, 63, 83–6.

  54 Bogart, War costs, 356–7.

  55 Helfferich, Money, 216–17; Brown, Gold standard, 46–7, 100, 104–5.

  56 Brown, Gold standard, 66–7.

  57 Hanssen, Diary of a dying empire, 14,17–18.

  58 Reichsarchiv, Der Weltkrieg: Kriegsrüstung und Kriegwirtschaft, i. 417; see, in general, i. 417–79, and documents in app., 293–354.

  59 Burchardt, Friedenswirtschaft und Kriegsvorsorge, 8; Helfferich, Weltkrieg, 211. On German financial preparations and mobilization in general, see Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 18–54; Lotz, Deutsche Staatsfinanzwirtschaft, 16–26; Zilch, Reichsbank, 83–141. There are also important observations in Holtfrerich, German inflation, 102–16.

  60 Burchardt, Friedenswirtschaft, 8; Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 24; Reichsarchiv, Weltkrieg: Kriegsrüstung, i. 464.

  61 Bartholdy, The war and German society, 63–6; Reichsarchiv, Weltkrieg: Kriegsrüstung, i. 434–5.

  62 Feldman, Great disorder, 28.

  63 Stevenson, Armaments and the coming of war, 193.

  64 Zilch, Reichsbank, 83–8; Burchardt, Friedenswirtschaft, 74; C. von Delbrück, Wirtschaftliche Mobilmachung, 64, 77.

  65 Zilch, Reichsbank, 126–7.

  66 Gall et al., Deutsche Bank, 130–3; de Cecco, International gold standard, 110; Ferguson, Pity of war, 33.

  67 Ferguson, Paper and iron, 99.

  68 Verhey, ‘The “spirit of 1914”’, 132, 135, 187–8; also Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’ der inneren Einheit, 225; Mai, Das Ende des Kaiserreichs, 10.

  69 Zilch, Reichsbank, 139–41.

  70 Ferguson, Paper and iron, 117.

  71 Holtfrerich, German inflation, 115; Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 41–3; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 54–5,57.

  72 Knauss, Kriegsinanzierung, 33–4, 56–7; Dix, Wirtschaftskrieg, 213–15; C. von Delbrück, Wirtschaftliche Mobilmachung, 109–10, 118–19.

  73 Krohn, ‘Geldtheorien in Deutschland’, 44–5; Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 46–8, 52, 216.

  74 Popovics, Geldwesen, 34, 56, 94–8;Müller, Finanzielle Mobilmachung, 28–30. These are the principal sources on Austro-Hungarian war finance, together with März, Austrian banking.

  75 Williamson, Austria-Hungary, 157–9;März, Austrian banking, 27–32,99–100; Popovics, Geldwesen, 27–9,39.

  76 Leslie, Wiener Beiträge, XX (1993), 360, 363, 367.

  77 Popovics, Geldwesen, 23–5, 32, 39–40.

  78 Ibid. 34–7.

  79 Regele, Conrad, 155; N. Stone, ‘Austria-Hungary’, in E. R. May (ed.), Knowing one’s enemies, 50.

  80 Müller, Finanzielle Mobilmachung, 25–6.

  81 März, Austrian banking, 130.

  82 Gratz and Schüller, Wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch, 181.

  83 März, Austrian banking, 141; the key account of the crisis as a whole is Popovics, Geldwesen, 41–58.

  84 Müller, Finanzielle Mobilmachung, 12–24; Popovics, Geldwesen, 161–2, gives different dates for the later stages.

  85 Most histories, e.g. Popovics, Geldwesen, 46–7, and Reichsarchiv, Weltkrieg: Kriegsrüstung, i. 478, give 27 July. However, März, Austrian banking, 141–2, says the stock exchanges were closed on 24 July for three days: 25 and 26 July fell on Saturday and Sunday.

  86 Müller, Finanzielle Mobilmachung, 72–5; Popovics, Geldwesen, 86–90;März, Austrian banking, 154–5.

  87 Popovics, Geldwesen, 40–1.

  88 Michelson et al., Russian public finance, 364.

  89 Spring, Slavonic and East European Review, LXVI (1988)’ 570.

  90 Michelson et al., Russian public finance, 342–66.

  91 Claus, Kriegswirtschaft Russlands, 16; also more generally 14–19.

  92 The figures given by Claus, Kriegswirtschaft Russlands, 41–2, and Michelson et al., Russian public finance, 375–6, show the position after it had stabilized. But see, in general, Claus, 39–48, and Bernatzky in Michelson et al., 354–8, 374–6.

  93 Claus, Kriegswirtschaft Russlands, 17.

  94 Jèze and Truchy, War finance of France, 190, 228–30, 236–7; Klotz, De la guerre à la paix, 16–17.

  95 Charbonnet, Politique financiàre de la France, 36; Duroselle, La France, 206.

  96 Petit, Finances extérieures, 74.

  97 Becker, 1914, 513–15; Duroselle, La France, 217.

  98 Pourcher, Les Jours de guerre, 58.

  99 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 66; Fisk, French public finance, 80.

  100 Klotz, De la guerre, 18–19.

  101 G. Meynier, L’Algérie révelée, 366–7.

  102 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 122–3,128.

  103 Olphe-Galliard, Histoire économique, 34.

  104 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 67.

  105 Flood, France 1914–18, 47–8.

  106 Olphe-Galliard, Histoire économique, 20, 24.

  107 Bogart, War costs, 35.

  108 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 65.

  109 Ribot, Letters to a friend, 29–32; see also Charbonnet, Politique financière, 107–8.

  110 Bogart, War costs, 112; Fisk, French public finance, 40–4.

  111 Cutlack, War letters of Monash, 160; see also Chapman, Passionate prodigality, 266–7; Binding, Fatalist at war, 165–6.

  112 Helfferich, Weltkrieg, 200–1, 210–14.

  113 Skidelsky, Keynes, i. 300; see also Stamp, Taxation during the war, 32–4; Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 44–5, 53.

  114 Ribot, Journal, 23; Gilbert, Lloyd George 1912–16, 200–2; David, Inside Asquith s cabinet, 182, 230.

  115 Pugh, Making of modern British politics, 103–4.

  116 Davis and Huttenback, Mammon and the pursuit of empire, 160. For an important corrective to Davis’s and Huttenback’s calculations, see Hobson, Journal of European Economic History, XXII (1993), 461–506.

  117 Witt, Finanzpolitik des Deutschen Reiches, 364; see generally, Kroboth, Finanzpolitik des Deutschen Reiches, 127–30,161–4,192–4, 301.

  118 Lotz, Deutsche Staatsfinanzwirtschaft, 6.

  119 Ibid. 7–8; Williamson, Helfferich, 123.

  120 Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 67–70.

  121 Ibid. 102, 105, 119, 174; Dix, Wirtschaftskrieg, 215.

  122 Spitzmüller, Memoirs, 158–9.

  123 Danaüllow, Les Effets de la guerre en Bulgarie, 69–70, 496–512.

  124 Geyer, Russian imperialism, 255–7; David Jones, ‘Imperial Russia’s forces at war’, in Millett and Murray (eds.), Military effectiveness,!. 258–9; Michelson, ‘Revenue and expenditure of the Russian government during the war’, in Michelson et al., Russian public finance during the war, 15–72.

  125 Schmidt, Ribot, 125; Keynes was perversely complimentary, see Johnson (ed.), Collected writings of Keynes, xvi. 130–3.

  126 Michelson et al., Russian public finance, esp. 75–8,119–21, 125, 129, 138, 145, 157, 214, 215.

  127 Charbonnet, Politique financière de la France, 21–35; Duroselle, La France, 205;Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 187.

  128 Ribot, Journal, 24.

  129 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 22, 160–75; Renouvin, War government in France, 109–11; Charbonnet, Politique financière de la France, 43–53.

  130 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 40–7.

  131 Ibid. 173–83; Schmidt, Ribot, 123.

  132 Duroselle, La Grande Guerre des français, 157. See also Martin, Les Finances publiques de la France, 132–5,140; Martin, La Situation financière de la France, 216–22.

  133 Klotz, De la guerre, 43–6; Ribot, Journal, 28–9, 46–7.

  134 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 129–34.

  135 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 186.

  136 Bogart, War costs, 316–18.

  137 Kathleen Burk, �
��The Treasury: from impotence to power’, in Burk (ed.), War and the state, 91.

  138 Ibid. 85.

  139 Skidelsky, Keynes, i. 299.

  140 David, Inside Asquith’s cabinet, 247; see also Farr, ‘McKenna’, 57, 70–1,154, 238.

  141 Burk,’A merchant bank at war, 162.

  142 Johnson (ed.), Collected writings of Keynes, xvi. 173.

  143 French, British strategy and war aims, 128.

  144 Neilson, Britain and the last Tsar, 129.

  145 Farr, ‘McKenna’, 186, 211.

  146 Ibid. 169–71.

  147 Burk, ‘A merchant bank at war’, 167.

  148 Norman, 27 June 1916; I am grateful to Dr Martin Farr for this quotation.

  149 Burk, Historical Journal, XXII (1979), 361; Sayers, Bank of England, i. 99–109.

  150 Petit, Finances extérieures, 101–7,133–47, 248–52, 282–303, 433–6, 446–69, 477–93, 497–8.

  151 Gilbert, American financing, 65, 221–3.

  152 Popovics, Geldwesen, 167.

  153 Balderston, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XLII (1989), 229.

  154 Stamp, Taxation, 143.

  155 Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 890–1.

  156 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 135–6.

  157 Ibid. 136.

  158 Gilbert, American financing, 62–3.

  159 Gilbert, American financing, 76.

  160 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 148; Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 896, gives the British figures as 42.5%in 1913–14 and 20.4%in 1918–19.

  161 Knauss, Kriegsinanzierung, 142, 148.

  162 Pigou, Political economy of war, 48.

  163 Davis and Huttenback, Mammon and the pursuit of empire, 225–6.

  164 Sumida, In defence of naval supremacy, 196, 336.

  165 French, British economic and strategic planning, 14–15.

  166 Balderston, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XLII (1989), 231–3; Stamp, Taxation, 11–12; Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 885–6.

  167 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 22–35; Morgan, British financial policy, 89–90; Stamp, Taxation, 24–8; Gilbert, David Lloyd George, 139.

  168 French, British strategy and war aims, 92.

  169 ‘F.W.H.’ in The Economist, 8 Apr. 1916, cited in Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 135.

  170 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 36–50; Gilbert, David Lloyd George, 159–71; Grigg, Lloyd George 1912–1916, 230–7.

  171 Johnson (ed.), Collected writings of Keynes, xvi. 117–19.

  172 Soutou, L’Or et le sang, 205–8.

  173 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 114.

  174 Grady, British war finance, 111–12; Stamp, Taxation, 170–8.

  175 Public Record Office T 170/212; I am grateful to Dr Martin Farr for this reference.

  176 Stamp, Taxation, 146–9.

  177 Farr, ‘McKenna’, 262.

  178 Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 898.

  179 Stamp, Taxation, 216; also 118.

  180 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 129–33.

  181 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 136.

  182 Ibid. 84; Morgan, British financial policy, 92.

  183 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 128.

  184 Rumbold, Watershed in India, 65–6; Turner, British politics, 188–90, 346.

  185 Stamp, Taxation, 107–8; also Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 199; Farr, ‘McKenna’, 236.

  186 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 115.

  187 Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 211.

  188 Ibid. 176.

  189 Grady, British war finance, 78.

  190 Kirkaldy, British finance, 204–6.

  191 Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 887, 903, 915.

  192 Ibid. 889.

  193 Whiting, Historical Journal, XXXIII (1990), 895–916; Balderston, Economic History Review, 2nd series, LXII (1989), 235–6; Grady, British war finance, 75–83, 95–9,102; Stamp, Taxation, 219; Hirst and Allen, British war budgets, 176.

  194 Chandler, Strong, 99–101.

  195 Gilbert, American financing, 74, 82–91, 221–3.

  196 Gilbert, American financing, 26–7, 54–5, 76; Bogart, War costs, 264–7. These constitute the principal sources for what follows; see Gilbert, American financing, 70–114; Bogart, War costs, 264–95.

  197 Krumeich, Armaments and politics, 138–40,213; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 36–40; Ferguson, Pity of war, 120–1.

  198 Charbonnet, Politique financière, 347; Eichengreen, Golden fetters, 75–6.

  199 Olphe-Galliard, Histoire économique, 161; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 41–2,142;Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 192; Fisk, French public finance, 72,186.

  200 Charbonnet, Politique financière, 63; Duroselle, La France, 208–10; Schmidt, Ribot, 117.

  201 Schmidt, Ribot, 133; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 120–1.

  202 Ribot, Letters to a friend, 62; Knauss, Kriegsinanzierung, 122.

  203 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 152–8.

  204 Gerd Hardach, ‘Industrial mobilization in 1914–1918’, in Fridenson (ed.), French home front 1914–1918, 77–8; also Alain Hennebicque, ‘Albert Thomas and the war industries’, in ibid. 110–12.

  205 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 152; Fisk, French public finance, 186, has radically different figures— 634 million francs for 1917 and 1,780 million for 1918. Knauss, Kriegsinanzierung, 136, gives 363.7 million for 1917 and 350.2 million for 1918.

  206 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 123–35; Charbonnet, Politique financière, 77–81.

  207 Olphe-Galliard, Histoire économique, 430–1.

  208 Duroselle, La Grande Guerre des français, 155.

  209 Knauss, Kriegsinanzierung, 148–9.

  210 Jèze and Truchy, War finance, 218–19, 223–5.

  211 Georges-Henri Soutou, ‘Comment a été financée la guerre’, in La Gorce (ed.), La Première Guerre Mondiale, 284; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 175.

  212 Michelson et al., Russian public finance, 24, 47. Michelson remains the only English-language source on the subject; some additional comments can be found in Claus, Kriegswirtschaft Russlands, 31–6.

  213 Forsyth, Crisis of Liberal Italy, 3, 326; what follows relies almost exclusively on Forsyth, whose work revises Luigi Einaudi, La guerra e il sistema tributario italiano (Bari, 1927).

  214 Teillard, Les Emprunts de guerre, 73,127; Forsyth, Crisis of Liberal Italy, 69.

  215 Bogart, War costs, 317–18.

  216 Forsyth, Crisis of Liberal Italy, 5, 28–33.

  217 Ibid. 326, 327; also 93–4.

  218 Forsyth, Crisis of Liberal Italy, 7–9, 64–5, 70–99.

  219 Ibid. 76.

  220 Lotz, Deutsche Staatsfinanzwirtschaft, 105.

  221 Balderston, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XLII (1989), 230.

  222 Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 30; see also 24–30; Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 13–17; Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, ‘The modernisation of the tax system in the First World War and the Great Inflation, 1914–23’, in Witt (ed.), Wealth and taxation, 126–8.

  223 Roesler, Finanzpolitik, 134; Daunton, English Historical Review, CXI (1996), 886.

  224 Witt, Finanzpolitik, 370.

  225 Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, 302.

  226 Ibid. 284–9,321; also Holtfrerich, ‘The modernisation of the tax system’, in Witt (ed.), Wealth and taxation, 128; Knauss, Kriegsfinanzierung, 28; Witt, Finanzpolitik, 372–6; Ferguson, Historical Journal, XXXV (1992), 725–52, provides a historiographical survey in English.

  227 Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, 304.

  228 Holtfrerich, German inflation, 110.

  229 Ferguson, Historical Journal, XXXV (1992), 748; also Ferguson, Pity of war, 129.

  230 Manfred Ziedler, ‘Die deutsche Kriegsfinanzierung 1914 bis 1918 und ihre Folgen’, in Michalka (ed.), Der Erste Weltkrieg, 418–19.