Research Of The Economic Warfare Of Britain Against Germany In World War1

As we all know, World War I was ended by the Entente countries victory over the Allied nations. But at the beginning of the First World War, Germany army was actually stronger than the Allies, How did the Allies defeat the mighty Germany challenger? And what made this war to end like this?This study is the economic warfare of the First World War in the United Kingdom toGermany. Most scholars used to study the First World War from the military and political and diplomatic aspects,few research was done on the economic, or even look on economic as the tide of war. Economy can play a decisive role in a war. Economic warfare covered both economic attacks and self-protection. During World War I, the United Kingdom used various powerful economic weapons---strict military naval blockade, trade embargo policy, etc to stifle the German war economy step-by-step; while taking advantage oftheir own dominance, completely splintered German submarine blockade, and finally defeated the mighty German Empire.This paper contains four parts.The first part is about the conception of economic warfare.The second part is an analysis of the background of the economic warfare between the U.K and Germany. The economy of both countries were seriously external dependent,which gave them the chance to make economic shocks. By comparing the external dependence and naval forces of th two countries, the feasibility of economic warfare of the First World War has been analyzed.The third part contained the specific analysis for the process the British economic war against Germany during the First World War. Economic war itself is a very broad concept that encompasses a lot of content. This section was focus on the trade embargo against Germany and the United Kingdom’s protection for its own lines of communication to thwart the German submarine blockade. The trade embargo was mainly on food, cotton, copper and rubber. And the anti-submarine blockade were analyzed by the origin, destructivity, and the measures.to splinter it.The fourth part is the summary.about how the economic war between British and G ermany destroied the German economy. We’ve got an analysis of the reason of British’s victory, and concluded the historical significance implications of this economic warfare,.