Overview
- Presents the first comprehensive history of the British Trade Corporation
- Illuminates the contexts shaping British finance after World War One
- Uncovers new perspectives on British foreign policy after the First World War and its impact on trade
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance (PSHF)
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Keywords
- British Trade Corporation
- British Empire
- Imperial overstretch
- Decline of the British Empire
- World War One
- Finance after World War One
- Global Finance after the First World War
- British trade
- British Trade Bank
- Anglo-Austrian Bank
- German finance after First World War
- The Levant Company
- Financial history of First World War
- Anglo-German financial relations
- Industrial finance
About this book
This book is the first comprehensive history of the British Trade Corporation, which was constituted under a Royal Charter on 21st April 1917. Its charter was meant to last for sixty years, but in 1926, after a turbulent existence of only nine years, it was amalgamated with the Anglo-Austrian Bank, and absorbed into the Anglo-International Bank.
The corporation together with its two main subsidiaries, the Levant Company and the National Bank of Turkey, conducted business not only in Britain but in Russia, Turkey, the Middle East and in Continental Europe. Although the corporation was not an agent of empire, it reflected Britain’s imperialistic ambitions after the First World War. As a result, it invested in some of the most unstable regions of the world. It was also severely affected by British foreign policy, which was often misjudged and, at times, duplicitous, resulting in serious damage to British trade. Within five years of its launch, the British Trade Corporation needed to be refinanced. The economic downturn in the early 1920s and ongoing hostilities in Eastern Europe and the Near East meant that it struggled to survive. Its difficulties reflected many of those faced by Britain in general after the war and the need to come to terms with the new realities of the post-war world.
Despite its innovative attempt to address the perceived deficiencies in Britain’s financial system, especially in respect of industrial finance, the British Trade Corporation has been largely ignored by financial historians. Based on substantial archival research, this book rectifies this neglect and makes an important contribution to the financial history of interwar Britain.
Reviews
“Brian O’Sullivan sheds crucial new light on an episode, the launch and operations of the British Trade Corporation, which has hitherto surprisingly received scant attention despite being one of the most important financial (and industrial) initiatives taking place in Britain during and soon after the First World War. This is, for that reason, a much-awaited work which fills a major lacuna in the post-war history of the country. Based on an uncommonly wide range of archival sources, he shows that the British Trade Corporation became an important instrument in the changing role of Britain in world affairs after 1918. This work confirms in addition the growing influence of industrial interests on the establishment and management of the war economy. This book is a valid addition to the long-standing debate about the alleged inability of British financial institutions to provide long-term finance to industry in the inter-war era.” (Dr Valerio Cerretano, Department of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Florence (UniFI))
“By following the British Trade Corporation and the reversal of its fortunes in markets stretching from Danzig and Belgrade to the Middle East in the years after the First World War, this deeply researched book makes an important contribution to the debate about Britain’s decline.” (Prof. Frank Trentmann, Frank Trentmann is a professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Brian O’Sullivan is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London. His book From Crisis to Crisis: The Transformation of Merchant Banking, 1914-1939 (Palgrave, 2018) was jointly awarded the BAC Wadsworth Prize in 2019. Brian has held senior roles in a number of financial institutions and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and of the Royal Historical Society.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Reflecting Imperial Overstretch and New Realities
Book Subtitle: The British Trade Corporation, 1917-1926
Authors: Brian O'Sullivan
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-58302-5Due: 27 July 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-58305-6Due: 27 July 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-58303-2Due: 27 July 2024
Series ISSN: 2662-5164
Series E-ISSN: 2662-5172
Edition Number: 1
Number of Illustrations: 30 b/w illustrations