Economic war is to the economy what the science of war is to politics, a confrontation to capture resources. From prehistoric times, men competed to conquer the best hunting and gathering territories, while phoenicians, egyptians, romans and ancient chinese secured their trade routes to eliminate competition. In the middle ages, german merchants grouped within the hanse lead wars, trigger economic blockades, all in the name of defending their commercial interests. With the great discoveries, the european states took the reins and fought terrible battles to seize the spices of the new worlds. During the first world war, destroying the adversary's commercial potential was one of the declared war aims,
We understand, on reading this synthesis, why the liberal myth of "gentle commerce" has always denied this evidence: politics does not have a monopoly on violence. It shares it with the economy.