The First Age of Industrial Globalization

Book excerpt: This book offers an accessible and lively survey of the global history of the age of industrialization and globalization that arose in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and collapsed in the maelstrom of the First World War. Through a combination of industrialization, technological innovation and imperial expansion, the industrializing powers of the world helped to create inter-connected global space that left few regions untouched. In ten concise chapters, this book relays the major shifts in global power, economics and society, outlining the interconnections of global industrial, imperial and economic change for local and regional experiences, identities and politics. It finishes with an exposé on the catastrophic impact of the First World War on this global system. The First Age of Industrial Globalization weaves together the histories of industrialization, world economy, imperialism, international law, diplomacy and war, which historians usually treat as separate developments, and integrates them to offer a new analysis of an era of fundamental historical change. It shows that the revolutionary changes in politics, society and international affairs experienced in the 19th century were inter-connected developments. It is essential reading for any student of modern global history.