X @Nick Szabo

RT The American Tribune (@TAmTrib)AJP Taylor describes this era well in his The Struggle for Mastery in Europe:Coal and steel offered prosperity to all Europe and remade European civilisation. The dream of Cobden seemed to have come true. Men were too busy growing rich to have time for war. Though protective tariffs remained everywhere except in Great Britain, international trade was otherwise free. There was no governmental interference, no danger of debts being repudiated. The gold standard was universal. ...