Western Civilization II / Unit 13 WC2 1216 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Did Empire Pay? Bankrupt Companies and Banquets
Captions available
The idea
Only specific ventures in specific places paid. Companies went bankrupt and governments took them over at rising cost. The French edifice, the anchor says, never profited except in catering for banquets in Paris. The real impetus was jockeying for position among the powers, not the balance sheet.
In practice
Prestige paid; the colonies mostly did not.
Where people slip
The anchor's judgment; Hobson waits for 1227.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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