Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T18:40:29.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - An uncertain balance, 1890–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2012

Mary Nolan
Affiliation:
New York University
Get access

Summary

In the decades before World War I transatlantic relations were paramount neither for the United States nor for states across Europe. The world was multipolar and rapidly globalizing. Britain remained the dominant economic and colonial power. While exchanges of goods, capital, ideas, and people across the Atlantic were increasing rapidly, for both Europe and the United States, the North Atlantic world was just one arena of economic and political interest and interaction, and transatlantic relations were often triangulated through imperial concerns in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The American Century had not yet begun. But was it visible on the horizon?

Many historians view the twentieth-century rise of the United States as preordained due to America’s economic might, geography, or purported political and cultural exceptionalism. Likewise, the end of European hegemony appears predictable due to imperial overreach, nation-state rivalries, and less robust economies. In the decades before World War I, however, the new world did not dominate the old, and the United States was a nation among nations. It was unclear how the transatlantic balance of economic, political, and cultural power would evolve.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Transatlantic Century
Europe and America, 1890–2010
, pp. 10 - 51
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Kennedy, PaulThe Rise and Fall of the Great PowersNew YorkVintage 1987 202Google Scholar
Amsden, AliceThe Rise of the Rest: Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing EconomiesOxford University Press 2001 9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barraclough, GeoffreyIntroduction to Contemporary HistoryBaltimorePenguin 1967 89Google Scholar
Pollard, SidneyPeaceful Conquest: The Industrialization of Europe, 1760–1970Oxford University Press 1981 258Google Scholar
Maddison, AngusThe World Economy in the 20th CenturyParisOECD Development Centre 1989 47Google Scholar
Bayly, C. A.The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914OxfordBlackwell 2004 42Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry AGlobal Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth CenturyNew YorkNorton 2006 16Google Scholar
Eckes, Alfred E.Zeiler, Thomas W.Globalization and the American CenturyCambridge University Press 2003 161Google Scholar
Maddison, World Economy35
Frieden, Global Capitalism107
McKenzie, FredThe American InvadersNew YorkArno 1976 33Google Scholar
Beaud, MichelA History of Capitalism, 1500–2000New YorkMonthly Review 2001 143Google Scholar
Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers243
Sombart, WernerWhy Is There No Socialism in the United States?White PlainsInternational Arts and Sciences Press 1976 106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, H. G.The Future in America: A Search after RealitiesNew YorkSt. Martin’s Press 1987 60Google Scholar
O’Rourke, KevinWilliamson, Jeffrey G.Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic EconomyCambridge, MAMIT 1999 21Google Scholar
Maddison, AngusMonitoring the World Economy, 1892–1992ParisOECD Development Centre 1995 39Google Scholar
Gerschenkron, AlexanderEconomic Backwardness in Historical PerspectiveCambridge, MABelknap Press 1962Google Scholar
Chandler, Alfred D.Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial CapitalismCambridge, MAHarvard University Press 1990 21Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, EricAge of EmpireNew YorkVintage 1989 346Google Scholar
Maddison, World Economy72
de Grazia, VictoriaChanging Consumption Regimes in Europe, 1930–1979: Comparative Perspectives on the Distribution Problem,Strasser, SusanMcGovern, CharlesJudt, MatthiasGetting and Spending: European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth CenturyCambridge University Press 1998 59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’ Rourke, Williamson, Globalization and History119
Hoerder, DirkCultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second MillenniumDurhamDuke University Press 2002 347CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabaccia, DonnaItaly’s Many DiasporasSeattleUniversity of Washington Press 2000 68Google Scholar
Cameron, RondoA Concise Economic History of the WorldOxford University Press 1993 287Google Scholar
Born, Karl ErichInternational Banking in the l9th and 20th CenturiesNew YorkSt. Martin’s Press 1983 134Google Scholar
Cameron, Concise Economic History288
Eckes, Zeiler, Globalization22
Born, International Banking117
Wilkins, MiraThe Emergence of Multinational Enterprises: American Business Abroad from the Colonial Era to 1914Cambridge, MAHarvard University Press 1970 110Google Scholar
Mikesell, Raymond F.United States Private and Government Investment AbroadEugeneUniversity of Oregon Books 1962 24Google Scholar
Simon, MatthewNovack, David E.Some Dimensions of the American Commercial Invasion of Europe, 1871–1914: An Introductory Essay,Journal of Economic History 24 1964 593CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenbach, Mary LockAmerican Manufactured Exports, 1879–1914: A Study of Growth and Comparative AdvantageNew YorkArno 1976 208Google Scholar
Wilkins, Emergence of Multinational Enterprises64
Chandler, Scale and Scope160
Domosh, MonaAmerican Commodities in an Age of EmpireNew YorkRoutledge 2006 24Google Scholar
Wilkins, Emergence of Multinational Enterprises37
Davies, Robert BrucePeacefully Working to Conquer the World: Singer Sewing Machines in Foreign Markets, 1854–1920New YorkArno 1976 161Google Scholar
Domosh, American Commodities, , The United States and the Material Advance in Russia, 1881–1906New YorkArno 1976 140Google Scholar
Wilkins, Emergence of Multinational Enterprises62
Frank, Alison FleigOil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian GaliciaCambridge, MAHarvard University Press 2005 3Google Scholar
Domosh, American Commodities30
Wilkins, Emergence of Multinational Enterprises94
Beaud, History of Capitalism159
Chandler, Scale and Scope70
Vanderlip, Frank A.The American “Commercial Invasion” of EuropeNew YorkArno 1976 21Google Scholar
Pommerin, ReinerDer Kaiser und Amerika: Die USA in der Politik der Reichsleitung, 1890–1917Cologne:Böhlau Verlag 1986 202Google Scholar
Born, International Banking158
McKay, John P.Pioneers for Profit: Foreign Entrepreneurship and Russian Industrialization, 1885–1919University of Chicago Press 1970 379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Queen, United States in Russia106
Wilkins, MiraEuropean Multinationals in the United States: 1875–1914,Teichova, AliceLévy-Beboyer, MauriceNussbaum, HelgaMultinational Enterprise in Historical PerspectiveCambridge University Press 1986 55Google Scholar
Stead, W. T.The Americanization of the WorldNew York and LondonHorace Markley 1902 164Google Scholar
Hoganson, KristinConsumers’ Imperium: The Global Production of American Domesticity, 1865–1920RaleighUniversity of North Carolina 2007Google Scholar
Quoted in “Introduction,”Reichard, Gary W.Dickson, TedAmerica on the World Stage: A Global Approach to United States HistoryUrbanaUniversity of Illinois Press 2008 xvii
Novack, David E.Simon, Matthew“Commercial Responses to the American Export Invasion, 1871–1914: An Essay in Attitudinal History,Explorations in Entrepreneurial History 1966 135Google Scholar
Thwaite, Benjamin HowarthThe American Invasion or England’s Commercial DangerLondonS. Sonnenschein 1902 3Google Scholar
Schmidt, AlexanderReisen in die Moderne: Der Amerika-Diskurs des deutschen Bürgertums vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg im europäischen VergleichBerlinAkademie Verlag 1997 131Google Scholar
Donald, MoiraWorkers of the World Unite?Geyer, Martin H.Paulmann, JohannesThe Mechanics of Internationalism: Culture, Society and Politics from the 1840s to the First World WarLondonGerman Historial Institute 2001 177Google Scholar
Moore, Laurence R.European Socialists and the American Promised LandNew YorkOxford University Press 1970 58Google Scholar
Rodgers, Daniel T.Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive AgeCambridge, MAHarvard University Press 1998 70Google Scholar
The Selected Letters of Henry JamesEdel, LeonNew York:Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 1999 23
Harris, NeilCultural Excursions: Marketing Appetites and Cultural Tastes in Modern AmericaUniversity of Chicago Press 1990 258Google Scholar
Sartori, Flaminia GennariThe Taste of Business: Defining the American Art Collector, 1900–1914,Passerini, LuisaAcross the Atlantic: Cultural Exchanges between Europe and the United StatesBrussels:Peter Lang 2000 87Google Scholar
Gienow-Hecht, Jessica C. E.Trumpeting Down the Walls of Jericho: The Politics of Art, Music and Emotion in German-American Relations, 1870–1920,Journal of Social History 36 2003 585CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasty, Olga PetersFusso, SusanneAmerica through Russian Eyes, 1874–1926New HavenYale University Press 1988 135Google Scholar
Rydell, Robert W.Kroes, RobBuffalo Bill in Bologna: The Americanization of the World, 1869–1922University of Chicago Press 2005 107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydell, Kroes, , 79. Kristin ThompsonExporting Entertainment: America in the World Film Market, 1907–34Tonbridge, UKBFI 1985 5Google Scholar
Bender, ThomasA Nation among Nations: America’s Place in World HistoryNew YorkHill and Wang 2006 192Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Emily SFinancial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900–1930DurhamDuke University Press 2003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollwitzer, HeinzEurope in the Age of Imperialism: 1880–1914New YorkNorton 1979 136Google Scholar
Johnson, ChalmersThe Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the RepublicNew YorkMetropolitan Books 2004 45Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×