The Merchants of Death
(By H.C. Engelbrecht)
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| Author | H.C. Engelbrecht |
Here's the archetype of all post–WWI revisionism of a particular variety: the hunt for the people who made big bucks off the killing machine. The Merchants of Death was, in many ways, the manifesto of a generation of people who swore there wouldn't be & couldn't be another such war. But here's the kicker: it was coauthored by the founder of Human Events, the conservative weekly. So this is no left-wing screed against profiteering. It's a careful & subtle, but still passionate, attack on those who would use government to profit themselves at the expense of other's lives & property.
Here's a sample of the ideological orientation: "The arms industry did not create the war system. On the contrary, the war system created the arms industry.… All constitutions in the world vest the war-making power in the government or in the representatives of the people. The root of the trouble, therefore, goes far deeper than the arms industry. It lies in the prevailing temper of peoples toward nationalism, militarism & war, in the civilization which forms this temper & prevents any drastic & radical change. Only when this underlying basis of the war system is altered, will war & its concomitant, the arms industry, pass out of existence."
This book is a wonderful example of what Rothbard called the "Old Right" in its best form. It not only makes the case against the war machine; it provides a scintillating history of war profiteering--authoritative enough for citation & academic study. One can see how this book had such a powerful effect.”
