Unnecessary Wars to Economic Collapse
In some historical cases political connections are common to circumstances over different times and nations. The connection between fighting unnecessary wars and economic collapse is one of these connections that transcends individual examples to become a general rule.
There is a long history of nations or empires launching costly wars that do not produce enough benefit to justify their expense. The result is frequently economic collapse and in many cases revolution. In the third and fourth centuries AD Rome fought a number of these wars, paying for them by devaluing their currency. By the mid third century Roman currency was so devalued that a Roman gold coin had almost no gold in it. This lead people with money to transfer their wealth to something more substantial - in this case land. The aristocracy began to leave the Roman cities in favor of landed estates. This lead to the decline of cities and their defenses, and their eventual sacking by Gothic barbarians. It also lead to a new economic system based on the ownership of land: feudalism.
A thousand years later the Spanish would launch an unnecessary war that they have not recovered from, even today. Flush with gold and silver from their conquests in America, Spain began building a fleet to destroy their primary rival, Great Britain, and rule the world. The Spanish Armada set sail for England with all the wealth Spain had amassed. Storms and the enemy sent their great Armada to the bottom of the ocean and with it all the wealth of Spain. The nation that acquired the most wealth from gold and silver would become one of the poorest nations in Europe and even today Spain remains one of the poorest countries in Western Europe.
A hundred and fifty years later it would be France's attempt at combatting Britain's power. With Great Britain embroiled in a war with one of their rebellious colonies, France would contribute millions to the cause of the underdog colony. The United States would use France's money and naval support to eventually beat the British but the huge expense left France nearly bankrupt. Faced with economic ruin and food shortages, the French people would revolt. The king that funded the American revolution would soon lose his head in the French revolution.
Just over one hundred years later another of Europe's monarchs would lead his nation into a war it didn't need to fight. Like Louis XVI of France and his wife, this monarch would also be executed as the result of revolution, this time in Russia. In 1914 Nicolas II of Russia joined the allies in the war beginning in Europe. Russia's army was huge but poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly lead. Two and a half years and a million men later Russia faced its own collapse. One revolution removed Czar Nicolas from power. A second revolution put the Bolsheviks in power. Shortly thereafter a firing squad would do away with the entire royal family and they would be buried in a swamp to be found 70 years later.
Before the remains of the Russian royal family were found the United States would launch its own war of futility with its own economic repercussions. The United States would spend eight years and about half a trillion dollars fighting in a small country 10,000 miles from its shores. In the process of extracting itself from Vietnam another war would break out in the Middle East. The negotiated cease fire in 1973 lead to the first Arab oil embargo which, in turn, lead to spiraling inflation and no economic growth. The resulting recession would bring a political change that ushered in an economic shift away from production and toward finance. Within a quarter century the United States would become a second-rate producer with a huge debt and the same old problem with oil. The response...yet another war costing trillions more and a new economic mess. It's still an open question whether the U.S. will recover its past glory but history does not look kindly on nations who launch unnecessary wars.
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