![]() ![]() It mattered to major imperial powers-the Dutch, the French, the British-that they could still get tropical products such as rubber from their colonies in Asia. Domestic, in this context, included colonies, though, since one of empire’s chief benefits was the unrestricted economic access it brought to faraway lands. As international trade doors slammed shut, large economies were forced to subsist largely on their own domestic produce. This was exactly the nightmare Alfred Thayer Mahan had predicted back in the 1890s. As those trade barriers rose, global trade collapsed, falling by two-thirds between 19. This was an individual solution with excruciating collective consequences. ![]() It had triggered a desperate scramble among the world’s powers to prop up their flagging economies with protective tariffs. The chief impetus for rethinking the value of colonies was the global Depression. ![]()
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