Overcoming War
Ivan Bloch: Entrepreneur, Publicist, Pacifist
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Abstract
Jan Bloch is a classic example of an upwardly-mobile, 19th century Jew. Bloch worked his way up from humble East European Jewish origins in central Poland to become one of the Russian Empire’s leading entrepreneurs. He financed railroad lines for the state during Russia’s era of “borrowed imperialism”. However, Bloch’s initiatives to overcome war represent his greatest service. He lent impetus to the Hague Peace Conference. In his standard work “The Future of War”, he predicted total annihilation through industrialisation of war and revolution in Russia. He called for a departure from Clausewitz and advocated arms control as well as an international court of justice. This book deserves its place as a classic work of historical peace research.
(Special Issue, pp. 179–186)
Full text file (PDF, 338 kB)