"Globalization" has become a popular buzzword for explaining today's world. The expression achieved terminological stardom in the 1990s and was soon embraced by the general public and integrated into numerous languages. But is this much-discussed phenomenon really an invention of modern times? In this work, Jurgen Osterhammel and Niels Petersson make the case that globalization is not so new, after all. Arguing that the world did not turn "global" overnight, the book traces the emergence of globalization over the past seven or eight centuries. In fact, the authors write, the phenomenon can be traced back to early modern large-scale trading, for example, the silk trade between China and the Mediterranean region, the shipping routes between the Arabian Peninsula and India, and the more frequently traveled caravan routes of the Near East and North Africa--all conduits for people, goods, coins, artwork, and ideas. Osterhammel and Petersson argue that the period from 1750 to 1880--an era characterized by the development of free trade and the long-distance impact of the industrial revolution--represented an important phase in the globalization phenomenon.
Moreover, they demonstrate how globalization in the mid-twentieth century opened up the prospect of global destruction though nuclear war and ecological catastrophe. In the end, the authors write, today's globalization is part of a long-running transformation and has not ushered in a "global age" radically different from anything that came before. This book will appeal to historians, economists, and anyone in the social sciences who is interested in the historical emergence of globalization.
Preface vii Chapter I. "Globalization": Circumnavigating a Term 1 A Diagnosis of the Present and a Term for a Historical Process 1 The Core Concept and the Controversies 5 Chapter II. The Dimensions of Globalization 13 World System--Imperialism--Global History 14 Networks and Interaction Spheres 21 Historical Periods 27 Chapter III. The Development and Establishment of Worldwide Connections Until 1750 31 Long-distance Trade, Empires, Ecumenes 31 Gunpowder Empires and Maritime Domains 42 Holes in the Net 49 Chapter IV. 1750-1880: Imperialism, Industrialization, and Free Trade 57 Early World Politics and Atlantic Revolutions 57 The Far-reaching Impact of the Industrial Revolution 62 Empires and Nation-States 69 The Emergence of a World Economy 76 Chapter V. 1880-1945: Global Capitalism and Global Crises 81 The Experience of Globality, Global Economy, and World Politics at the Turn of the Century 81 Imperialism and World War 90 1918-1945: Global Crises and Conflicts 99 The "American Century" 107 Chapter VI. 1945 to the Mid-1970s: Globalization Split in Two 113 Political Spaces: Power Blocs, Nation-States, and Transnational Movements 113 The Institutions of the Global Economy 121 Sociocultural Globalization? 130 Chapter VII. Conclusion 141 A New Millennium 141 On the Road to a Global Age? 145 Globalization: Putting the Concept into Perspective 150 Notes 153 Recommended Literature 171 Index 181
