“A Crisis in World History” – Peter Mentzel

Ludwig von Mises’ second book, Nation, State , and Economy, was published in 1919 .

Mises was trying to make sense of the destruction caused by the cataclysm of World War I.

Much of the book is taken up with an extensive investigation of the phenomena of national identity and nationalism.

Mises published Nation, State , and Economy a little over one hundred years ago.

The book is, first and foremost, a collection of observations about current events.

Mises makes the argument that the war was made possible because of the rise of “militant or imperialistic nationalism” The end of an international liberal order was simultaneously the cause and result of the Great War .

While there have been some efforts since the end of World War II to return to the pre-World War I era of liberal economic policies (especially the free movement of capital, goods, services, and people), and while the sort of “militant nationalism” that characterized so much of the early twentieth century has dissipated somewhat, we now seem to be entering another era in which the kind of classical liberal order that Mises saw as the only foundation for a peaceful and prosperous world is potentially under threat once again. The warnings in Nation , State , and Economy are still useful..