“Brian O’Sullivan sheds crucial new light on an episode, the launch and operations of the British Trade Corporation, which has hitherto surprisingly received scant attention despite being one of the most important financial (and industrial) initiatives taking place in Britain during and soon after the First World War. This is, for that reason, a much-awaited work which fills a major lacuna in the post-war history of the country. Based on an uncommonly wide range of archival sources, he shows that the British Trade Corporation became an important instrument in the changing role of Britain in world affairs after 1918. This work confirms in addition the growing influence of industrial interests on the establishment and management of the war economy. This book is a valid addition to the long-standing debate about the alleged inability of British financial institutions to provide long-term finance to industry in the inter-war era.” (Dr Valerio Cerretano, Department of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Florence (UniFI))

“By following the British Trade Corporation and the reversal of its fortunes in markets stretching from Danzig and Belgrade to the Middle East in the years after the First World War, this deeply researched book makes an important contribution to the debate about Britain’s decline.” (Prof. Frank Trentmann, Frank Trentmann is a professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London)