For most of Europe, war seemed ridiculous at the turn of the 20th century. It was in the budding era of globalization, and Europe controlled close to two-thirds of global trade. It hadn’t seen a continentwide war for nearly 100 years, since the days of Napoleon.
Yet, one of the great jokes that history plays is that everything seems obvious in retrospect. Behind the industrialization and emergence of a global industry, the gears of politics and competition were still turning as they always had.
Despite the fact that Great Britain and Germany were among the world’s top trading partners at the time, to the surprise of many, the first world war—one of the worst wars the world has ever witnessed—erupted on July 28, 1914.
Author and filmmaker Peter Navarro fears that the world may again be heading in this direction—again in a new era of globalization, and again between two of the world’s largest trading partners.
In his new book, “Crouching Tiger,” and an accompanying documentary film series, Navarro tries to answer the question of “Will there be a war between the United States and China?”
