"The Empire of the City: The Secret History of British Financial Power" by E.C. Knuth is a short book of approximately 105 pages which examines the geopolitics of the British Empire and how the British Empire dealt with rival states by employing a "divide and conquer" approach. The book is mainly focused on the period of late 19th century and first four decades of the 20th century. The book was written in the 1940's, but is still relevant today. I found that the book supplements other historical works on the period by providing a different prospective on major events such as World War One. The book offers what feels like inside information or behind the scenes view of the great game of geopolitics of the time.
Knuth touches upon the "Pilgrim Society" a little known cabal that was created to foster Anglo-American interest. A quick look at the member list of the Pilgrims and it is clear to see that this group is full of high ranking power brokers. In addition to the Pilgrim Society, Knuth also discusses the Rhodes - Milner Round table group. Carroll Quigley discusses this group in detail in his classic books "Tragedy and Hope" and "The Anglo American Establishment". References to the machinations of these groups is what I mean about "behind the scene" prospective. In the standard view of history you won't hear about the influence of these power brokers. These groups were formed to influence Anglo-American relations. It was Rhodes hope to build an Alliance of the English speaking nations for World Domination.
Knuth points out that the "City" is a sovereign state not subject to the laws of Great Britain. The City of London is similar to the Vatican in Rome or the District of Columbia in the united states of America in this regard. This is a very important point in understanding that the British Empire is not the English people's Empire. It is a Empire of the financial elite centered in the City of London and controlled through the deployment of the British Army, Navy, and Spy Agencies. It seeks to control the world's raw materials and has so far succeeded in using the united states to protect its interests against the German rivals in both WWI and WWII.
I highly recommend reading "The Empire of the City: The Secret History of British Financial Power" by E.C. Knuth.
By the way, I also found the book useful also as a springboard for locating other interesting works that Knuth references in the book. Most of this references I've never heard of before.
If you would like to know more about why Germany was viewed as a threat to the Empire and thus needed to be destroyed in WWI read:
Dreadnought
The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power
A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order
If you what to know more about the Anglo-American Alliance try these books:
The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes: With Elucidatory Notes to Which Are Added Some Chapters Describing the Political and Religious Ideas
Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time
Anglo-American Establishment
The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class
Also, the Council on Foreign Relations is at the core of this Establishment
Imperial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy
The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline
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fareed esack
An interesting book revealing how the UK banking system worked.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 17, 2021Amazon Customer
would recommend to
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 26, 2016
