New from Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment :
Banking and Politics in the Age of Democratic Revolution
By Niccolò Valmori
This book explores the relationship between finance and politics in the turbulent period of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire. Assessing the impact of the revolutionary period on the financial world, it aims to unearth the complexity of the latter and the ramifications for modern society.
Unearths the roots of the confrontation between finance and politics by considering bankers operating during the French Revolution.
An essential resource for understanding the historical origins of the widespread suspicion felt towards financial elites.
A detailed survey of the trajectory of international bankers during the Age of Revolution using transnational and interdisciplinary methodology.
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Table of Contents :
Acknowledgements
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE. THE INVISIBLE HANDS: MERCHANTS AND BANKERS IN PARIS AND LONDON AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1.1 Financial institutions and stock markets between Britain, France and The Netherlands
1.2 A fluid world: merchants and bankers in eighteenth-century Britain and France
1.3 ‘Improve your writing’: becoming a banker in the eighteenth century. The case of Alexander Baring and his traineeship at the Dutch bank Hope & Co.
1.4 The internal life of an eighteenth-century bank: clerks and partners at Hoare & Co.
CHAPTER TWO. THE POLITICISATION OF FINANCE: THE ENGLISH FINANCIAL WORLD IN THE MIDST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WARS, 1796-1800 2.1 Fighting over the public debt: Thomas Paine’s The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance
2.2 The engagement of bankers during war: Francis Baring and Robert Barclay at the end of the eighteenth century
CHAPTER THREE. A HISTORY OF UNCHALLENGED DISTRUST: FRENCH PUBLIC OPINION AND BANKERS, 1789-1799
3.1 The debate on the creation of a French national bank: old suspects and new fears in 1789
3.2 A new role for financial interests in France? Pierre-Louis Roederer and the ‘normalisation’ of finance within French society
CHAPTER FOUR. BETWEEN RISK AND COLLABORATION: FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL ELITES DURING REVOLUTION AND WAR, 1792-1805
4.1 When war changes the rules: the unfortunate trade of James Bourdieu with France
4.2 Unravelling relations: bankers and politicians during the 1797 credit crisis
4.3 Old commercial practices in revolutionary times: the bank Hogguer & Co. and the evaluation of counterparties’ risk
CHAPTER FIVE. INVESTING IN A NEW MARKET DURING THE AGE OF REVOLUTION: EUROPEAN BANKERS AND THE NEW WORLD, 1783-1803
5.1 Between expectations and failures: European investments in the US market in the last quarter of the eighteenth century
5.2 Bracing for the big leap: the houses of Baring and Hope at the eve of their investments in the United States of America
5.3 A fateful journey: Alexander Baring’s discovery of the United States of America
CHAPTER SIX. EXTENDING NETWORKS IN WAR AND PEACE: CREDIT AND TRUST IN UNCERTAIN TIMES, 1801–1813
6.1 Diamonds in Paris: global trade and international finance during the Amiens peace, 1802-1803
6.2 Brokering in times of war: the role of Hope and Baring in the Louisiana Purchase
6.3 Raising money in times of war: the case of Ouvrard under the Napoleonic Empire
CHAPTER SEVEN. INTERLOCKING INTERESTS: BANKERS AND POLITICIANS IN ENGLAND, 1789-1810
7.1 A history of collaborative relations: Sir Francis Baring and the British government
7.2 Private banking and politics in times of war: the dialogue of interest between bankers and the Pitt Cabinet
CHAPTER EIGHT. CONSTRAINT AND AUTONOMY: FINANCE AND POLITICS FROM THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE TO THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1800-1815 8.1 The impossible autonomy: the thorny relationship between the Banque de France and Napoleon, 1800-1806
8.2 Beyond repression: understanding the Paris financial market through police reports
8.3 The Dutch connection: investing in the Parisian market during the Napoleonic period
Conclusion
Bibliography
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Niccolò Valmori is a Research Fellow at The Robert Schuman Center, European University Institute. He has also recently been a member of a research project on revolutionary translations based at King’s College London. His research interests include the transnational history of the French Revolution, Atlantic History and the study of financial elites.
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The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.