Author: Editorial, retitled and with added notes and bibliography by David Hart Title: "Ludwig von Mises, Money, and the Fall and Rise of Classical Liberalism in the 20th Century" Edition: Literature of Liberty, Imprint: Institute for Humane Studies. First published:
Advanced Search In Vienna, prior to, during, and just after World War I, Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was attaining his full intellectual maturity. For a liberal like Mises these were truly lamentable years. The years from the early 1890s to 1920 constituted perhaps the most retrogressive watershed in the history of Western civilization. They were the years during which the grand liberal system of the Nineteenth Century was overthrown and transformed into Twentieth-Century statism. Saddened, but undaunted, Mises would spend the rest of his life championing the noble but forsaken cause of liberty and liberalism. Ed.1 By the last decade of the Nineteenth Century, signals were clear that the beginning of the end of the liberal era was at hand. The liberating forces that had been advancing for more than two centuries were grinding to a halt. The New Imperialism, preparation for militarism, and protectionism were replacing both the principles and reality of international peace and free trade. Neomercantilism was being reconstructed around the globe. Ed.2 | |
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