Memoir 218
On the basis of newly-discovered Russian & British archival sources, Prof. Herbert Kaplan makes important scholarly contributions to 18th-century economic history. He conclusively demonstrates that there was not only a symbiotic economic relationship between Russia & Great Britain, but also that Russia contributed greatly to Britain’s industrial revolution & its imperial strategic military & political power during the second half of the 18th century. Kaplan is the first to estimate the real balance of payments between the two countries in a detailed analysis of a subject. The interpretations are based on an enormous array of data culled from contemporary customs & commercial archival manuscripts. Kaplan’s meticulous analysis of Anglo-Russian commercial treaties as well as Russian tariffs, which were intended to undermine them, reveals policies that both countries undertook to advance their respective maritime & mercantile power. Finally, Kaplan persuasively argues that Britain’s military supremacy crucially depended on its receiving an uninterrupted supply of Russian manufactured & natural resources. Charts & tables.