Does Conquest Pay?

Can foreign invaders successfully exploit industrial countries? Since control over economic resources is a key source of power, the answer affects the likelihood of aggression and how strenuously states should counter it. The resurgence of nationalism has led many policymakers and scholars to doubt that conquest still pays. This book aims to demonstrate that expansion can, in fact, provide rewards to aggressor nations. It argues that invaders can exploit industrial societies for short periods of time and can maintain control and economic performance over the long term. This is because modern societies are uniquely vulnerable to coercion and repression; hence, by wielding a gun in one hand and offering food in the other, determined conquerors can compel collaboration and suppress resistance. Liberman supports his arguments with the use of case studies covering such topics as Germany's capture of Belgium and Luxembourg during World War I and of nearly all of Europe during World War II; France's seizure of the Ruhr in 1923-24; the Japanese Empire during 1910-1945; and Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe in 1945-89.