Trade and Competition

What is the relationship between trade, conflict, and military innovation? In the early 14^th century, Denmark fought with the Hanseatic League over trade routes in the Baltic.  The battles featured some of the most important military innovations of the day such as combined land and sea-based artillery as well as enduring characteristics such as coalition warfare, the use of mercenaries and creative defensive fortifications. 

War may be a continuation of politics by other means, but often politics are a continuation of business by other means. Walking the streets of Copenhagen, you find yourself thrust into this history.  Danish commercial interests led a small kingdom to become a naval power, often at odds with its larger neighbor Sweden.  During the 17^th century, Sweden and Denmark struggled to control economic and political networks in the Baltic leading to multiple conflicts including Torstenson War (1643-1645) and the Second Northern War (1655-1660).  The conclusion of the Thirty Years War in Europe also saw Russia’s rise as a Baltic power. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain sought to destroy the Danish fleet as a means of denying France access to naval power leading to two bombardments of Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807. 

Just as historians like Jack Greene speak of Atlantic History and Braudel highlights Mediterranean History, there is a Baltic system that circulates a flow of goods and ideas across Northern Europe. Understanding these networks and how rival states compete to control them provides a map into strategic competition old and new. 

The fight over connectivity today is not just defined by maritime trade routes and key harbors.  It exists in lines of code connecting the world through financial transactions and social relations.

Over the next seven days, a group of 12 SIS students will work with major international firms, the Danish government and academia and Norwegian government and academic officials to conduct cyber crisis simulations. Returning to a true economic hub will help us imagine the future of strategic competition and conflict.