This book offers a new account of Nauru's imperial history and examines its significance in the history of international law.

Bismarck once said: "I do not want any colonies at all. Their only use is to provide sinecures. That is all England at present gets out of her colonies, and Spain too. And as for us Gennans, colonies would be exactly like the silks and sables of the Polish nobleman who had no shirt to wear under them. " 1 It may be debated whether Bismarck was right or wrong, but the subsequent course of history e. g. , the Anglo French rivalry in Egypt, the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895, the Spa nish-American war of 1898, the Boer war of 1899-1902, the Russo Japanese war of 1904-1905, the Morocco crisis of 1906, the Turco Italian war of 1911, showed that the colonial territories, which were often treated as pawns in the diplomatic game for power, prestige, and markets were potential causes of war. 2 The chief cause of modern wars, if Hobson's analysis is accepted, is the competitive struggle of modern nations for economic privileges of one kind or another for powerful financial and trading groups of their 3 nationals. The keen desire of the Colonial Powers to acquire new mar kets and sources of raw materials by diplomatic pressure or force have been, according to him, "the chief directing influences in foreign policy, the chief causes of competing armaments, and the pennanent under lying menaces to peace.