carved out room for a new tier of country: the middlemen who brokered or ferried goods among opposing empires. It was risky business. The deals an empire categorized as “brokering” on Monday were often reclassified as “double dealing” by Thursday. The Dutch—every European’s favorite middleman—became notorious for their massive booms when they carried European trade, and massive busts when the British or French or Germans decided they had had enough
