Napoleon famously sneered at Britain as "a nation of shop-keepers." Adam Smith had described them a nation whose government was influenced by shop-keepers. Napoleon subscribed to the soldier’s code, whose virtues included courage, honour, pride, and loyalty. The merchant’s code, by contrast, stressed honesty, fair-dealing, prudence, moderation, and calculation.

Soldiers have had a good press. They form the main body of history’s heroes, from Alexander and Caesar to Charlemagne, Napoleon, Rommel and Patton. Their dash and derring-do have been held up as positive role models, and young people fantasize about them. Their deeds changed the world, and they wrote their names into its history.

Merchants, on the other hand, have not been given much respect. They are thought money-grubbing, obsessed with material goods rather than honour and dignity. They shuffle around in furs muttering about prices and profits, instead of wearing shining armour and boldly wielding swords in pursuit of glory. Children play soldiers, not merchants.

Soldiers fight. They kill people and allow their leaders to impose their will with the sword. There have been good and honourable defensive soldiers, of course, but history tends to give its accolades to the conquerers. Merchants, on the other hand, trade. They bring goods to people and supply them with life’s comforts. They have been at times no less brave, enduring storms and shipwreck. Soldiers are natural gamblers, ready to risk it all on one last throw; but there are merchants like that, prepared to take awesome chances for the thrill of the game.

Where soldiers marched they left death and destruction in their wake. Their testament was burned villages and the field of corpses. Their glory left shattered lives. Where merchants passed they left wealth. They enabled communities to endure hard times and to add to life’s comforts. They enabled people to aspire to better things than survival, and brought the flavour of exotic things into the lives of people who would never travel themselves.

Merchants generated the surplus wealth which enabled the arts and architecture to prosper. They created the means whereby scholars and writers could earn a livelihood. If one looks at the advancements and improvements of humankind, only a tiny fraction is owed to soldiers. The great volume of human achievement is down to the merchants. They have left the world a better place. Perhaps it is time to shift our emphasis, and to write histories which honour the merchants and the qualities which put them at humanity’s service.