Industrialization Q&A

What were the four main agents of industrialization?

1. British technology

The British tried to keep their technical discoveries a secret from other European nations. British law prohibited artisans and skilled mechanics to leave Britain until 1825, and until 1843 the export of textile machinery and other equipment was prohibited. Some ambitious workers fled Britain illegally and introduced the new technologies in other countries, thus spreading the Industrial Revolution throughout Europe. William Cockerill was an example of one of these ambitious men. Cockerill developed cotton-spinning equipment in French-occupied Belgium, and soon talented workers left Britain to work for him. With them these workers brought British plans and technological secrets to Cockerill, spreading British technology throughout Europe and developing it further.

2. Entrepreneurs

Talented entrepreneurs such as Fritz Harkfort sought to take British technology and build businesses upon it. Harkfort, a German business pioneer, was serving in England during the Napoleonic wars and was impressed with the British machinery. He decided that Germany had to catch up with Britain's achievements, and used English mechanics and iron parts to build and sell engines in Germany. Entrepreneurs as such, in seeking to create big business and increase their success, helped spread industrialization throughout Europe, creating jobs for and selling technology to the population.

3. Government

Governments often helped business people in continental countries to overcome some of their difficulties. Tariff protection, for example, benefited the profits of big businesses (though they increased burdens on the poor). (Gyarn side note - do tariff protection and nationalism coincide? It is, indeed, of national interest to protect domestic industry. However tariff protection comes down hard on the poor which can reduce the poor's sense of national unity, economic equality, and appreciation for government, which so crucially contribute to nationalism.) Many governments also bore the costs of building roads, railroads, and canals, to help domestic trade flourish and tie the nation together.

4. Banks

Banks played a more significant role in continental Europe vs. Britain. In the 1830s, two Belgian banks moved away from the commonplace of small, private banks organized as secret partnerships. They received permission from the government to establish themselves as corporations enjoying limited liability. Limited liability means that a stock-holder could lose only his or her original investment in the bank's common stock and could not be assessed for any additional losses. This attracted investors and shareholders, allowing the banks to build impressive resources for investment in big companies. These banks thus became industrial banks, promoting industrialization, and many continental European banks soon followed in these footsteps.

Just how important was the industrialization to the nation-state during this period? How did Friedrich make Germany a nation-state?

The Industrial Revolution was crucial to the development of the nation-state. Industrialization created jobs, stimulated economy, and created new working classes. Industrialization majorly contributed to nationalism, and to the creation of the nation-state, through economic nationalism. Friedrich List promoted industry, considering the "growth of modern industry of most importance because manufacturing was a primary means of increasing people's well-being and relieving their poverty." He supported the formation of a customs union, or Zollverein, among separate German states. He allowed trade between German states to go without tariff, but enacted a tariff for international trade. In doing so he eliminated much of the disunity among the German states and created a sense of nationalism among them, while also promoting industry and stimulating the economy.