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History 121D7

Belgium is the first continental country to industrialize and

becomes the hub by which industrialization spreads out


It has coal and iron deposits that are nearby each other
There was a tradition of textile working and iron making and they

were able to incorporate new technologies from Britain


Belgium has a well-to-do middle class that is at the forefront of

the independence movement from the Netherlands


Belgian government encourages industrialization by encouraging

shipbuilding and railroad track laying


Belgium started exporting steam engines in the 1830s
Coal production triples in 1830-1850
In 1799, people came from Britain to Belgium to make textile

mills
18 years later, they started to build textile machinery
France is a late-comer to industrialization
Raw materials were far apart and labor was very cheap so no

real incentive to invest in technology


Coal production and the consumption of raw cotton quintupled in

the years after 1830


In 1830, there were 130 machines; by 1860, 160,000
Most of the French industrialization was in the north because it

was near to Belgium


France invested in industries that were not yet mechanized:

ceramics, glass, paper


French production remained small in scale
Artisans retained their place in society in France for much longer

than elsewhere
The German states begin to industrialize quite a bit later
Governments are not shy to industrialize
Governments invest in a vastly improved transportation network

Zollvereina customs union which embraced 18 German states

in 1834
There is massive expansion in railroads which dramatically

increases the demand for metal


Austria in the South and Prussia in the North were the main

powers in the region


The German states were powerful but were not unified
The Zollverein makes the German state a major economic power

on par with the nation-states


When the German state finally unifies, the rest of Europe is

extremely scared
Germans were pioneers in electrical engineering, chemicals, and

other industries
The Austrian Empire remained very heavily agrarian aside from

Bohemia
Southern Europe experienced very slow growth
Spain had little agricultural revolution and no coal and Italy was

not unified
Piedmont lost to Austria and was an eye-opening experience that

countries that didnt industrialize would lose to countries that did


Serfdom was abolished after The Crimean War in 1861
By the 1870s, there was a very different picture of Europe than

in the 1830s and 1840s


Britain still remains the industrial giant
By the late 19th century, Europe adopted a very distinct material

culture, which went hand-in-hand with industrialization


This material culture was based on machine, rather than hand,

production
Germany unified in 1871
The Second Industrial revolution sees new technologies in
metals, chemicals, electricity, steel (with Bessemer process)

As early as 1890, steel dominated British shipbuilding


Both Germany and the US would dominate Britain in steel

production
You begin to see the practical applications of electricity
By the 1880s there is the production of the alternating current
Electric motors begin to be invented, which allow for subways,

tramways, and engines to run factories


Liquid fuels become available
There are industrial centers in Europe
Britain holds the first Worlds Fair in 1854 at the Crystal Palace
The Netherlands was among the richest in Europe, Spain and

Russia the poorest


But you could find industrial progress in all of these countries
Bohemia, Catalonia, Basque region, Northern Italian States, were

all centers of industry in their respective countries


Moscow and St. Petersburg were the largest cities in Russia
Before emancipation, serfs operated machinery in these cities
The economies of most of the poor countries of Europe were

dominated by agriculture
Countries that didnt industrialize didnt have the natural
resources or the transportation methods to transport the

resources
2/3 of the Austrian Empire was mountainous
Many countries implement protectionist policies which produced

inferior goods at higher prices


This led to widespread smuggling
Russia becomes the breadbasket of Western Europe
One of the first railroads was built in Austria and designed to be

drawn by horses
It Italy, railroads connected the palaces to the cities
Railroads were being built in the states that didnt industrialize,

but for different reasons (like moving military)


They were state financed, state owned, and lost money

To maintain its position as the factory of the world, Europe used

either economic or military strength to subdue competitors


The cotton industry in India and Egypt are put down in the face

of European competition
The two most iconic symbols of industrialization are the railroad

and the modern city


19th century Europe saw the beginning of the urban world
After 1850, industrialization starts to spread eastward
Industrialization requires huge concentrations of cheap labor
Cities are congregating in centers of credit or entrepreneurship,
around shipping lanes, around water sources, and around

resources
Cities predominate in the North and the West
At the start of the 19th century, London was the only city with 1

million people
Paris had 500,000 and only 5 other cities had over 200,000

people
London would grow to over 2 million and Paris would surpass a

million
Statistics was being borne in this period in order to measure

people
Berlin grew rapidly
Britain contained more large cities than all of Europe combined
The extraordinary European growth came almost entirely from in-

migration
Almost all of the growth came from new people coming into the

cities
Population growth was driven by immigrants
There are no modern governments, urban administrators, and

urban planning in these cities


Many of the major cities still had walls

Many of these cities are growing with no planning whatsoever


And no governments were equipped to deal with the massive

growth rates
There was overcrowding, slums, and pollution, but nothing on a

massive scale because these cities werent that big


Most towns and cities were using up every scrap of available land
In 1830s, there were no open areas in French or British cities
Most of these inhabitants lived in abject poverty
The rapid explosion of people reduces living standards and

makes these cities health hazards


Deadly diseases spread rapidly
Fumes from the factory smokestacks filled the street with soot,

garbage and feces were in the streets


The middle and upper classes flee the city as far as possible for

health reasons mainly


The people left in the cities were the poorest of the poor
Lower class slums lacked any sewage facilities or fresh water
Britain passes the first public health act in 1875
In France, sewers were required in 1894
Upwards of 200 people would share one outhouse
Cesspools would overflow because they were rarely emptied
Courtyards became mountains of feces
In the 1840s, in Britain, millions of men, women, and children

were living in shit


Cholera, typhus, and tuberculosis epidemics ravaged the

population
Growing lower classes bring crime, immorality, the threat of

revolution
It is not until the emergence of public transportation, in the
1870s, did these cities truly improve

In the 1840s, you can trace the origins of public health


movements taking place in Britain, France, the US, and the

German States
Urban renovation and urban planning begin to take place, mainly

after the bombardment of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War


Working class suburbs begin to take hold after improvements are
made to cities and the wealthy again move into the city center

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