Rocky Hroch
Period 6
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Britain was the “workshop of the world,” but
soon after the fall of Napoleon in 1815,
industrialization began to spread to the
European continent. Trace the course of
industrial development on the continent. What
were the key features of this development?
What were the positive and negative aspects of
being a “follower” nation?
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The places first to be industrialized on the
Continent were Belgium, France, and the
German states.
The rest of Europe and other parts of the world
did not see the effects of the industrial
revolution until after 1850.
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Lack of good roads and problems with river transit
made transportation difficult.
Toll stations on important rivers and customs barriers
along state boundaries increased the costs and prices of
goods.
Guild restrictions were more prevalent, creating
impediments that pioneer industrialists in Britain did
not have to face.
Continental entrepreneurs tended to adhere to
traditional business attitudes, such as a dislike of
competition, a high regard for family security, and also
an unwillingness to take risks in investment.
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Continental countries could simply borrow British
techniques and practices.
Until 1825, it was illegal for artisans and skilled mechanics
to leave Britain.
Until 1843 the export of textile machinery and other
equipment was forbidden.
Britain could not control the situation by legislation.
Already by 1825, there were at least two thousand skilled
British mechanics on the Continent, and British equipment
was also being sold abroad, legally or illegally.
John Cockerill is one of those people who left Britain, he
established an industrial plant in southern Belgium in 1817.
The Continent gradually achieved technological
independence as local people learned all the skills their
British teachers had to offer.
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Governments in most of the Continental countries
were accustomed to playing a significant role in
economic affairs.
Governments provided for the costs of technical
education, awarded grants to inventors and foreign
entrepreneurs, exempted foreign industrial equipment
from import duties, and in some places financed
factories.
Governments also actively bore much of the cost of
building roads and canals, deepening and widening
river channels, and constructing railroads.
Governments used tariffs to further industrialization.
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Mobilized the savings of thousands of small and large
investors, creating a supply of capital that could then be
plowed back into industry.
Accepted savings from many depositors, which developed
large capital resources that they invested on a large scale in
railroads, mining, and heavy industry.
Shareholders had limited liability, they could be held
responsible only for the amount of their investment.
Societe Generale, Banque de Belgique, Credit Mobilier,
Darmstadt, and Kreditanstalt.
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In Britain, cotton played and important role, although it was
not as significant as heavy industry.
France was the Continental leader in the manufacture of
cotton goods but still lagged far behind Great Britain.
Because of Belgium’s cheap coal and scarce water, they
gravitated toward the use of the steam engine as the major
source of power and invested in the new machines.
By the mid-1840s, Belgium had the most modern cottonmanufacturing system on the Continent.
On the Continent, the iron and coal of the heavy industry
led the way.
The adoption of new techniques, such as coke-smelted iron
and puddling furnaces, coincided with the expansion of oldtype charcoal blast furnaces.
PUDDLING FURNACE
CHARCOAL BLAST
FURNACE
POSITIVE
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Could simply borrow
techniques and
practices from Great
Britain.
NEGATIVE
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Lack of technical
knowledge in the
beginning of the
Revolution.
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The three places the Industrial Revolution
spread to first after Great Britain were France,
Belgium, and the German States.
They borrowed techniques and practices from
Great Britain.
The governments played a great role in the
industrialization of their respective countries.
Joint-Stock investment banks helped greatly as
well.