The Gap

Effect of Industrialization In the 18th century, China, India, Europe, and Japan were comparable in terms of economic development, standard of living, & life expectancy. A great reversal soon took place: where India and China accounted for over half of the wealth of the world in the 18th century, by 1900 they had become among the least industrialized and the poorest. Their shares of world GDP did not fall as far as their shares of world manufacturing output, largely because their populations continued to grow.

Share of World Manufacturing Output

Britain’s Rise to Prominence The story of the 19th century largely concerns the process by which the world became divided into the developed and the underdeveloped, the rich and the poor, as well as the industrialized and the “third” world. As the first to industrialize and to apply the fruits of industrialization to its military, Britain soon established itself as the most powerful nation in the world. By 1830, Britain had a virtual monopoly on the industrial production of iron, steam machines, and textiles.

Industrialization Elsewhere As Britain’s overseas empire grew, other European states tried to improve their militaries to compete in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Despite Britain’s efforts to prevent the transfer or export of its industrial technologies- France, Germany and the United States soon began to industrialize. Russia and Japan soon followed, largely in order to maintain their independence from the West.

France Even in the early stages of Britain’s industrial- ization, France tried to gain access to the technology. France finally got its start in textiles and steel, but it’s efforts were hampered by a lack of easily worked coal deposits, by revolutionary upheavals and war, and by a backwards system of agriculture. France’s building of a railroad system between 1842 and 1860 spurred industrialization in areas that it connected. This project was funded by the government, not by private efforts, as in Britain.

United States Industrialization in the U.S. centered on the Northeast and the Ohio River valley and relied mostly on private capital. Textiles produced in the U.S. soon competed with Britain on the world market. Rail lines were built beginning in the 1830s, these spanned the continent by the 1870s. The Civil War also contributed to industrialization. The U.S. was the first to industrialize agriculture, it soon became a major exporter of food in the global market.

Germany Unlike the other countries discussed here, Germany was not unified into a single state until The German textile industry was crushed in the 1830s since it had no protection against British imports. After unification, Germany emphasized iron and steel production to sustain its national railroad system and to support the growth of its military. Germans also linked their universities to industrial research, leading to new chemical and electrical industries and applying science directly to industrial development for the first time.

Russia Despite being one of the main powers in Europe due to its size and population, Russia in the 19th century was beginning to take on the 3rd world characteristics of exporting food and raw materials, having little or no industry of its own, and relying on others for manufactured goods. Russia did have vast natural resources such as forests, coal, and iron ore, that attracted European investors who extracted them and sold them to industrializing countries.

Like France, the Russian government was the main driving force in industrialization. In the 1880s, the Ministry of Finance launched a massive railroad-building program, followed by coal, iron, steel, and oil production. In 1860, Russia had 700 miles of railroad; it had 21,000 miles by 1894, and 36,000 miles by The main reason for Russian industrialization was to escape the fate of colony-like relations with western Europe. The Minister of Finance said, “Russia is an independent and strong power…She wants to be a metropolis herself”