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
1870. 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
1900.
• 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”