Industrialisation and Urbanisation History of Germany Lecture 3
Schedule 1. The Industrial Revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
Industrial Revolution • Late 18th, early 19th c. Started in Britain, spread then over the whole European continent. • Industry replaces agrarian sector as most important economic sector • Economy based on manual labour was replaced by industry, industrial manufacturing and machinery. It began with the mechanisation of the textile industries and the development of ironmaking techniques. • Improvement of transportation (canals, roads, railways) • Steam power – fuelled primarily by coal and powered machinery Dramatic increase in production capacity and productivity Fundamental socio-economic and cultural changes
Second Industrial Revolution Since middle of the 19th c. Development of chemical, electrical, petroleum and steel industries Mass production of consumer goods Mechanisation of manufacture of food and drink, clothing and transport Employment for increasing number of population whose needs were satisfied by mass production
Spread of the Industrial Revolution
Paths to industrialisation The ‘British’ model of coal & iron-fired industrialisation (Germany had many of the same raw materials as GB) Late-comer industrialisers benefit from technology transfer Role of foreign investors in early industrialisation (Irish capital in Hibernia mines in 1855) Role of state in German investment (Prussian government interest in railways, coal mines) Role of big investment banks (often represented on board of companies)
(1913 ~ 100)
Metal
Coal
Transport
Building
Textile
1870
7,5
13,9
8,9
20,1
31,9
1880
13,9
24,7
16,1
29
40,1
1890
23,8
36,9
27,9
45,6
65
1900
47,5
57,5
50,1
67
72,8
1913
100
100
100
100
100
Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, vol. 3 (Munich, 1995
Data from: Paul Bairoch, "International Industrialization Levels from 1750 to 1980" JEEH 11
New Technologies in Industrial Production in Germany 1870-1900 Heavy industry English blast furnace technology Coal from Silesia and the Ruhr Ores from Lorraine Bessemer process 1879 Stainless steel 1912
Mechanical engineering Locomotives Internal combustion engine 1876 Cars 1889 Diesel engines 1896 Zeppelins (airships) 1900 Airplanes 1905
Electrical Industry
Chemical Industry
Dynamos (Siemens)
Artificial fertilizers
Electrical engines Telephones Power stations Films X-ray units
Dyes Plastics 1885 Pharmaceuticals Safety explosives 1885
Famous companies/industrialists Stumm Krupp Thyssen Bosch Siemens Daimler Benz AEG - Rathenau Bayer BASF
Electrical industry - Siemens
Siemens pointer telegraph, 1847
Electrical dynamo, 1866
Steel – Krupp, Essen Pioneering of seamless railway wheels Alfred Krupp, 1812-87, the ‘Cannon King’ Develops Bessemer process for purifying steel Close contacts with arms industry
Krupp steelworks, Essen, stages of growth 1819, 1852, 1912
Krupp & munitions
Krupp’s cast-steel cannon at the 1851 Exhibition in London
Krupp’s 42cm ‘Dicke Bertha’ siege gun (used to reduce Liege in 1914 and shell Paris)
Some consequences of the Industrial Revolution Population effects: productivity increases, health improvements, lower birth rates Urbanisation – industry as “city forming” activity Class society Environmental damage Growth of global markets & international trade
Some Peculiarities Important role of state investment (coal mining in Saarland belonged to Prussian state) Important role of finance capital (long-term investments, directors of banks in supervisory boards of shareholder companies) Important role of industrial associations (lobbyism) Important role of cartels
Associations, lobbyism and trade unions Centralverband Deutscher Industrieller 1876 (Central Union of German Industrialists)
Free = Socialist “Generalkommission” general commission
Bund der Industriellen 1895 (Union of Industrialists)
Christian “Gesamtverband”
Hansabund 1909
“yellow” = liberal
Vereinigung der deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände 1913 (Union of German Employers’ Associations) Exert pressure on the government and Reichstag deputies Successes: Tariffs 1878/79
Organising the working class, representing interests of workers, indirect successes – state intervention and “welfare state” Channelling dissatisfaction?
Cartels Cartels created in times of crisis (1873 ff), 70 in 1887, 143 in 1895 Agreements between companies to fix prices, regulate output Legally binding (in USA cartels were forbidden) But‌ So successful and useful, that even more cartels were founded after 1896, 673 by 1910 Not all sectors dominated by cartels: potash industry (100%), paper industry (90%), coal (82%), iron and cement industries (less than 50%), electrical industry (less than 10%), almost no cartels in chemical industry
Schedule 1. The industrial revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
Demographic Revolution Inhabitants of German Empire: 1864: 39,392,000; 1871: 40,997,000; 1910: 64,568,000 Growth of urban population More big cities Urbanisation of daily life Migration and “uprooting” Relative decline of agrarian population Emigration and immigration Improvement of health care – decline of infant mortality (since 1900) and higher life expectancy
Schedule 1. The industrial revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
Class In Marxist terms a class is a group of people defined by their relationship to the means of production. Social class is based on economically determined relationship to the market (owner, renter, employee etc.) – Max Weber Similar life chances Common interests Subjective factor: Identification with class
Social Consequences of the Industrial Revolution Creation of an industrial working class – Rise of organised labor
Growth of bourgeoisie (merchants, entrepreneurs) – economically dominant Craftsmen (old Mittelstand - middle class) become less important Civil servants and white collar workers (new Mittelstand - middle class)
Der Sozialist, Robert Koehler, 1885, DHM, Berlin
Villa H端gel in Essen (Krupp family)
Schedule 1. The industrial revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
First threshing-machine in Lankow near Schwerin in 1882 Carl Wilhelm Christian Malchin, 1882, DHM, Berlin
GroĂ&#x;stadt (Berlin), Hugo Krayn, 1914, DHM, Berlin
Das Stufenalter der Frau, F. Leibner, um 1900
Schedule 1. The industrial revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
Modell einer Berliner Mietskaserne, Berlin, um 1880, DHM, Berlin
Elendsquartier in der Berliner Spreestr. 6, Berlin, about 1910 (DHM, Berlin)
Schedule 1. The industrial revolution 2. Population Growth and Migration 3. The Emergence of Classes 4. Cultural Change 5. Social Costs 6. Conclusion
Effects of “Great Depression” 1873-1896 Peculiarities of German economy: role of state, cartels, finance capital, corporations Relative financial weakness: needs of state (armament), less productive agrarian sector (Junkers), compared to Britain industrial late comer – less accumulation of capital (financial capital of world – London) Workers: improved living standards – pauperisation Bourgeoisie: weak or strong? class conscious or aiming to adopt culture of nobility Alliance of rye and iron (East Elbian Junkers and industrialists of Ruhr district) – dominant – responsible for “German special path”? How important were economic questions for outbreak of WWI?