The industrial production

In 1860 the main industrial production was made by the United Kingdom with 20% of the shares, followed by France and Russia with around 6% of the shares. This hierarchy will change and we’ll interrogate us on the reasons of the changes. Doc 1 is a bar chart representing national shares in world industrial production from 1860 to 1938. The first change is linked to the first industrial revolution. This revolution comes from England and diffuses innovations like the steam machine or ciderurgy around the world. England controls the production of its technologies this control allows England to raise to the top position of economic power between 1860 and 1870 with 20% of the production share as defined in doc 1. In the same doc we can see the fast increasing of USA parts from 1860 to 1929. During the second industrialization wave that debut in 1870 in England, Germany that was late in the race for industrialization caught up with it delay by developing it heavy industry and mining industry this has resulted in an increase in its share (from 5% to 15% between 1860 and 1870). Then England parts will decrease steadily from 30% in 1870 to 10% in 1938 when on the contrary USA parts increases from 20% in 1870 to 30% in 1938. We can also notice an important increasing of Russia/USSR’s parts from 5% in 1929 to 25% in 1938, this country has taken advantage of the 1929 crises that has devastated the economies of capitalist countries thanks to it communist system. Germany’s economy, for its part stays stagnating around 15% from 1870 to 1938, it resists to the 1929 crises, to the WW1 and then is, according to doc 2, (which is a cartoon of John Tenniel (1820-1914) it was published in Punch, 1896 it represents a pedlar (Germany) cutting England’s petticoat) taking some England’s share in world industrial production. If it’s possible it’s because enormous firms are emerging during this period. These firms has taken advantage of the improvement in chemicals knowledge like Bayer for example in doc 3 ( which is an Harold Baron’s extract of it’s book chemical industry on the continent 1909). This enterprise exemplify the competitivity of the German industry, in effect this enterprise bought others in the same and other areas of activity to form a trust which is operating in the photograph industry in the pharmaceutical industry in the dyestuff industry and all this thing in a very organized way in order to minimize the production costs.

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