432 Chapter 22
which led to the annexation of rich mineral deposits.
The wars of Frederick the Great had acquired the coal
fields of Silesia and the defeat of Napoleon brought
Prussia the iron and coal deposits of the Rhineland.
The Prussian government also encouraged industrial-
ization. Karl Freiherr vom Stein reorganized the gov-
ernment after the catastrophic loss to Napoleon in
- Stein secured the abolition of serfdom in 1807,
and the emancipation edict had far-reaching eco-
nomic provisions that opened landownership and
granted the aristocracy freedom to choose any occu-
pation. Friedrich von Motz, the Prussian minister of
finance in the 1820s, presided over a similar modern-
ization that included the abolition of internal tariffs;
free trade treaties with neighboring German states;
and finally the formation of the Zollverein,a customs
union that propelled Prussia toward the economic
leadership of central Europe. King Frederick William
IV encouraged industrialization by his love of trains
when the emperor of Austria detested railroads and
impeded their construction.The European Industrial “Take-Off”
Economic historians use the term take-off phaseto de-
scribe the period when a nascent industrial economy
begins to expand rapidly. For much of western and cen-
tral Europe, the take-off of industrialization occurred in
the middle of the nineteenth century (see map 22.3).Danub
eVistula
R.Ebro
R.Po R.Niema
n
R.Loire
R.R.Atlantic
Ocean
NorthSeaMediterranean SeaBalticSeaSPAINFRANCEPORTUGALSWITZERLANDGREAT
BRITAINDENMARKNETHERLANDSNORWAYSWEDENGERMANYRUSSIAAUSTRIA-HUNGARYOTTOMAN EMPIREFINLANDLIVONIA
COURLANDPOLANDPRUSSIAGALICIASERBIABOHEMIAITALYSAXONYParisBordeaux
FlorenceBarcelonaNîmesLyonsEssenMulhouse
MunichGenoaVeniceRomeTurinBudapestWarsaw
Breslau LodzSt. Petersburg
StockholmChristianiaHamburgPragueCologne
BrusselsMilanViennaCopenhagenBristolBirminghamLondonLiverpoolEdinburghBradfordGlasgowManchester SheffieldLeedsAmsterdamMarseillesBerlin0 250 500 Miles0 250 500 750 KilometersCoal mining
Iron industry
Textile industries
Silk industriesManufacturing and industrial areas
No peasant emancipation before 1848
Railways by 1850
BanksMajor cities:
1820
1850MAP 22.3
The Industrialization of Europe in 1850