Following 1870 Great Britain faced growing challenges to its position as the industrial leader of the world. In some cases, the problem was self-made. Britain’s long-dominant productive industrial plant operated by proven machines and techniques and financed by large investments over time was securely in place. However, the leaders of many of Great Britain’s industries, somewhat suspicious of innovation and change, found it difficult to shift to new and more up-to-date technologies and organizations. On the other hand, the later entrants into the Industrial Revolution such as Belgium, France, and the German states had fewer ties to the past and were more than eager to embrace change by creating more modern facilities and quickly adopting new inventions and techniques in manufacturing.
Other developments were beyond Great Britain’s ability to control. For example, the late 19th century witnessed an even closer merger between science and technology in order to make new applications in industry. New disciplines such as organic chemistry and electrical engineering emerged and provided knowledge and challenges that were beyond the abilities of the original inventors and tinkerers earlier in the Industrial Revolution. More European companies began to place additional capital investment into research and development activities to prepare for the next generation of technology. In Germany, a proliferation of technical schools occurred in the latter part of the 19th century. These technical schools awarded advanced degrees and graduated thousands of students annually, many of whom found positions in a variety of German industries. Furthermore, the advancing technology in communications and marine transport and the addition of thousands of miles of railroads stimulated the growth of national and world economies, one that the nations of Europe, as well as the United States, eagerly participated in for markets for their products, securing raw materials, or seeking new profitable investment ventures.
New products and innovations helped to reshape the industrial map of Europe. After 1870 steel rather than iron became an essential material for the construction of machines, buildings, rails, ships, engines, and weapons. From the mid-19th century until World War I the amount of steel production in Europe rose nearly 128 times and Germany’s production was double that of Great Britain, although by that time the United States had taken the lead. France and Germany also made great strides in the chemical industry, which had an increased demand for alkalis to use in the paper and soap industries as the standard of living improved and sanitation and health became primary concerns for consumers. The production of sulfuric acid provides ample evidence of the German capacity to outstrip the British. In 1900 Great Britain produced almost twice as much sulfuric acid as Germany (one million to 550,000 tons). On the eve of World War I, the situation had undergone a dramatic reversal. Germany produced 1.7 million tons, whereas Great Britain produced 1.1 million tons. Improved artificial dyes also gained popularity for use in cotton and silk fabrics. By 1900 Germany controlled 90% of the dyestuff market.
The development of electricity also changed the nature of European industry. Electricity possessed the unique characteristics of trans-missibility or moving energy easily and quickly over short or long distances by wires without any real loss of energy, and the ability to convert to alternative forms of energy such as light, heat, and motion. Electricity also had two other important consequences. First, it meant that machinery was not fixed near the power supply. Second, electricity became an important alternative energy source to those countries that did not possess adequate supplies of coal and brought them into the industrial era sooner rather than later. The first power stations appeared in Great Britain in the early 1880s, but very soon they spread across the world and spurred the growth of other industries such as the telephone, electric lighting, and devices for homes and city streets, electric railway cars for transportation, and factory machines. The arrival of the internal combustion engine also had a similar impact. The first crude internal combustion engine powered by gas and air appeared in 1878, but it did not prove suitable for universal use as it required the machine to be tied to the source of supply. The discovery and application of liquid fuels such as petroleum and its distilled derivatives solved the problem. These agents had a combustion rate and efficiency equal to gas but had the advantages of a power output twice that of coal. The initial drawback was the cost of 4-12 times that of coal in 1900. However, large oil deposits were discovered after 1900 and the perfection of refinement techniques soon drove the cost downward. By the early 20th century oil gradually began to replace coal as the power source for ocean vessels and the improved internal combustion engine found application in the new automobile and aviation industries. Yet, despite the advantages that electricity and petroleum provided for powering industry, on the eve of World War I coal remained the primary source of energy, measuring nearly 90% of the world’s energy output, with Great Britain’s energy output from coal being 92%, Germany’s 82%, and France’s 73%.
World History
