ABSTRACT

Looking at Germany’s economic development in the period 1871-1914 the figures are indeed spectacular: Germany’s industrial production rose sixfold, whereas France could only treble and England could only double their industrial production. Between 18701913 German steel production grew more than tenfold.1 By 1870 the phase of early industrialisation had come to an end and, during the period 1870-1913, the transformation from an “agrarian state” to an “industrial state” took place. The secondary sector, with industry, small trade and mining, overtook the primary sector. In 1871, 49 per cent of the German population had still been employed in agriculture; this figure declined to 35.2 per cent in 1907. In the same period the figure of those employed in industry rose from 31 to 40 per cent.