ABSTRACT
In describing the international context in which the modernisation of German industry took place, this chapter focuses on the overall development of British iron exports with special reference to Germany. German iron processing plants had now caught up with British technology and pig-iron imports into Germany no longer depended largely on differential prices. The chapter examines developments within Germany and outlines the growth of the iron industry from the 1820s to the 1860s on a macro-economic level. During the period in question, British producers were undoubtedly the cheapest suppliers of iron internationally, but foreign producers were protected from imports, firstly by tariff barriers, and secondly by transportation costs. To get a better understanding of the underlying forces at work, the chapter also focuses on the crucial period of the early 1840s. Finally, the chapter deals with the particular regional development of the iron industry in the Rhineland and Westphalia.
