ABSTRACT
The new German Reich of 39 million people which emerged in 1871 was, by contemporary standards, economically strong, still very vulnerable strategically and its constitution gave only vague guidance and limited powers to the central government. It did now have a relatively unified internal market though direct tax systems varied across the different states. It was not especially well endowed with a wide range of resources but by 1870 had achieved a stage of economic development ranking it in Europe below only the UK and Belgium. Its population and land area were now very similar to France. So also were its average income levels, iron production, merchant fleet and telegraph density. Roughly one-half of the labour force was still in agriculture, and manufacturing output per head had caught up to French levels. Germany did have a large coal industry and good potassium salt resources whilst the spread of its rail network, relative to land area, was one-third greater than France’s (Table 5.1). It was weak in metals, minerals and oil and of course had to import most of its raw cotton and wool. It was also still relatively weak in military resources with warship tonnage only some 42,000 in 1870 (including wooden vessels) as compared to France 457,000 and the UK 633,000. As a major land power, the size of its army was even more vital and, with 410,000 military personnel, exceeded the British level but it was still below France at 454,000, let alone Russia at 716,000. By 1881 the German figures were higher but so were all the others. 1 Strategic dimensions of France, Germany and the UK 1870–1929 (contemporary boundaries)<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fntable5_1_1"> <sup>a</sup> </xref>
|
France |
Germany |
UK |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1870 |
1913 |
1929 |
1870 |
1913 |
1929 |
1870 |
1913 |
1929 |
|
|
A Military and mercantile strength |
|||||||||
|
Military personnel b (’000 persons) |
454 |
910 |
666 |
410 |
891 |
115 |
345 |
532 |
443 |
|
Merchant fleet (’000 net reg. tons) |
680 |
1582 |
2007 |
265 |
3320 |
2042 |
2439 |
12,120 |
11,369 |
|
Warships b (’000 tons) |
457 |
900 |
406 |
42 |
1305 |
157 |
633 |
2714 |
1269 |
|
Defence spending (£ sterling) c |
23.9 |
72 |
103 |
14.4 d |
93 |
33 |
22.8 e |
73 |
105 |
|
B Resources |
|||||||||
|
Land area (’000 square miles) |
213 |
208 |
213 |
198 |
204 |
172 |
142 |
142 |
117 |
|
Population (millions) |
38 |
39.8 |
41.2 |
39 |
67.0 |
64.7 f |
31 |
45.6 |
45.7 |
|
Coal output (million metric tons) |
13.3 |
40.8 |
53.0 |
32 g |
277.3 g |
337.9 g |
112 |
292.0 |
262.0 |
|
Iron ore output (million metric tons) |
2.6 |
21.9 |
50.7 |
2.9 |
28.6 |
6.4 |
14.6 |
16.3 |
13.4 |
|
C Communications |
|||||||||
|
Railway spread (track miles per 1000 square miles) |
45 |
122 |
123 |
59 |
193 |
209 |
149 h |
226 |
226 |
|
Telecom density (telegrams per 100 population) |
14.9 |
131 i |
118 |
22.1 |
78 i |
48 f |
27.4 |
191 |
155 |
|
International telegraph cables j (length in’000 kilometres) |
n.a. |
44.5 |
64.9 |
n.a. |
34.0 |
3.3 |
n.a. |
266.0 |
297.8 |
|
D Stage of development |
|||||||||
|
% Labour in agriculture k |
49.2 |
41.1 |
35.6 |
49.5 |
34.6 |
29.0 |
22.7 |
11.7 |
6.0 |
|
Income levelsk (GDP per head in $1990) |
1876 |
3485 |
4710 |
1839 |
3648 |
4057 |
3190 |
4921 |
5503 |
Notes
See Annex Table A1.
The 1913 data are from Kennedy (1988) whilst the 1870 and 1929 figures are from Wright (1942) and the entries for military personnel include navies and colonial troops.
The 1870 and 1913 data are from Hobson (1993), covering ordinary war expenditures plus extraordinary, excluding debt interest. Hobson gives military expenditure as % national income in 1913 as 4.8 France, 3.9 Germany, 5.1 Japan, 5.1 Russia, 3.2 UK and 1.0 USA. The entries for 1929 relate to 1930 and are from Kennedy (1988, Table 27) which I have converted to sterling by using the New York rate of $4.857 for one pound sterling in 1930 given in Mitchell (1988, p. 702).
1872.
Britain only.
Population of the area occupied by the Reich in 1835, i.e. includes Saarland.
Includes brown coal, lignite etc. The 1929 figure includes Upper Silesia and Saarland.
Britain only 1871.
The French entry relates to 1914 and excludes official telegrams, Alsace and Lorraine (included with Germany).
Company plus government cables for 1908 and 1923. The German entry for 1908 includes the Netherlands. After WWI the status of some former German cables stayed undefined for several years.
See Annex Tables A4 and A3. In general corresponds to 2003 boundaries. The 1929 entries for agriculture for France and the UK relate to 1930. The German entries for 1913 relate to Prussia only and to the 1870 frontier and hence excludes Alsace and Lorraine; the 1929 entries relate to 1936 German frontiers.
