Economic developments 1871-1914

Question 1

What did unification mean for the economy?

Answer 1

• Made it possible to coordinate industry more effectively
• Payment from French indemnity and inflationary effect of currency reform = industrial growth

Question 2

When was the world trade recession?

Answer 2

• Known as the ‘Great Depression’
• Happened between 1873 and 1896

Question 3

What did the world trade recession mean for Germany?

Answer 3

• Effects not immediately apparent (earlier investment in railway-building kept economy going)
• Demand falls off for textiles and engineering products from 1876 which means slower growth
• Only returned to a steady trajectory after 1894

Question 4

By 1914, how had German industry overtaken agriculture?

Answer 4

• Huge expansion of German industry
• Up to 1880s, agriculture accounts for 35/40% GNP and industry represents the same amount
• By 1914, this swings to 25% in agriculture and 45% in industry

Question 5

How many times did industrial production multiply by between 1890 and 1914

Answer 5

It tripled

Question 6

How did the population support economic growth?

Answer 6

• Huge growth in German population = labour and market for expanding economy
• Balance of population shifts towards the younger generations

Question 7

In what parts of the German Empire was there an abundance of raw materials?

Answer 7

• Coal in the Ruhr, Saar and Silesia
• Iron in Alsace-Lorraine and Ruhr
• Potash in Alsace-Lorraine

Question 8

What were Germany’s geographical advantages for the economy?

Answer 8

• Navigable rivers (Rhine and Elbe)
• Broad, flat plain in the North (good for railways and therefore transport of raw materials)

Question 9

How developed was the German education system? How did this support economic growth?

Answer 9

• More science graduates from just Munich university than there were from all English universities combined
• German education seen as world leading
• Good education developed technical skills for industrial development

Question 10

How did the number of cartels increase between 1875 and 1911?

Answer 10

• Only 8 in 1975
• 600 by 1911

Question 11

Which companies operated cartels?

Answer 11

• Siemens and AEG
• Rhenish Westphalian Coal Syndicate controls 1/2 of Germany’s output in coal
• Steel Union comprises 30 large steelworks

Question 12

How did the government support economic growth?

Answer 12

• Bismarck’s tariffs
• Caprivi’s trade treaties/measures

Question 13

What fraction of the world’s dyes was Germany producing by 1914?

Answer 13

Over 3/4 of the world’s dyes

Question 14

How did production of sulphuric acid grow between 1878 and 1907?

Answer 14

• Only 1 million tonnes being produced globally in 1878
• By 1907, Germany alone was producing 1.4 million tonnes

Question 15

Where did the electrical industry grow most? Why?

Answer 15

In the Rhine area, because generators could be powered by waster gases from the steelworks

Question 16

How much did production of electrical energy increase between 1901 and 1915?

Answer 16

150%

Question 17

How was Germany visibly modernising from 1901 to 1915?

Answer 17

• Electric lights become more common
• Horse drawn carriages were being replaced by electric trolleys

Question 18

How much of the world’s trade in chemicals did Germany control by 1913?

Answer 18

1/2

Question 19

Which companies were making advancements in the motor industry?

Answer 19

Daimler, Benz, Mercedes

Question 20

What drove industrial work after 1890?

Answer 20

The Kaiser’s ambitious desires for Weltpolitik

Question 21

What percentage of the population were employed in agriculture in 1907?

Answer 21

35%

Question 22

What did larger Junker estates in the East produce?

Answer 22

Rye and beet

Question 23

What did smaller peasant holdings throughout Germany produce?

Answer 23

Cereals, fruit, vegetables, wine, livestock, dairy products

Question 24

What were the strengths and weaknesses of tariffs?

Answer 24

• Strength: Helped farmers by preventing cheap Russian/American grain imports coming into the German market
• Weakness: Kept prices artificially high for German consumers and stopped farmers producing anything other than grain

Question 25

What challenges did farmers face?

Answer 25

• ‘Synthetic foods’ (made in a lab)
• New processes (eg. beer making that’s less dependent on hops - plants)
• Refrigeration (meaning that meat imports could be transatlantic)

Question 26

What evidence is there to show agriculture being in decline?

Answer 26

• Agriculture prices fall overall despite protection
• Series of bad harvests in the 1870s leads to cheap grain imports from the US
• Building of railways = new competition for farmers from previously isolated rural communities
• More peasants moving to industrial areas
• Percentage of population employed in agriculture falls from 50% to 35%

Question 27

What evidence is there to show that agriculture wasn’t declining?

Answer 27

• Protection given to farmers
• Farm machinery/chemical fertilisers become more widely available and enable increased yields
• Over 4 million acres of land brought under cultivation between 1880 and 1900
• Land cultivation becomes better organised, with businessmen-farmers employing large numbers of cheap, seasonal workers

Question 28

Between 1880 and 1913, how had the volume of exports and imports grown?

Answer 28

Four fold

Question 29

How was the trade gap made up?

Answer 29

Invisibles which were worth over £1000 million

Question 30

What countries did German exports go to?

Answer 30

• Mainly Britain, France and Russia
• Remainder goes to the ‘informal empire’: Latin America, South Africa and Ottoman Empire

Question 31

In what regions did industry especially boom?

Answer 31

• The Ruhr
• Alsace-Lorraine
• The Saar
• Silesia
• Saxony
• Berlin

Question 32

Which companies were largest by 1914 Germany?

Answer 32

• Krupps and Thyssens (Steel)
• Hoechst and Agfa (Chemicals)
• Siemens, Bosch, AEG (Electrics)
• Benz and Daimler (Cars)