L economic development of Europe in the XVIII century. Lecture The development of industry

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L.6. Economic development of Europe in the XVIII century.
Lecture
The development of industry. The peculiarity of the economic development of Europe in the XVIII 
century was that the fastest growth of industry was observed at its two poles - in the extreme West, in the 
early bourgeois states, and also in France with its already developed bourgeois way of life, and on the 
other hand - in the extreme East, in Russia, where despite the domination of the feudal system, the 
accelerated development of the fortress manufactory was noted. 
For the first half of the XVIII century. England strengthened its position in the most industrialized 
European countries. France managed to maintain and even slightly increase the proportion of its industry 
compared with other European countries. On the contrary, bourgeois Holland has lost its former 
significance. In general, the slow pace of development was maintained in Central Europe, with the 
exception of Prussia, Saxony, the Lower Rhine regions and the Czech Republic. In South-Eastern Europe, 
which was part of the Ottoman Empire, as well as in Poland, the individual features of the rise were 
hardly distinguishable against the general background of economic stagnation. 
At the beginning of the XVIII century. Manufacturing in Europe entered the last stage of its development 
immediately preceding the industrial revolution. This provision applies primarily to England, Holland 
and France. The most industrialized country in Europe was England. 
The victory of England in the economic competition with Holland was the victory of British industrial 
capitalism over Dutch commercial capitalism, capitalist domestic industry over the urban manufactory 
of its rival. The village's scattered manufactory in England using cheap labor was more competitive. 
Holland lagged behind England and in metallurgy due to insufficient development of the fuel and energy 
base. In England, the process of concentration and specialization of manufactories reached particular 
development in the middle of the 18
th
century; not one European country could compete with it in the 
diversity of branches of industrial production. In the middle of the XVIII century. The English wool 
industry, according to contemporaries, was “divided into different parts or branches entrenched in certain 
places, where all production comes down entirely or mainly to these industries: thin cloths are made in 
Somersetshire, coarse ones in Yorkshire, double widths in Exeter, silk in Sudbury, crepe in Norwich, 
wool blend in Kendal, blankets in Whitney, etc. ” 
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In France in the first half of the XVIII century. more than 100 types of various silk fabrics were woven. 
Light industry overtook heavy production. During the XVIII century. everywhere there was a process of 
formation of the manufactory proletariat. In different countries, this process was at different stages. The 
transformation of the peasant into the workers' village manufactory represented an important step in the 
development of the entire European continent. 
In France, government subsidies contributed to the proliferation of the wool industry in rural areas in the 
south of the country, which offset the beginning decline of such old centers as Reims, Lille, Amiens. 
French fabrics successfully competed with the British in the colonial market. 
The increased specialization process was accompanied by the creation of a combination of various 
manufactories. In these combined manufactures, the production of means of production turned out to be 
associated with the manufactory for which this product was the raw material. 
Light industry was far ahead in terms of heavy production. So, in France at the end of the XVIII century. 
According to some estimates, the annual output of the textile industry in monetary terms was 1,906 
million livres, metallurgy - 88 million livres, mineral fuel production - 10 million livres. The growth rate 
of the industry was small. For France, for example, they averaged one and a half percent. Extensive 
growth factors completely prevailed over intensive ones. 
Industrial revolution - the transition from the manufactures with manual labor to factories and plants 
based on the use of machines. This is a worldwide phenomenon, but it took place in different countries 
at different times. England was his homeland.