"In From Old Regime to Industrial State, Richard H. Tilly and Michael Kopsidis question established thinking about Germany's industrialization. They begin their assessment earlier than previous studies have, reaching back to the 18th century to explore the circumstances that ultimately allowed the nation to catch up with its neighbors. While some hold that Germany experienced a sudden breakthrough to industrialization, the authors instead consider a long view, incorporating market demand, agricultural advances, and regional variations in customs and governance. Tilly and Kopsidis show how the 18th-century emergence of international trade and the accumulation of capital by merchants fed commercial expansion and innovation. To fully assess the transformation, the authors offer three key factors: first, the expansion of rural industry and the commercialization of economic relationships; second, the gathering of skilled craftsmen into centralized workshops, the mercantile skills of early entrepreneurs, and agricultural improvements in response to market demand; and third, the emergence of civil service bureaucracies who could monitor and communicate material conditions across individual states. This book provides the history behind the modern German economic juggernaut"--.

• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction, with Reflections on the Role of Institutional Change
• Part I: Old Regime and Eighteenth-Century Origins of German Industrialization
  • One. Population and the Economy
  • Two. German Regions and the Beginnings of Early Industrialization
  • Three. Agricultural Change from the 1760s to the Early Nineteenth Century
  • Four. Institutional Change and the Role of Early Nineteenth-Century Prussian-German Reforms
• Part II: Early Industrialization, 1815– 1848
  • Five. Early Industrialization, Government Policies, and the German Zollverein
  • Six. The Crises of the 1840s
• Part III: The Growth of Industrial Capitalism Up to the 1870s
  • Seven. “Industrial Breakthrough” and Its Leading Sectors
  • Eight. Labor and Capital in the Industrial Breakthrough Period
  • Nine. Agriculture in the Period of Take-Off and Beyond
  • Ten. Money and Banking in the Railway Age
• Part IV: Germany’s Emergence as an Industrial Power, 1871 – 1914
  • Eleven. Growth Trends and Cycles
  • Twelve. The Growth of Industrial Enterprise, Large and Small
  • Thirteen. Industrial Finance, Money, and Banking
  • Fourteen. Germany in the World Economy, 1870s to 1914
  • Fifteen. Urban Growth, 1871– 1914: Economic and Social Dimensions
• Epilogue. German Industrialization from a Twentieth- Century Perspective
• Notes
• References
• Index