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Country Germany

Germany's first machine spinning mill, built in 1784 in Ratingen near Düsseldorf, was called "Cromford" after its famous English predecessor, but it did not usher in industrialisation; instead, it stood alone in the farmland. Germany was fragmented into many principalities which levied customs duties at ... more

ON THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF GERMANY

Germany's first machine spinning mill, built in 1784 in Ratingen near Düsseldorf, was called "Cromford" after its famous English predecessor, but it did not usher in industrialisation; instead, it stood alone in the farmland. Germany was fragmented into many principalities which levied customs duties at the borders, they also had their own currencies and units of measurement, all of which made it difficult for a  market for mass production to develop.

At the end of the 18th century, mechanised manufacturing began in isolated cases. The textile industry was also a pioneer in Germany, especially in established locations such as the Rhineland, Silesia and Saxony. The first German spinning machine was constructed in 1782 in Chemnitz, an early centre of mechanical engineering. Coal mining and iron processing developed mainly in Upper Silesia, because there the Prussian state took care of modernisation and aristocratic landowners raised capital for investment: The first coke blast furnaces were built and steam engines were constructed in Gliwice before the turn of the 19th century. The English puddling process for steel production was also adopted there at an early stage.

In the Aachen region and in Saarland, both of which were under French rule at the time, coal mining also expanded. At the same time, the first nuclei of the new industries were formed in the farmland along the Ruhr: in 1758, the St Antony ironworks was founded in Oberhausen, from which the "Gutehoffnungshütte", a later giant of heavy industry, emerged at the beginning of the 19th century. The small iron smelter that Friedrich Krupp founded in Essen in 1811 was turned into a global company by his son Alfred, and the engineering factory that opened in Wetter Castle in 1818 developed into the "Demag" group.

Two main factors ultimately led to the industrialisation of Germany: in 1834, 18 principalities founded the German Customs Union on the initiative of Prussia. This created an attractive sales market in a large part of Germany - and when the first train ran from Nuremberg to Fürth a year later, an efficient means of transport was also available. In 1839, a long-distance connection was already opened between Leipzig and Dresden. At the inauguration, a British locomotive was used, although the "Saxonia" had been built and was ready for use in Dresden. Two years later steam locomotives rolled out of the workshops of Borsig in Berlin and Maffei in Munich and a railway boom broke out: Borsig developed into the largest locomotive builder in Europe, and companies were founded in Kassel ("Henschel"), Hanover ("Hanomag") and Nuremberg ("MAN") that made a name for themselves in locomotive and later also truck construction.

From the middle of the 19th century, railway construction triggered even more rapid growth in the coal and steel industry. Wherever coal was plentiful, the chimneys of the ironworks soon appeared. The Hoesch and Thyssen families of entrepreneurs moved their activities from the Aachen area to the Ruhr. Essen developed into the new centre: there the first deep mining shafts opened up new coal deposits, and the Krupp cast steel factory expanded. The workforce came from abroad or from the Prussian provinces east of the Elbe, where agriculture could no longer feed the rapidly growing population. The villages along the Ruhr grew into towns with overcrowded and dark workers' quarters. On the Saar in Neunkirchen and Burbach, the ironworks also expanded.

Industrialisation spread to other industries: In the Kingdom of Saxony, textile processing expanded alongside mechanical engineering, and in the Berlin area textile factories also multiplied. In Silesia, a traditional stronghold of weaving, there were hunger riots by home workers, which drew widespread attention to the darker side of mechanisation. The chemical factories, which supplied raw materials, profited from the upswing in textile production: In the 1860s, the most renowned German chemical companies were founded in quick succession: the "Teer- und Anilinfarbenwerke Bayer" in Barmen on the Wupper, "Hoechst" near Frankfurt am Main and in Ludwigshafen the "Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik" (BASF).

The unification of Germany in the Empire in 1871 further accelerated economic growth. Despite the "founders' crisis" of 1873, by the end of the century steel production had overtaken the output of Britain, the mother country of industrialisation. In mechanical engineering, now the largest industrial sector, the number of workers had multiplied and German companies were soon world leaders in two key sectors of the "Second Industrialisation": electrical engineering expanded even faster than chemicals, with the company "Siemens&Halske", founded as early as 1847, and the "AEG" at the top. On the one hand, changes in commercial law contributed to this, which increasingly made it possible for banks and citizens to finance investments by buying shares. On the other hand, far-sighted reforms of the education system had an impact: In many places, trade schools had been expanded into technical colleges, and then further research institutions had been founded, especially in the Berlin area, which further stimulated the economy and gained great international recognition.
 

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ERIH Anchor Points

Alfeld (Leine) | Germany

Why is it that a boot-last factory in rural ...

Fagus Factory World Heritage Site
Hannoversche Strasse 58
31061 Alfeld (Leine), Germany

Augsburg | Germany

Rattling looms, creative fashion laboratory, ...

tim - State Textile and Industrial Museum
Augsburger Kammgarnspinnerei (AKS)
Provinostraße 46
86153 Augsburg, Germany

Bendorf-Sayn | Germany

A prototype of modern industrial construction? ...

Sayner Hütte Ironworks
In der Sayner Hütte 4
56170 Bendorf-Sayn, Germany

Berlin | Germany

Lifeworld Ship”, “From Ballooning to the Berlin ...

German Technical Museum
Trebbiner Strasse 9
10963 Berlin, Germany

Berlin | Germany

It is located in the middle of a residential ...

Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre
Britzer Str. 5
12439 Berlin, Germany

Bitterfeld-Wolfen | Germany

Nowadays, the complexity of producing ...

Industry and Filmmuseum
Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen Areal A
Bunsenstr. 4
06766 Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany

Bocholt | Germany

Whirring belts, rattling looms, the smell of ...

The Bocholt Textile Factory
Uhlandstraße 50
46397 Bocholt, Germany

Chemnitz | Germany

The framework: a listed factory building from ...

Saxon Museum of Industry | Chemnitz Museum of Industry
Zwickauer Straße 119
09112 Chemnitz, Germany

Delmenhorst | Germany

Twelve hours work in suffocating factory rooms ...

Nordwolle
Nordwestdeutsches Museum für Industriekultur
Am Turbinenhaus 10-12
27749 Delmenhorst, Germany

Dortmund | Germany

Angle towers and gables with battlements, ...

The Zollern Colliery
Grubenweg 5
44388 Dortmund, Germany

Duisburg | Germany

“Clean and tidy and ready to be fired up once ...

North Landscape Park
Emscherstrasse 71
47137 Duisburg, Germany

Essen | Germany

Zollverein is the meeting place for past, ...

Zollverein Mine and Coking Plant World Heritage Site
Besucherzentrum Zollverein Zeche Zollverein Schacht XII Gebäude A 14 / Kohlenwäsche
Gelsenkirchener Str. 181
45309 Essen, Germany

Euskirchen | Germany

Dust hangs in the air. It smells of oil and ...

Mueller Cloth Mill LVR Industrial Museum
Carl-Koenen-Str. 25b
53881 Euskirchen, Germany

Friedrichshafen | Germany

'Flying cigars', 'luxury liners of the air', ...

Zeppelin Museum
Seestrasse 22
88045 Friedrichshafen, Germany

Furtwangen | Germany

The same show is repeated every hour on the ...

German Clock Museum | German Clock Route
Robert-Gerwig-Platz 1
78120 Furtwangen, Germany

Geeste | Germany

The Mammut is still alive, at least at the ...

Emsland Moormuseum
Geestmoor 6
49744 Geeste, Germany

Goslar | Germany

Narrow, crudely hewed out mining galleries: ...

World Heritage Site Rammelsberg - Museum and Visitors Mine
Bergtal 19
38640 Goslar, Germany

Gräfenhainichen | Germany

Its nickname was “Racehorse” and in its life it ...

Ferropolis - Town of Iron
Ferropolisstraße 1
06773 Gräfenhainichen, Germany

Hamburg | Germany

The telephone, the light bulb, the camera – ...

Museum of Work
Wiesendamm 3
22305 Hamburg, Germany

Hattingen | Germany

The story of iron, steel and the people who ...

The Henrichshütte Ironworks Hattingen
Werksstraße 25
45527 Hattingen, Germany

Hoyerswerda | Germany

To see, hear, touch, and feel: entering the ...

Knappenrode Energy Factory
Werminghoffstraße 20
02977 Hoyerswerda, Germany

Lage | Germany

How did people used to make bricks? Where did ...

The Lage Brickworks
Sprikernheide 77
32791 Lage, Germany

Lichterfeld | Germany

It looks like the Eiffel tower, only it’s ...

F60 Overburden Conveyer Bridge
Bergheider Straße 4
03238 Lichterfeld, Germany

Oberhausen | Germany

Between 1988 and 1992 the citizens of ...

Gasometer
Arenastraße 11
46047 Oberhausen, Germany

Papenburg | Germany

A towering lobby of white and gold, glass-cased ...

Meyer Shipyard
Papenburg Tourismus GmbH
Ölmühlenweg 21
26871 Papenburg, Germany

Peenemünde | Germany

Peenemünde was once the embodiment of high-tech ...

The Peenemünde Historical Museum
Im Kraftwerk
17449 Peenemünde, Germany

Selb | Germany

Don’t be afraid of the jaw crusher: it might ...

Porzellanikon
Werner-Schürer-Platz 1
95100 Selb, Germany

Solingen | Germany

A museum that is still in production? A factory ...

Hendrichs Drop Forge LVR Industrial Museum
Merscheider Str. 289 - 297
42699 Solingen, Germany

Solms-Oberbiel | Germany

The adventure starts in the pit cage, coming to ...

Fortuna Visitor Mine
Grube Fortuna 1
35606 Solms, Germany

Völklingen | Germany

The Völklinger Hütte (ironworks) in Germany’s ...

World Heritage Site Voelklingen Iron Works
Europäisches Zentrum für Kunst und Industriekultur
Rathausstraße 75
66302 Völklingen, Germany

Waltrop | Germany

The powerful steel framework offers a truly ...

The Henrichenburg Ship Lift
Am Hebewerk 2
45731 Waltrop, Germany

Zehdenick | Germany

Climb aboard everyone! The historic field ...

Mildenberg Brick Works Park
Ziegelei 10
16792 Zehdenick, Germany

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