impeted the path to industrialisation. Although a textile factory was founded in Sliven in 1834, the first in the entire Balkans, the country remained a predominantly agricultural nation for over one hundred [...] attained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 it lacked the capital required to build its industry: even then, the country was dependent on foreign investment. Still, further textile factories were [...] Gabrovo, the traditional centre for wool processing – along with food processing operations. The first railway line was built in 1866: from Russe on the Danube to the Black Sea port of Varna, the departure

was recognised as an independent state in 1878, the government worked to encourage the growth of industry. Up until World War I, typical “entry-level” industries such as food production, textile manufacturing [...] the strongest growth occurred in the area of oil production. In the region of Ploieʂti, where the first well went into production in 1858, more drilling rigs were built, and new oil fields were opened up [...] nationalistic slogans as “we by ourselves”, but foreign capital and know-how remained essential. The first railway lines were also built with the aid of foreign investment. After the opening of the Danube

agricultural sector was extremely backward, the result was massive labour migration and emigration. The first railway line, from Bratislava to nearby Svätý Jur, opened in 1840 and soon extended to Vienna. Budapest [...] ethnic tensions and the economic lag behind the Czech part of the country. In addition to the steel industry, dominated by the military, and machinery, this policy established chemical plants, cellulose and

y. In particular, Croatia’s tradition-rich ship-building industry boomed in the shipyards of Rijeka, Pula and Split. The petrochemical industry was established on the Adriatic island of Krk. The petroleum [...] agricultural sector and an acute shortage of capital. Wood-working was the most highly developed industry, particularly the construction of ocean-going ships in the Adriatic port of Rijeka and inland vessels [...] European “brother states”, socialist Yugoslavia’s government commenced an all-out expansion of heavy industry: oil and gas extraction, machinery, chemicals and transport had the highest priority, mining and

known as “Russia’s Manchester”, the first cotton spinning machine went into operation in Shlisselburg at the end of the century, and 1805 saw the commissioning of the first steam engine in St. Petersburg. [...] channel funding into heavy industry, production of hard coal increased, as did iron and steel production, and towards the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire experienced the first phase of industrialisation [...] the task of developing the economy fell solely to the state. Czar Peter the Great initiated the first wave of industrialisation in the early 18th century, with the aim of strengthening his empire militarily

extensive destruction. It then became a part of the Soviet Union, whose first act was to exploit Estonian fuel deposits. The oil shale industry resumed production as early as 1946, and gas extracted from oil shale [...] HISTORY OF ESTONIA Listen After the Russian Czars assimilated Estonia into their empire in 1710, the first manufactories gradually emerged, such as the saw mill in Räpina, glass works at Põltsama and a porcelain [...] Tallinn’s port handled the second-largest volume of cargo in Russia, after Saint Petersburg. Prior to the First World War, it was expanded with shipyards, in particular for the Czarist navy. During the war, mining

regions of Livonia and Courland at the start of the century freed up an enormous labour force, and the first factories emerged in the cities. In Riga in particular, textile, wood, metal-working and tobacco- [...] shipbuilding dating back to the 17th century– and Liepaja also expanded their shipyards. In 1899, the first Latvian car was built in the bicycle factory Leutner & Co., and wagon-maker Russo-Balt commenced car [...] switchboards. With its local champion VEF, Riga became an important location for the electronics industry – not least because such products were in great demand by the military. Latvia now numbered among

serfdom in 1861. The rural population suffered under high unemployment. In the same year, 1861, the first trains rolled through Lithuania when Kaunas and Wirbalis were connected to the railway from Saint [...] linked the Memel with the port of Klaipėda and allowed mariners to circumvent the Curonian Lagoon. The first industrial enterprises were formed toward the end of the century, mainly for the processing of ag [...] Klaipėda and Telšiai. However, the capital needed to establish larger enterprises, such as heavy industry, was lacking. Food and textile production remained dominant, followed by metal and wood processing

fell into the hands of the czars. During this period, the land-owning Polish nobility erected the first grain mills and factories for processing agricultural products here, particularly sugar beets. The [...] multiple Black Sea ports for strategic reasons, including the subsequent metropolis Odessa. The first iron rolling mill was erected in Luhansk in the coal-rich Donez Basin in 1795, also for the military [...] much needed impetus to industrialisation by freeing up labour for the factories. Construction of the first railway began in 1866, which made it possible to transport wheat from Balta to Odessa. Even more important

At about the same time, Hrastnik on the Sava witnessed the emergence of glass manufacturing, an industry that still flourishes today, in addition to the coal mines. Also at this time, the Habsburgs developed [...] merchants settled there and established an exchange, insurance companies and banks. Therefore, Slovenia’s first surge of industrialisation starting in the mid-19th century was financed largely with capital from [...] from Trieste, for instance the TKI chemical works in Hrastnik, which still exist today. The first steam engines were deployed in Ljubljana. Foreign-controlled corporations acquired the iron works at Jesenice

d in the construction of the Orient Line from Vienna to Constantinople. Serbia thus received its first railway in 1884, linking Belgrade and Niš, the two most important cities. Soon, trains were also steaming [...] remained dramatic and business know-how was lacking. It was not until the turn of the century that the first phase of industrialisation arrived, when the government liberalised trade regulations while simultaneously [...] production from international competition through protective tariffs. New companies – such as the first sugar refinery in Belgrade – mainly processed agricultural products or exploited mineral resources

Russian Empire – only a few factories were established to process “home-grown” raw materials. The first steam engine was installed in a textile mill in the 1820s, and the subsequent years of the century [...] until the abolition of serfdom under Alexander II in 1861 and the construction of the railways. The first railway station was built in Hrodna (Grodno) in the extreme west of Belarus, where the link from St [...] in Wizebsk to sawmills in Minsk, mostly came from western nations. World War I was followed by a first phase of independence, but already by 1920 the “Belarus Socialist Soviet Republic” was governed from

fishery drove the economy. The first bank was established in 1855, new fishing towns developed, factories for ice-making and fish processing sprang up in the harbour towns. The first fishmeal factory opened in [...] fishing fleet began in 1905 with the first trawler, the “Coot”. The herring fishery also flourished, but when salted-fish exports collapsed in the 1930s, the industry suffered a severe crisis that lasted [...] of Iceland’s industry is based on the utilisation of energy from renewable sources. Most Icelandic homes are geothermally heated, while most power is hydroelectrically generated. The first small hydroelectric

1870 that steam power began to replace water power. This major invention has a long prehistory: the first working model of a steam engine, built by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, was put into action to pump off [...] the Boulton & Watt factory began to deliver 'double-acting' steam engines. These proved to be the first really competitive universal engines, because they could be used on all sites independent of water [...] now began to shoot out of the ground. Steam power began its triumphal march in the booming textile industry, before moving over to coal mines and steelworks. The next fundamental improvement took place around

remained a significant enrichment of the European industrial landscape to this day. Some of the very first industrial breweries still exist today, either fulfilling their original function or not. The majority [...] Water got into some of the containers, which started the process of fermentation, and thus the very first “beer” was born; although, from today, it was rather water with a pleasant intoxicating taste. Later [...] through a grain straw. A thousand years later, the Code of Hamurrabi, dated 2000 BC, referred for the first time to public establishments where beer could be purchased. Among other things, the Code of Hammurabi

the chemicals used in the process made the paper industry the second greatest polluter of the environment in the 19th century, after the textile industry. Modern methods of printing received a decisive [...] telephones work on the same principle. At first only a very few people recognised the commercial potential of the telephone. In 1861, a German, Philipp Reis, was the first person to succeed in transmitting voices [...] people were able to communicate directly across oceans and mountains, and photography became the first mass reproducible art form. The initial wave of changes affected the traditional medium of paper.

in fireworks and fire arrows. The first firearms were developed in various places in Europe during the 14th century. Based on experiences with bell-founding, the first cannons were soon cast in bronze – [...] military use. The "Industrialisation of War", which followed, was exemplified first by the American Civil War (1861-65). There the first machine gun was used, the Gatling Gun, manufactured with the new high precision [...] Reich started production of lethal gas. The first gas attack was launched at Ypern in Flanders in 1915, behind it was again Fritz Haber and on behalf of the industry Carl Duisberg, Head of Bayer chemical works

regions only reached the level of British industry in the 19th century. The Belgian iron region around the rivers Sambre and Maas received a boost in 1827 when the first coke furnace went into action in Charleroi [...] steps are needed to make iron and steel – the key materials of the industrial era - from iron ore. First, the ore has to be smelted in the blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is then refined in the [...] demand as a valuable basic material, and the region around Sheffield became a centre for the iron industry. In 1784 Henry Cort came up with an alternative: he refined pig iron in a half-open furnace, on

Germany expanded its activities in the area of brown coal mining, another industry requiring a huge amount of land. During the First World War, the AEG power company set up the Zschornewitz brown coal works [...] Rhondda Valley, also in South Wales, clearly show how everything was turned upside down by heavy industry. Even after 1850 travellers were still praising "the gem of Glamorganshire" with its "two nearly [...] slowly, after the German customs union was set up in 1834, and the Cologne to Minden railway – the first modern transport connection – was completed in 1847. Up till then the River Emscher still contained

distances. Textile manufacture was the leading industry in Europe: from the 16th century onwards it was basically organised on such a system. The first types of factories grew up in the 17th century, [...] before these principles could be used to make the first effective refrigerator. An American by the name of Jacob Perkins is reputed to have built the first model in 1835. Around 20 years later an Australian [...] cooling methods was an important step. In 1748 a Scotsman by the name of William Cullen was the first man to demonstrate how to extract warmth from the environment by reducing a fluid to steam. The process