Page 581 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

1221
ActA
XXXVIII Congresso Internacional de História Militar
(Sofia - Bulgaria)

marco CIAmPINI

t the end of the XIX Century Germany surpassed England from an industrial and
A technological viewpoint, when only in 1850 England’s supremacy was unchal-
lenged.
Such overtaking was not due to Germany’s greater material resources, research
shows that both had the same amount of material resources. It happened thanks to a
more efficient social and institutional structure ideal at guaranteeing industrial and
technological progress.

UK GERMANY
FNNC/PNN FNIC/PIN FNNC/PNN FNIC/PIN
1851-1860 8,6 8,4
1860-1869 10,0 7,2
1861-1870 9,7 8,5
1870-1879 11,8 8,2
1871-1880 13,5 11,6
1880-1889 10,9 6,4
1881-1890 14,0 11,2
1890-1899 10,1 7,3
1891-1900 15,4 13,9
1895-1904 10,5 8,8
1900-1909 11,7 8,2
1901-1913 16,5 15,6
1905-1914 13,0 6,7

The gap between the two countries didn’t only concern National income, that is
today’s income, but also Capital gain (formazione del capitale), that is the product of
Tomorrow.
England was prone to slowing down, Germany to speeding up. As of the 1870s the
British industry was less vigorous and adaptable compared to what it could have been.
Why?
If we exclude the strictly material reasons, England had some disadvantages related
with chronological priority of development; not really the costs that came from opening