European+economy+developments+1850-1900

Carolina He

Prompt: Analyze the key devlopments that characterized the European economy in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Thesis: The key developments that characgterized the European economy included positive ones that made life and travel easier, as well as negative ones like boom-bust cycles, which lead Europe into a recession.

Positive: - Second Industrial Revolution - Mass production - petroleum - electricity harnessed to light cities, streetcars and a source of energy - internal combustion engines - Besserner process - steel replaced iron as essential metal - steamships - faster journeys, can go more places -- essential for control of distant empires - Suez Canal (1869) and Panama Canal (1914) - reduced intercontinent travel - Alexander Graham Bell - telephone - Marconi - radio waves - photoraphy - Paris's Bon Marche - the first department store ever - modern corporation - businesses became more organized -- had complex administration structures, accounting procedures, stocks - job opportunities for women became available - white collar jobs

Negative: - boom-bust cycles (1873-1896) - over production and unpredictable commodity prices plunged Europe in recession - consermerism - Imperialism - needed raw materials -- wemt to Asia, Africa and Latin America - cartels - control the production and thus the prices of their manufactures - consortia - banks pooled investment resources, controlling interest rates - France and Britain went into a depression

Freiler, Chris. AP Achiever, 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2008.