An Economic History of Modern France 1730-1914.

Abstract

Although the Revolution of 1789 was a major turning point in French political history, this was not the case in economic and social history. Between 1730 and 1840 the French economy developed gradually within the structures typical of the ancien regime. Only after the 1840s did substantial structural changes occur which led to the creation of an industrial economy. This study examines the major aspects of the economy topic by topic. The book was first published in 1975 as The Economic Modernisation of France 1730- 1880 (see Geo Abstracts, 76D/1929). It has been extensively revised and a concluding chapter on the years 1880-1914 has been added. The period 1880-1914 is considered as one of crisis and recovery from crisis, during which the industrial economy gained in maturity and technical development accelerated, in particular through the introduction of new products especially by the chemical, engineering, electrical and automobile industries; this prepared the way for a 'second industrialisation' in this century. -H.Clout after publisher