A History of the European Economy, 1000–2000 A History of the European Economy, 10002000 Franỗois Crouzet University Press of Virginia Charlottesville and London The University Press of Virginia © 2001 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First published 2001 Design & Composition by Colophon Typesetting The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crouzet, Franỗois, 1922 A history of the European economy, 10002000 / Franỗois Crouzet p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8139-2024-8 (cloth : alk paper) — ISBN 0-8139-2025-6 (pbk : alk paper) Europe—Economic conditions I Title HC240 C763 2001 330.94—dc21 00-051297 To my grandchildren Contents List of Maps ix List of Tables x Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii List of Abbreviations xx One The Emergence of a European Economy, Tenth through Thirteenth Centuries The Heritage from the “Dark Ages” An Age of Demographic Expansion Change and Progress on the Land 13 Towns and Industries 22 The Growth of Trade 27 A New Europe 34 Two Change and Continuity in the European Economy, Fourteenth through Eighteenth Centuries 37 Progress in Technology 38 New and Old Trade Routes 50 Manufactures in Town and Country 59 Shifts in Economic Primacy 63 Eastern Europe 74 Low Productivity and Its Consequences 78 Malthusian Traps 87 Growth Prevails 94 Three The Age of Industrialization, 1760s–1914 99 The Industrial Revolution 100 Why Britain First? 110 Continental Diffusion and Patterns of Industrialization 116 Reforms and Industrialization 121 Railroads 124 vii viii Contents Banks 127 Stages of Industrialization 130 National Disparities 133 Reasons Why 149 Global Views 155 Four Disasters, Renaissance, Decline, 1914–2000 The Economic Consequences of World War I 172 The Interwar Years: Chronology 178 The Interwar Years: Overall Views 182 World War II and Its Aftermath 196 The Golden Age 205 The Eastern Bloc 214 Slowing Down and Not Working 220 Europe and Euro 233 Upheaval in the East 246 Conclusion 256 Notes 261 Selected Bibliography 297 Index 307 171 Maps Europe: physical geography Medieval Europe: regions and towns mentioned in the text Early Modern Europe: regions and towns mentioned in the text xvii 45 Europe in 1914 139 Europe in 2000: political map 247 ix ... makes up only percent of the Earth’s land surface, has been called a small peninsula of Asia, and no clear geographical boundary demarcates it from the rest of the Eurasian land mass The Ural... hills, and plateaus, from central France through Germany to Bohemia, separated by a number of gaps and basins Farther south stands a barrier of high mountains? ?the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Carpathians... for the preparation of the manuscript, which was continuously lengthened and recast Professor Jean-Robert Pitte and Florence Bonnaud of the Laboratory of Cartography at the University of Paris–Sorbonne