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The Continent, 1870–1938

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Means and Ends
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Abstract

The state of Continental Europe between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries with regard to its economic, political and intellectual history had many different facets. Germany, in 1870, was unified under the Prussian crown, and started out on the path of the Second Industrial Revolution with great success. Austria, by contrast, was losing its political importance (especially after the Ausgleich in 1867, when it was left as a dual monarchy) and was becoming resigned to remain on the fringes of the industrialization process. From the intellectual standpoint, the economic culture of the Central European elites had developed from an ideological current that had been a long time in the making; its roots lay in the Spain of the Habsburgs (after all, the last emperor of the dynasty — a Habsburg-Lothringen — was deposed in Vienna in 1918).

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Notes

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© 2008 Francesco Boldizzoni

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Boldizzoni, F. (2008). The Continent, 1870–1938. In: Means and Ends. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230584143_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230584143_8

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