However, things improved following the departure of the Spanish and the arrival of the conquering French. A new canal was built running from Mons to Conde which enabled coal to be transported to France, and a new set of docks were constructed in Antwerp. Investment in Flanders by the French was facilitated, partly in response to the good relations shown by the Flemish middle-class who spoke French.
The differences between the two nations as they entered the age of the industrial revolution were significant, and mostly resulting from the wars occurring between 1568 and 1714 (although the land in Belgium was less fertile and therefor less suitable for agriculture). Before the Industrial Revolution began the Netherlands was decidedly better off, with a comfortable standard of living and a well-off elite governing the country’s state of affairs, and lot’s of money to it’s name. Belgium on the other hand, was rather backwards in comparison with a status as the European battleground, high birth and death rates and a majority of people living in poverty. So why then did Belgium become the second country in Europe to industrialise, eventually leading the continent in the development of coal mining, railways and engineering, and why did the Netherlands wait so long to do the same?
The Industrial Revolution in Belgium
Large-scale manufacturing in Belgium was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century due to a number of factors. The country’s resources were nothing special, but the amount of investment that was being made in industry enabled new production methods to be implemented. This really took off during the post-Napolionic restoration, whereby the new King of the United Netherlands, Willem I, promoted the country’s industrialisation by improving it’s infrastructure and giving financial assistance to entrepreneurs who wished to invest in mechanisation. This met with a mixed response; most of the investment took place in Gent and the Walloon provinces, which left the rest of Flanders to suffer as their non-mechanised industries faced stiff competition. The resistance was supported by the Catholic Church too (they were against having a Protestant king), which caused friction even further. However, the industrialisation of the country was seen as the obvious way forward, and while there was money to be made it would have been impossible to resist. Most of Flanders remained under agricultural and rural industry throughout most of the Industrial Revolution, although it was revived later on.
Belgium became the second country in Europe (after England) to increase output by employing the steam engine as a method of production, which mechanised processes that before would have taken up to seven times longer. The country was seen as a great investment in the rest of Europe, and entrepreneurs, both foreign and national, were lining up to do business there. A British engineer named William Cockerill came to Liege from Verviers, where he had been doing business manufacturing textile machinery. In Liege he set up foundries and engineering workshops with great success, by 1812 he was employing upwards of 2000 workers. However, it was his son, John Cockerill, who had the most affect on the Industrial Revolution. Cockerill’s influence on Belgian industry was great; his pioneering work in steam mechanisation revolutionised the industrial processes of an entire nation. In 1817 he constructed the first puddling furnace outside Britain and followed that up in 1823 by building the first coke-fuelled blast furnace to be operated anywhere except Britain. Undoubtedly his biggest achievement was Belgium’s first railway locomotive, constructed in 1835, which prompted the construction of the Belgian railway network, one of the first in Europe. The country’s early start in the field of rail transport gave it an edge over most of it’s rivals. Manufactured goods and raw materials could be transported around the country with speed and ease, unlike other countries whose goods had to be transported by rivers and canals, which took time. Railways were much cheaper to construct than canals, and trains were much faster methods of transport. Today Belgium’s railway network is one of the densest in the world, it was developed long before the age of the car unlike in many other industrialised nations, and train remains the principle form of freight transport today.
As more industries turned to the use of steam power in their mechanisation, so the demand for coal grew. It became the main source of power for much of the country, and most of the coal industry grew up alongside the other industrial regions in the Walloon provinces. Although it provided a good source of employment, it had the same effect seen throughout much of Eastern Europe today whereby landscapes were ruined in the search for coal, with slag-heaps springing up and air pollution at a dangerous level. Much of these heavy industries were concentrated in a relatively small area, namely the Haine-Sambre-Meuse valleys, which were characterised by a standard of living reminiscent of Northern England, with cramped, concentrated housing, and a very working-class way of life. Steel factories were built alongside coalfields as their mechanised processes were usually fuelled by large demand of coal, and Belgian steel was rapidly used to improve the country’s infrastructure such as bridges and railways.
However, as mentioned earlier this industrial development didn’t extend to the whole of Belgium. Whilst the bulk of the Industrial Revolution took place in the French-speaking Walloon provinces, development in and around the northern Flemish provinces stagnated. The area was in something of a crisis: they needed the big money of heavy industry to compete with it’s southern neighbours but as there was no coal mining taking place, entrepreneurs were unwilling to base their factories there, despite the lower land and wage costs. It was simply uneconomical to transport coal for the powering of steam engines such a distance. Their significant linen industry remained in decline throughout much of the first half of the 19th century, with exports falling by 50% in just 20 years from 1831 to 1850 . Most of the economy revolved instead around mainly agricultural and cottage industries such as lace-making in Bruge, tapestry-weaving in Mouscron, glove-making in Ninove and Oudenaarde and hat-making in Tournai and Leuze. Other industries existed of course, such as furniture-making in Mechelen, match-making in the Dender Valley, the clothing industry in Binche and the making of surgical instruments in Gembloux, although these remained small and obviously fairly insignificant next to the heavy industry of the Walloon provinces.
However, something of a reversal took place in the latter part of the 19th century. Other nations began to catch up with Belgium in terms of heavy industry. Belgium’s success had been largely due to its early industrialisation but of course this head start could only sustain itself for a short while. France, Germany and the USA had all become equal competitors and the enthusiastic investment which had taken place in Belgium was being shared internationally. Demand for Walloon coal lessened dramatically as potential buyers looked elsewhere and the steel industry suffered to nations such as England, who were establishing factories in their northern counties. German coal was being sold at a lower price in Belgium than what the Belgians could produce themselves. Furthermore, Charleroi’s glass-blowing industry was mostly lost to the USA, who were using patented mechanical processes.
After the 19th century the balance of trade eventually shifted back to Flanders, who experienced a late revival once the countries infrastructure had improved enough to make use of their ports such as Antwerp.
The Netherlands
While their southern neighbour was enjoying the benefits of industrialisation during the 18th and 19th centuries, development in the Netherlands stagnated. King Willem I of the United Netherlands, who had successfully instigated the Industrial Revolution in the Belgian provinces, found his efforts to develop those of the Netherlands in vain. The country simply could not industrialise without the presence of raw materials, of which it had very little. Further frustrating this was the lack of infrastructure as the country was traditionally reliant on waterways, meaning there were few roads to speak of, and the railway network was in it’s infancy. Industry that existed outside of the western provinces tended to be isolated and un-advanced. Adding to this, the country had little impulse to industrialise when most manufactured goods could be bought or smuggled in from countries such as Britain. In fact, Dutch industrialisation didn’t even begin until the second half of the 19th Century, by which stage Belgium had already been through it’s Industrial Revolution. As a result, the Netherlands increasingly lost out to Belgium after the Revolt, and the quality of life remained in steady decline throughout much of the 18th century and didn’t improve until the last quarter of the 19th century, when the country’s transport infrastructure had been improved, and the Government had taken steps to encourage trade by freeing-up their stiff trade policies. The Dutch textile industry continued to be a traditional, workshop-based industry, which although it developed over time, never became industrialised.
The Netherlands remained a largely maritime, trade-based nation during the time that Belgium experienced it’s revolution. It’s fortunes declined further towards the end of the 19th century when the Belgian ports at Antwerp re-opened and the River Scheldt was once again used for trade. At this point Dutch industry had advanced to a stage where it could be competitive with the other manufacturing nations such as France, Germany and Belgium, but the Industrial Revolution was in it’s infancy until the early part of the 20th century.
Conclusion
Overall, the differences in the industrialisation of Belgium and The Netherlands are clear to see. Belgium’s abundance of coal as a natural resource allowed it to establish a successful steel industry and encouraged international investment, it’s willingness to take on new technology such as the steam engine and the success of engineers such as John Cockerill contributed to it’s success as an early industrial nation. The Netherlands however, lacked such resources and stagnated in it’s industrial development, unable to compete. Therefor, in the period of the 17th century to the 19th century, there was no Dutch Industrial Revolution to speak of.
Bibliography
Industrialisation in the Low Countries, 1795-1850. Joel Mokyr
Studies in Industrial Geography: The Netherlands. David Pinder
Studies in Industrial Geography: Belgium. Raymond Riley
Websites:
http://infoplease.kids.lycos.com/encyclopedia.html
http://www.belgium.fgov.be/en_index.htm
Table 2.15 Exports of Industrial Products From Belgium
Industrialisation in the Low Countries – Joel Mokyr