Prussia’s education system helped the economic growth. It had made education public, causing a lot of more people to have access to education. Instead of scientist only coming from high classes, there could now also come scientists from lower class people. Not only were the schools made public, the way of teaching also changed. Although the main purpose still was to make people intellect, it was also to make children more obedient and less revolting. There were also some other changes, like splitting of material into subjects. The Prussian way of teaching proved good, as geniuses like Albert Einstein came from this (although not from Prussia). The good education caused Prussia to have a lot of scientists and smart people, which helped the industrialization (Richman, Sheldon L). In the contrary, only a very small amount of Austrian people had access to education, as all schools in the Austrian empire were private. Although the Austrian educational system also changed (but later), these effects would only become visible later, as it takes time to educate.
Another factor that influenced the booming of the Prussian economy were the natural resources that it possessed. Prussia had conquered land with a lot of natural resources, just before the industrial revolution. For example, in 1740 Prussia conquered Silesia, a region that later would produce a lot of coal, lead, zinc and copper (1911 ). These natural resources enabled Prussia to industrialize very quickly. On the contrary, the Austrian empire had little resources, as it had lost the areas containing a lot of resources to Prussia in the century before (although it was not known yet that these areas had a lot of resources). Prussia also had a lot of chemicals, and using the good scientists that they had, they were very good in processing it.
“Austrian Empire”
The infrastructure of Prussia was excellent. It had more railroads than Austria, while having less territory. By 1870, Prussia had 18876 kilometres of railroad in operation, while Austria only had 9589 (Farmer). By geographical situation Prussia also had an advantage over Austria. Austria’s large cities, such as Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest all lay in, or north of the Alps. To trade, the traders either had to go through Prussia and other German countries or through the Alps. However, not being part of the Zollverein made trading with the other German speaking countries difficult. The bad infrastructure (not enough roads, not many railways, etc) through the Alps caused these cities to become isolated and couldn’t develop very well. Prussia’s large cities were mostly situated near the sea, and the ones that didn’t, had good infrastructure. Thanks to its geographical situation and infrastructure, it became possible for Prussia to trade with other large industrial countries such as Britain and France. Austria’s main cities were more in the mainland, and without good infrastructure, they couldn’t grow as much as Prussia’s cities.
Prussia could afford a good army thanks to its great economy. The Prussians descended from Teutonic knights, having a militarism tradition. This made military quite important on the agenda, and people being willing to go in the army. Not only had it a large army (relatively), it was also well trained, modern and organized. The army was modernized in the years 1857-1888 by Moltke the Elder.
A great advantage Prussia had was its well organized army. It used new tactics and was innovative. It was first to use railroads for the transporting troops, and its railroad system supported the large armies to be transported. For example, when it fought against Austria, both sides used railways to transport troops. While Austria used one train track, Prussia used 6 train tracks to get its troops to the front.
Militarically seen, Prussia was very strong. It fought and won wars against Denmark, Austria and in 1870, France. The beating of so many important countries made Prussia really feared and respected, making it the most important country in the German speaking sphere.
Prussia’s location and more liberal government enabled the economy to expand very rapidly. The strong economy gave the opportunity to build a modern, well trained and well led army. In the contrary, Austria was very conservative and reactionary, causing it not to keep up with the rest of Europe, and more importantly with Prussia.
Sources
"The Zollverein." Historyhelp. Historyhelp. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. <http://pmaci.customer.netspace.net.au/zo.htm>.
Richman, Sheldon L. Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families. Fairfax, VA: Future of Freedom Foundation, 1994. Print.
Gordeeva, Tatyana. "Austria and Prussia: German History." German Culture. Web. 05 Oct. 2011.
Young, Chris. "Prussian vs. Austrian Leadership in German Unification." UCSB Department of History. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133p/papers/096YoungPrussiaAustriaUnification.htm>.
Farmer, Alan. An Introduction to Nineteenth-century European History, 1815-1914. London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational, 2001. Print.
"Coal." 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. The 1911 Classic Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Coal>.
Austrian Empire. Photograph. Atlassen.info. Web. <http://www.atlassen.info/atlassen/flemming/sohha04/picslarge/sohha1850k011.jpg>.