Harm G. Schroter and Anthony S. Travis

The British chemical industry was the first major new-technology industry to be outcompeted by Germany. In fact, for well over a century this has been cited as the supreme example of industrial decline and rise. And although the same type of situation can be discussed with reference to other countries, particularly Belgium 

The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850-1914 Industrial Growth, Pollution, and Professionalization, 95-118. 

Here we examine the extent to which a mixture of circumstances can be traced back to different mental outlooks prevalent in the two nations. In so doing, we endeavour to use the available facts to establish alternative reasons for the performances of the same sectors of the chemical industry in different environments. To substantiate our own findings, we have also examined the second major new industry, that of electrical engineering. Here too, we find distinctly similar patterns that support our thesis. Considerations of space, and of the focus of this volume, however, do not permit the discussion of electrical engineering here. Furthermore, what we present is not so much new information, but rather an alternative viewpoint, supported by more recent studies of historians, some of whom have contributed to this volume.  

Fox and A. Guagnini, Starry eyes and harsh realities Education, research, and the electrical engineer in Europe, 1880-1914 , Journal of European Economic History, 23 (1994), 69-92. 

Denman, Ein selbstgefalliges Eiland. Die Konservativen im Streit Warum tut sich GroBbritannien so schwer mit Europa , Die Zeit, no. 9, 24 February 1995. Roy Denman, a British subject, acted as director of the EC representation in the USA between 1982 and 1989. 

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Homburg, Ernst, Anthony S. Travis, and Harm G. Schroter (eds.). The Chemical Industry in Europe,... 

Travis, Anthony S. Modernizing Industrial Organic Chemistry Great Britain between Two World Wars, in Anthony S. Travis, Harm G. Schroter, Ernst Homburg and Peter J.T. Morris (eds.). Determinants in the Evolution of the European Chemical Industry, 1900-1939 New Technologies, Political Frameworks, Markets and Companies (Dordrecht, NL Kluwer, 1998), 171-198. 

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