Iron Railway and the German Zollverein in the Integration Processes and in the Economic Globalization in the Nineteenth Century
The main aim of this article is to analyze the historical stage of economic globalization, defined as a period of great scientific and technological discoveries. The author presents the main factors determining the advancement of globalization in the nineteenth century. The intensity of the nineteenth century and the processes of economic globalization taking place therein have brought about the reduction of the cost of transport and communication in the private sector, the disappearance of the barriers inhibiting the free trade (liberalization) and an investment policy by the public sector. The author argues that a dynamic internal trade, the foreign exchange, the creation of a scientific basis, the realization of the idea of free trade and the abolition of customs barriers — combined with the revolution in communication and the implementation of other inventions of technical revolution — were important factors in the processes of globalization and economic development of many European countries and the U.S. and could be conceived as the foundations of contemporary globalization. The German states are a good example of the progressive internal integration within the German Customs Union and the subsequent development of the integration processes in Europe and the in the world at that time. The article presents statistical data on trade volumes, the level of duty, extension of railway lines and the level of GDP.
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