The spread of the industrial revolution in continental Europe: Why and how? the case of France, Belgium, Netherlands and Prussia

This paper seeks to examine and present the expansion of the industrial revolution in continental Western Europe and the resulting transformation of the economies of France, Bel-gum, Netherlands and Prussia from the era of French Revolution until the first half of the 19th century. It is pointed out that the perspective of our research is primarily and mostly synthetic and, to a lesser extent, analytical and penetrating. Our approach was guided by the aim of providing a concise overview of the different industrialization processes in West-ern European countries.