The German Zollverein creates a customs union
- Date
- 1834
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- German states (Central Europe), led by Prussia
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
On 1 January 1834 the Zollverein, a customs union led by Prussia, came into force, abolishing internal tariffs among most German states and creating a single market of some twenty-five million people.
By removing the patchwork of tolls and duties that had fragmented the German lands, the union sharply lowered the cost of moving raw materials and finished goods and provided the integrated home market that industrialisation required. It encouraged investment in coal mining, iron and steel in the Ruhr, and from the 1840s spurred a rapid build-out of railways that knit together resources, factories and markets; by 1870 Germany possessed some 19,000 kilometres of track. Firms such as Krupp at Essen expanded to supply rails, machinery and armaments for this growing network. The Zollverein is widely seen both as the foundation of Germany's emergence as a leading industrial power and as a major step toward the political unification achieved in 1871, demonstrating how economic integration could drive industrial take-off on the European continent.
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Empires active in 1834
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
Related economy & trade events
- Wall Street Crash and onset of the Great Depression24–29 October 1929
- Britain places the pound on the gold standard1821
- The Australian gold rushes begin1851
- The Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression1873–1896
- Weimar hyperinflation1922–1923 (peak November 1923)
- Soviet First Five-Year Plan and forced collectivisation1928–1933
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
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