ocuments 29).
France is identified as a core society in 1815 and 1914, though economic growth in France lagged behind Britain. At the end of the eighteenth century, France had been ahead of Britain, but economic growth was curtailed by war and revolution. The population growth of France also lagged behind that of other countries, growing at half the average rate of the rest of the Continent. France traditionally produced high-quality luxury goods, but entrepreneurs in France faced difficulties because labor was inexpensive so that there was little incentive to invest in labor-saving machines. It was competition with the British that spurred French industrialization, and France's growth rate, while lower than its neighbors, was slow but constant throughout the century. When compared to population, however, the French did somewhat better tan Great Britain and only slightly less well than Germany (Noble, Strauss, Osheim, Neuschel, Cohen, and Roberts 862-863). Politically, France had a centralized and effective system. From the time of the Second Republic, Louis Napoleon bolstered his rule with an appeal to the popular vote and the idea of equality before the law. By 1869 the regime had evolved into a constitutional monarchy responsible to the Legislative Corps. The economy was diversified and prosperous, benefiting most Frenchmen, including urban workers and peasants. The government introduced various measures that were congenial to labor (Noble, Strauss, Osheim, Neuschel, Cohen, and Roberts 910-911). The diversity of the economy can be seen in the development of the grand magasin, or department store, in the latter half of the nineteenth century (Selected Data and Documents 56).
Germany is a core society in the twentieth century. The unified German state that was created at the end of the nineteenth century was a problem for her neighbors. Such a unified state was a new phenomenon in Europe at the time, and Germany hel...