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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill The Markets of Northeastern Europe THE North Atlantic route briefly mentioned at the beginning of Chapter II is very much like a trunk-line railway. As one advances to the eastward, branch lines turn off at frequent intervals, only a few small strands continuing as far as the Baltic. After passing the ports of the Netherlands the great North Sea ports of Germany are next encountered, which are also the gateways for Austria, Hungary and a vast region in central Europe, including western Russia. Then come the Scandinavian countries, and lastly the Baltic ports of Russia and that country's now famous port in the far North which can only be reached by rounding the land of the midnight sun?Archangel. The Central Nations The strategy of the great war illustrates in a most striking manner the advantageous position occupied by Germany and Austria for the operations of peace as well as of war. By reason of her central position, Germany was in command of land routes of communication with all her neighbors. Hence, she was able largely to monopolize the trade in manufactured goods with the neighboring countries which are not primarily manufacturing states. Even in the case of manufacturing countries she dominated the import trade in many manufactured lines by underselling all competitors and sending salesmen to every important trading center several times a year. The Industries and Commerce of Germany Prior to 1871 the German people were for the most part engaged in agriculture and were among the poorest in Europe. The amazing progress that thereafter has taken place in industry, in domestic and foreign commerce, in finance and shipping, and in the material prosperity of the people generally, was primarily due to the unification of the numerous petty German States into ...