Abstract

The attempt and competition of the Industrial Revolution to find new markets brought the Danube River and its hinterland into the world capitalist system. Danube governments such as Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia followed a balanced policy between Ottoman-Austria and Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, following the Crimean War, the region has become an area of economic, political, and military competition between France and England. After the Crimean War, the liberalization of commercial shipping on the Danube and its branches to all nations made these waters attractive to Western shipping navigation companies. The big Powers like Austria, Russia, France, and Great Britain initiated competition and risks which deeply affected the region. The research setup is on a new technology entering the region and the French capital investments and competition spreaded fort he first time through this technology. In this context this study attempts to explore the rivalries of French merchants and investors to expand in the Danube River and its hinterland. It especially deals with the steamship management attempts of the ambitious and adventurous naval officer Captain Michel André François Bonerin Magnan (Aubagne 1819-Paris 1866).

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