The Politics of Technological Change in Prussia: Out of the Shadow of Antiquity, 1809–1848 by Eric Dorn Brose

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 1033 formulate a plan to tap the Colorado River. In 1952, Freese prepared a groundbreaking document when on behalf of all the state’s engi­ neers he presented a statewide water plan entitled “A Water Policy for Texans.” Always innovative, Freese and Nichols was one of the first organiza­ tions to use computers, preparing an analysis of water distribution networks in 1957. Work in the 1960s reflected a new national aware­ ness of the environment and a heightened understanding of the im­ pact of the engineer’s work on nature and society. During the 1980s modernized operations and broadened services provided archaeolog­ ical research, management plans for fish and wildlife, and architec­ tural and historic surveys. Cited in the success and longevity of the firm is “its ability to govern and assimilate change” (p. 345). But a company does not deal with change, people do that. Much to their credit, those who managed the firm fostered a high degree of professionalism among the engineers they hired and at the same time encouraged them to look on civil engineering foremost as a public service. It is a formula that worked. It is unfortunate that Simon Freese did not live to see the publica­ tion of this book and to enjoy the accolades it will surely receive. Meticulously prepared, objective, and contextual, there is no question that it stands as a landmark in engineering histories. What a pity the founding principals of grand old firms such as Modjeski and Masters, Robinson and Steinman, and Morrison Knudson did not leave similar historical legacies. William Worthington Mr. Worthington specializes in the history of engineering at the National Museum of American History. The Politics ofTechnological Change in Prussia: Out ofthe Shadow ofAntiq­ uity, 1809—1848. By Eric Dorn Brose. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993. Pp. xiii + 290; notes, bibliography, index. $39.50. While some historians of Prussia have treated the state as an auton­ omous entity (Beamtenstaat) between the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolutions of 1848, others have argued that it was dominated by the aristocracy (Junherstaat). Another major historiographical approach gives state officials credit for promoting Prussia’s early stages of in­ dustrial development. Eric Brose provides a quite different picture. By using technology policy to investigate contending groups of state officials, their visions of past and future, and their relationships with businessmen, Brose develops a new conception of the nature of the Prussian state and its relationship to civil society in the early 1800s. Brose proceeds in a topical manner. He develops a theoretical posi­ 1034 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE tion concerning the state made up of contending departments and agencies interconnected with various sections of society, before turn­ ing to discussions of state agencies like the Business Department, the Mining Corps, the army’s technical establishment, and the Overseas Trading Corporation (Seehandlung). The Business Department and the Seehandlung sought to develop a rural industrial base, while the Mining Corps developed its own mines, forges, and foundries, based on techniques from the 1500s and 1600s. Although not significant in terms of overall investment, these strategies produced improvements welcomed by businessmen in the 1810s and 1820s. By the 1830s and 1840s, however, the visions of development promoted by state offi­ cials were no longer seen by businessmen as beneficial. Although initially ambivalent about modern technology, members of the army began supporting the development of railroads in the 1830s against other segments of the state which saw railroads as diverging from their visions of an appropriate future. King Frederick William III allowed competing approaches in the state, but sided with proponents of mercantilist change in the 1810s and 1820s, and supported a law beneficial to railroads in 1838. His son supported railroads also, but increasingly turned to reactionary policies in the 1840s. Thus, seg­ ments of tfie state provided an impetus to technological change until the 1830s and 1840s, when state officials, soldiers, and businessmen, disagreeing about what policies should be followed and who should control production, became increasingly alienated from one another. Brose provides a valuable corrective to visions of a monolithic Prus­ sian state. Competition and even chaos were common. The stress on antiquity was...