INWOOD: European Industrialization as Seen from the Forests (1870-1914)
Synopsis of the Project
Recent historiography on the industrial revolution has focused on its material features, showing how the transition from an agricultural to an industrial society entailed a radical transformation of the ways of using natural resources. The main reason for this interest is the growing concern for the ecological impact of industrialisation. Scholars have focused mainly on the introduction and spread of new energy sources and materials, while scant attention has been paid to the dynamics concerning pre-existing resources. Although recent research has shown that during industrialisation the new material and energy flows did not replace pre-existing ones but were added to them, the way in which this overlap changed the composition and articulation of pre-existing flows still needs to be investigated. Addressing this research gap is of crucial importance in the context of today’s ecological crisis, where moving away from fossil fuel-based systems is a bigger challenge than developing alternative energy sources.
According to an interpretation still widely accepted, wood is inevitably linked to the pre-industrial era, as shown by well-known expressions such as “wooden age” and “civilization of wood”. This interpretation has also had a lasting influence on historiography, since research on wood-related topics has focused mainly on the medieval and early modern periods. However, available data shows that wood consumption increased during industrialisation and this material was fundamental in the key sectors driving this process: in coal and metal mining, for the pit props; in the railway industry, for the construction of sleepers and rail infrastructure; in the chemical industry, where the large-scale production of paper from wood pulp began at that time.
INWOOD studies the impact of industrialisation on the use of wood and the role that wood played during industrialisation. The focus is on Europe between 1870 and 1914, when industrialisation developed for the first time at a continental level. This spatio-temporal framework offers a wide and varied context to allow an extensive comparison on multiple levels: the evolution of wood flows and economic sectors on a continental scale (macro); changes in forest cover within regions involved in these processes (on multiple scales); and the social dynamics affected by these transformations at a local level (micro).
The years between 1870 and 1914 saw the transition from a pre-industrial to an industrial wood use in Europe. The technological innovations that spread widely from the mid-19th century greatly increased the consumption of wood and changed its characteristics. Furthermore, those technologies transformed the geography of wood flows. Until the mid-19th century, due to its weight the transport of timber over long distances was only possible by water. In inland regions, wood flows were linked to the topography of the territory and followed the direction of the main rivers. The rapid development of the railway network from the central decades of the 19th century made it possible to overcome these geographical constraints and favoured the creation of an ecological and economic space of continental dimensions for the timber trade. The period between these changes and the First World War saw the consolidation of this new system, making this the ideal period of investigation to explore in more depth its structural characteristics and implications for those areas and subjects that were directly involved. The methodological and thematic issues resulting from this analysis promises to be applicable to the study of similar processes in a wide range of times and places.
Research Questions
INWOOD will answer the following questions:
1. How did industrialisation transform wood flows, their composition and geography?
The wood economy changed in relation to two dynamics: 1) a change in consumption, caused by new demands in several industrial sectors, but also the spread of alternative energy sources and raw materials in activities where previously wood was the only resource; 2) A change in the commercial flows, with the expansion of wood supply basins thanks to industrial technologies.
2. What was the impact of industrialisation on populations living near major forest areas?
Changes within the wood economy affected the social and economic life of the communities living in or close to major forest areas. In some cases, industrial innovations signalled the decline of activities related to the exploitation of woodlands. In others, those same innovations stimulated new economic opportunities related to the intensive exploitation of woodlands.
3. How did industrialisation reshape forest landscapes?
Changes in the consumption of wood and in the geography of its flows had an ecological impact. The focal period of this project was characterised by an evolution of forest cover in Europe, with the start of forest transition in some regions of the continent and growing deforestation in others. These changes comprised not only the extent of the forest cover, but also its features (density, age, changes in the most common tree species).
Methodology
INWOOD integrates new sources and analytical methods to change the way scholars understand industrialisation and to provide the historical context for present-day debate about the role of forests in climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation. To do so, it combines different methodologies through a multiscale approach, articulated in three Work Packages (WPs).
WP1 — Industrialisation and the Wood Economy in Europe
WP1 focuses on the transformation of the timber market in Europe between 1870 and 1914. WP1 adopts a macro scale and an economic history approach. It is carried out by means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the printed material produced on the timber market in those decades, first and foremost the main forestry journals of the period.
Key question: How did industrialisation reshape wood flows, their composition, and their geography?
Scale: Macro (continental).
Methodology: Economic history; qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Sources: Forestry journals and printed materials such as agricultural surveys, trade statistics, government investigations, and commercial reports.
WP2 — The Everyday Life of Industrial Wood
WP2 studies the effects of industrialisation in the territories most involved in the exploitation of the woodlands. WP2 adopts a micro scale, a social and environmental history approach, and focuses on functional case studies to analyse the impact of changes in the wood economy at the local level, in both the areas that were central in this sector before industrialisation and those that became central as a result of it.
Key question: What was the social impact of industrialisation on communities engaged in woodland exploitation?
Scale: Micro (case studies).
Methodology: Social and environmental history; qualitative analysis.
Sources: Archival materials from local institutions, forest agents, landowners, merchants, and entrepreneurs.
WP3 — Industrialisation and Forest Landscape Transformation
WP3 studies the changes in the forest landscape, in terms of both the extent of the forest cover and its characteristics. Quantitative aspects are analysed through a comparison of topographic maps. The characteristics of the forest cover in the case study areas is examined using cadastral documents, forestry inventories and photographs.
Key question: How did industrialisation alter the European forest landscape?
Scale: Regional and topographical.
Methodology: Landscape and historical ecology; spatial and cartographic analysis.
Sources: Topographic maps, cadastral documents, local maps, forest inventories, historical photographs.
