The Historical Background

Abstract

Industrialisation might have started during the period of the Roman Empire, but it failed to do so. Why was this? At first sight, it might appear that the Roman Empire had all the necessary requirements to enable a beginning to be made on applying technology to the perennial problems of economic shortage. For nearly four hundred years after the consolidation which took place under Caesar Augustus, it encompassed a large and varied area, where peace and order prevailed. There was a relatively efficient and impartial legal system. Although the Roman Empire was plagued by inflationary problems, trading and banking were well established, and there were substantial accumulations of capital. Interestingly, the Roman period is the only one when much of Europe was covered by a single currency.

‘Study the past if you would divine the future.’

Confucius