🔥 Smoke in the streets of London 💨

If we were living in Victorian times....

we would find it difficult to breathe. A damp mist, mixed with coal smoke, permeates the streets. I feel like I can instantly recall the scent of coal smoke infused air on foggy days. I may not have lived in the Victorian era, but I still heated coal stoves.

Did you?

The British Empire reaches its peak of world power

Because of its naval supremacy, its global resources and export markets, the British nation was able to rise to become the most important trading power in the world. But its supremacy was also based on its technological advantage over other countries - such as the USA.

The Victorian Age as a Symbol of Nation and Empire

The age was named after Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Crowned since 1837, she represented a long and largely peaceful reign. She thus became a symbol of nation and empire. The British naval power secured the empire in terms of foreign policy and was thus able to launch the triumphant advance of economic liberalism with unrestricted free trade.

The era of free trade had good and bad sides. It began with the abolition of grain tariffs in Great Britain. Other European countries followed hesitantly. For example, Germany with the German Customs Union. The Franco-British Treaty of 1860 triggered a European period of free trade, which certainly led to the creation of the European Union after difficult years at the beginning of the 20th century.

But back to the Victorian era. The end of this era of free trade was already apparent in the economic crisis of 1873/74. By 1890 at the latest, the European states had returned to protective tariff policies. Within Great Britain, however, free trade was maintained until the First World War.

What remains of this period?

Politically, certainly a united German Empire with an emperor. Germany and the U.S.A. caught up technologically and initially also conquered British markets, because free trade also encouraged the exchange of know-how in addition to the exchange of goods. The U.S.A. initially copied British technologies and used them to optimize their production. As a result, the designation "Made in U.S.A." was introduced to distinguish the copies from the U.S.A. from the British goods. In contrast to the original goal, this became a quality brand that not only allowed the U.S.A. to catch up technologically, but also to overtake it. As a result, Great Britain had to relinquish its leading economic position to the USA and Germany at the end of the 19th century.

What remains?

For me, what remains are fascinating designs and a fascination with mechanical machines and inventions that revolutionized the world. At wooden-town.com, we draw inspiration from this. We love the wooden models inspired by this time, such as the Victorian lantern with LED light as a music box, the marble tracks or locomotives.