Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 79 European Economic Crisis
When it comes to national strength, it refers to various industries, especially heavy industry.

After extensive visits, explorations, and some wrangling, Nasser al-Din approved the request to establish the Tabriz Steel Plant, with an annual production capacity of 7000 tons of steel. The first batch of steel was finally produced last December and was quickly ordered by the railway authority for use in the construction of railway tracks.

Coal and iron mines near Tabriz also began production. When there was a shortage of workers, they recruited from other places. As for wages, they could be higher, as long as the workers could work hard.

Naserdin knew that everything is difficult at the beginning, but now the most difficult part was over, and the focus for the future was on how to continue.

"Your Highness, the exploration of the section from Tehran to Isfahan has been completed. Construction can begin at any time."

Over the past year, the Tabriz-Ardabil railway has brought in 200,000 riyals in revenue for the railway authority, including ticket sales and freight transport revenue. Recognizing the value of the railway, the railway authority has proposed a plan to build a nationwide railway network.

"Okay, the railway survey in Mashhad also needs to be completed, and construction should begin as soon as the survey is finished."

The Khorasan region is a weak point for Iran, and it is essential to connect it by rail to increase control.

The civil servants dispatched to various locations had basically completed their tasks by the end of the year. They knew that the only way to avoid being laid off was to produce results. As a result, every place was bustling with activity.

No matter what you are, as long as you achieve results, that's fine. During this period, only in this way can the will of the central government be implemented to the greatest extent. Of course, some positions simply couldn't be filled without the early retirement of some military personnel.

After the railway director left, Sayyid came to Naser al-Din.

"Sayid, how's the recruitment of people I asked you to do going?" Naserdin asked with concern.

"It's not going very smoothly, Your Highness. There are too few people who can meet your requirements. Currently, the only places we have the people you need are Azerbaijan and Mazandaran!" Said replied with difficulty.

Nasser al-Din was somewhat troubled; he simply wanted to build an intelligence organization. Therefore, he only put forward the most basic requirements: loyalty to the Shah, no political bias, a certain level of intelligence, courage, alertness, and patience, as well as keen judgment, and preferably some professional skills.

"What are the main areas where the requirements cannot be met?"

“Many people may meet one or a few criteria, but when combined, very few people can meet your requirements!” Said said after thinking for a moment.

Thinking about it carefully, it is indeed true. There were very few professional intelligence personnel in that era; most of them were amateurs.

Establishing an intelligence organization is extremely difficult. Even if you can poach talent from other countries, can you guarantee their loyalty? What if they are spies sent by someone else?
"However, Your Highness, our people have already established branches within the Ottoman Empire and Russia, and their loyalty has stood the test of time." They had originally planned to set up spy headquarters in Prussia and France, but due to the distance, they decided against it for the time being.

Nasserdin had recently received numerous reports on the economic situation in foreign countries, most of which were disastrous. Since 1845, Europe had experienced severe food shortages and soaring international food prices. As food prices climbed, already impoverished Europeans spent vast sums of money on food, leading to a continuous shrinking of the European purchasing power market.

Before the crisis erupted, the British government was not entirely unaware. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was considered a major victory for liberals, but one consequence was that a large amount of money was spent on importing grain, causing Britain's gold reserves to flow out of the country.

In the same year, the price of cotton and cotton textiles in the United States nearly doubled, and the high prices led to a decline in sales. After experiencing various events, the economic crisis finally broke out in 1847.

The Bank of England stopped bailing out domestic banks; these banks also ceased lending to merchants and factory owners. Bankers and exporters began restricting their trade with the continent, while continental merchants began pressuring factory owners who owed them money; factory owners naturally sought to improve their situation through wholesalers, who in turn exploited small shopkeepers. Everyone sought to escape their predicament by harming others, and the catastrophe of the commercial crisis gradually shook the world, sparing no one, from the commercial tycoons of London's West End to the last German shopkeeper.

As the volume of commodity trade declined, capitalists naturally chose to lay off workers, resulting in a continuous increase in the number of unemployed in Britain. Railway freight volume continued to hit new lows, and many railway companies fell into a state of loss. In the autumn of 1847, the British railway bubble burst.

In a globalized world, a small change can have far-reaching consequences. The collapse of the railway bubble led to the halt of railway construction and a decrease in the demand for steel.

The crisis quickly spread to the steel and coal industries, with 58 of Staffordshire's 137 blast furnaces shutting down. Pig iron production fell by a third within a month to a month and a half, and coal production dropped by nearly 20%. In Lancashire, one of the centers of the British textile industry, 200 of the 920 cotton textile factories were completely shut down, while the rest mostly operated 2-4 days a week. More than 70% of workers suffered unemployment or underemployment.

Under these circumstances, Persia's import and export trade surged, especially grain exports, which reached a new high. They also imported some industrial goods at prices that were only half of what they used to be.

But Persia alone was not enough. To weather the crisis, Britain began dumping goods overseas, and the unsuspecting French became the first victims. By the end of 1847, France's total industrial production had declined by fifty percent.

The German region was no exception, and because of its weak industrial strength, it was hit even harder.

In the winter of 1847, 3000 of the 8000 looms in Kleifeld ceased operation, and only 3 of the 14 factories in Cologne were operational. Erfurt's industry was almost completely wiped out. In Vienna, apart from relatively stable grain prices, the prices of all industrial and commercial goods plummeted.

Everyone knew that an economic crisis was coming. In order to reduce losses, capitalists began to lay off employees. Many capitalists suffered heavy losses in this crisis and even closed their factories. Unemployment rose sharply in various European countries.

However, it's not an exaggeration to say that the European economic crisis had no impact on Iran. Some orders for carpets and textiles were cancelled, causing some businessmen who had planned to invest in this industry to hesitate. Fortunately, the government is providing strong support, continuing to stabilize the currency and expand markets, searching the world for potential future markets.

(End of this chapter)