Editing Long Depression (section)

==Background==

The period preceding the depression was dominated by several major military conflicts and a period of economic expansion. In Europe, the end of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] yielded a new political order in [[German Empire|Germany]], and the £200 million indemnity imposed on France led to an inflationary investment boom in Germany and Central Europe.<ref>Glasner and Cooley, ''Business cycles and depressions : an encyclopedia'' p. 149</ref>  New technologies in industry such as the [[Bessemer converter]] were being rapidly applied; railroads were booming.<ref>Glasner and Cooley, ''Business cycles and depressions : an encyclopedia'' p. 132.</ref>  
In the United States, the end of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and a brief post-war recession (1865–1867) gave way to an investment boom, focused especially on railroads on public lands in the [[Western United States]] – an expansion funded largely by foreign investors.<ref>Michael Edelstein, "The determinants of UK investment abroad, 1870–1913: the US case." ''Journal of Economic History'' 34.4 (1974): 980–1007.</ref>