British Commercial Policy towards the Zollverein, 1855–60: The Transition of Free Trade

Abstract

Many contemporary observers of European politics in the 1850s believed the Crimean War to be a watershed, an interpretation which has lasted down to the present.¹ Yet it is difficult to define exactly what was different after 1856, because changes had both domestic and international dimensions, and took place in many different spheres simultaneously. Some were introduced as direct results of the war, while others appeared to be part of wider-ranging economic, political and social transition.