> Italy, France, and Spain did not industrialize anywhere near the scale that existed in Britain or the US. ??? Northern Italy has been among the richest, mos

> Italy, France, and Spain did not industrialize anywhere near the scale that existed in Britain or the US. ??? Northern Italy has been among the richest, most developed parts the world non-stop since the renaissance. They didn’t achieve that without industrializing. France was so rich that it conquered half of Europe after 1800 and then it got richer with the Industrial Revolution. Paris was one of the biggest cities in the world for over 200 years by any standard. No history of the West, or the world would make any sense without France since the Revolution. You do not manage to acquire imperial possessions on every continent without industrializing early and fast. Spain, sure. It, Portugal and Southern Italy did not do as well as most of the rest of Western Europe.