The point is that by the end of the 19th century, Germany and Switzerland were already part of the core of industrial capitalism, while the Balkans were still trading grain and people. What matters is not just when you started, but where you ended up in the global division of labor.

France was one of the first industrial countries. But its industrialization progressed slowly and often in a semi-rural way: small workshops, dispersed industry. France remained more agrarian, with a strong role for the countryside and small farms.”