Historically, France's Industrial Revolution had begun not much later than the United Kingdom's, yet its progress had consistently lagged nearly twenty years behind. It was even caught up to and surpassed by Germany.
The Great Revolution's destruction of social production had certainly played a role, but the core factor was France's lack of coal and iron mines—especially after Alsace-Lorraine had been occupied by Germany.
At present, the development of Alsace-Lorraine had entered the right track. However, the region mainly possessed abundant iron resources. While there were coal mines, the seams were highly scattered, making extraction rather costly.
The Cologne Coal Mine, on the other hand, was Germany's second-largest coalfield in later generations.
Its coal seams lay shallow and were extremely easy to mine. Once extracted, the coal could be loaded directly onto ships and transported away along the Rhine River.
Its overall mining and transportation costs were outrageously low.
Although a small amount of coal was currently being mined in Cologne, the German Territories had yet to begin the Industrial Revolution, so its output was practically negligible.
If the coal resources here were developed on a large scale, Cologne's economic level would inevitably rise at breakneck speed.
The coal mines in the Palatinate Region were smaller in scale, but they were likewise easy to exploit and closer to France. Their development could similarly provide a tremendous boost to the local economy.
Moreover, the region possessed abundant Salt Mines and potash mines, all of them extremely valuable.
Thus, Joseph's strategy for fully integrating the Rhineland into France at the national level had two purposes—
First, France's "natural borders" required a stable Rhineland.
Second, the area possessed extraordinarily abundant resources.
Once the Wallonia-Rhineland-Lorraine industrial system took shape, France would possess the richest coal and iron resources in Europe.
Combined with the various