Economic Expansion and Security in Pre-WWI Europe 203 Abundant in labor Land poor Land rich Capital abundant Britain,France, None Germany General tightening of constraints Increasing difficulty mobilizing labor Increasing difficulty mobilizing capital Reliable peasantry Capital scarce Austria-Hungary Russia Mixed movement of Mixed movement of constraints constraints Increasing difficulty Increasing difficulty mobilizing labor mobilizing labor Decreasing difficulty Decreasing difficulty mobilizing capital mobilizing capital Reliable peasantry Unreliable peasantry FIGURE 4.Predicted changes in economic constraints on the European great powers prior to World War I Britain,France,Germany-Tightening Constraints Ample evidence suggests that Britain,France,and Germany experienced increasing difficulty in mobilizing their locally abundant resources,labor and capital,prior to World War I.I turn first to labor.Unique among the European powers,Britain used voluntary enlistment to recruit military labor.Although Britain doubled the net pay of army recruits in the latter half of the nineteenth century,army wages lagged be- hind civilian wages,causing chronic shortages of recruits.Between 1910and 1913. Britain needed to recruit 34,000 new soldiers each year but managed to attract an 19.See Spiers 1980.54-55;and Skelley 1977.181-218.Britain, France, Germany—Tightening Constraints Ample evidence suggests that Britain, France, and Germany experienced increasing difficulty in mobilizing their locally abundant resources, labor and capital, prior to World War I. I turn Ž rst to labor. Unique among the European powers, Britain used voluntary enlistment to recruit military labor. Although Britain doubled the net pay of army recruits in the latter half of the nineteenth century, army wages lagged be￾hind civilian wages, causing chronic shortages of recruits.19 Between 1910 and 1913, Britain needed to recruit 34,000 new soldiers each year but managed to attract an 19. See Spiers 1980, 54–55; and Skelley 1977, 181–218. FIGURE 4. Predicted changes in economic constraints on the European great powers prior to World War I Economic Expansion and Security in Pre–WWI Europe 203