=302. Political factors hindering development of the lands subject to Austria.=—The territories subject to the ruling family of Austria, the Hapsburgs, began the period, therefore, in a backward condition, and they had no opportunity throughout the period to catch up. Internal trade was hindered not only by the national diversity of German, Slav, and Magyar, but also by the persistence of provincial tariffs, which underwent no important reform until nearly 1800, and which were not abolished even then. Austria did not suffer so much as Germany from civil war, but like Germany went through the crisis of the religious wars, which nearly ruined Bohemia; and had a plague of its own in resisting the advance of the Turks from the Balkan Peninsula. Austria suffered like France, moreover, from an absolute government which too often used the national resources in the interests of the royal family and not in the interests of the people as a whole. =303. Slow progress of industry and commerce.=—It is, therefore, not surprising that in 1700 Austria stood commercially in about the same position it had occupied two centuries before. The country exported the raw products of industry, wool, flax, linen, hides, copper, etc., and received them again after they had been manufactured by other peoples. An economist of the time said that the total manufactures of Austria were not equal to those of a single Dutch city like Leyden. Even this small amount of manufacture was controlled by gilds, and suffered from the characteristic faults of the gild system. In the eighteenth century, however, the government began to appreciate the importance of national commercial development. It fought the claims to monopoly put forward by the gilds, and encouraged manufacturers to extend their business, by premiums and privileges, as in France and Prussia. Austrian iron and steel wares made a place for themselves in commerce; the cloth industry of Bohemia, once ruined by war, revived again under the factory system; stockings, glass, porcelain, etc., were produced in increasing quantities. =304. Attempts of the government to stimulate development.=—The government stimulated the development of manufacture by its customs tariffs as well as by its internal policy. The duties on articles which the government thought could be made at home were raised rapidly, especially after 1700, and became in many cases prohibitory. Undoubtedly the growth of manufactures was furthered by this policy, though many industries betrayed the weakness of their origin by failing after a short period of apparent prosperity. The tariff gave rise, however, to much smuggling and corruption, and injured greatly some parts of the country: the Tyrol, which lies between Italy and Germany and had prospered on the transit trade; and sections like Hungary which produced only raw materials.