Chapter 1. A Sea and the Commodities for the Industrialization Process -- Chapter 2. The Business Organization and the Timber Value Chain Until 1914 -- Chapter 3. The European Timber Market Between the Seventeenth Century and the First World War -- Chapter 4. The International Impact of the First World War on the Baltic Timber Economy -- Chapter 5. The Timber Market in the 1920s Amid Difficult Postwar Recovery and New States -- Chapter 6. Regulating the Production, Regulating the Market.

This monograph puts a focus on the fundamental role of timber, in the European industrialization process. This ties into analyzing the early stages of globalization, which often solely revolves around the flow of capital. While this is also discussed in this book, the author paints a more complex picture of international trade, and particularly the relationships between the countries producing commodities and the consumer countries. Throughout the chapters, readers will get an understanding of the organization behind the timber value chain from the forests of Central Eastern Europe, the main Scandinavian countries, and Russia, to the main consumer markets in Western Europe. The examined time frame is between the end of the 17th century and World War 2. During that time, a fascinating nexus of economic, technological, and financial structures evolved, that tied the forests’ areas to the consumption centres – with the help of Baltic merchants. It is a fascinating story that ties together historical information for readers interested in economic history and traditional use of forest products.