>>3190718well it already started in late middleages we built windmills, then metallurgy increased and german craftmen started exporting in late middleages german blades would already be shipped to other countrys and there mounted with fashionable hilt designs of the region,
germans built on the ruhr watermills to better process iron and smith it to steel(wrought iron gets homogenized so steel comes out bc carbon loss) which achieved far better steel than elsewere with cheaper price because a machine could make more steel faster with better quality, also the farmers at the ruhr would built their own grinding mills and take knifes and swords into commision to grind them blank,
in towns like passau the sword export became and all over europe buisness and main craft/ industry,
nuremberg became the holy roman empire german mechanix heart with several ore milss , paper factorys, wire works and on and on, first portable watches were actualy developed in this city,
also the mines got ever deeper and deeper and mechanized swinging ladders would bring miners and ore fast from the deep to daylight,
in short germany ever had a very large demand for skilled craftsmen for such things and they profitted from being inventors, german exports in arms and armor made a good living for skilled men and so they could have large familys, and since there were no foreigners welcomed in germany back then, we actualy just paid people good money.
