W European Germany had NO EMPIRE IN AFRICA, AMERICA OR ASIA to speak of in the 19th Century. They also had no role in the Slave trade. Nonetheless, they became an Economic/Military Powerhouse after Bismarck's 1870 unification.
Both Spain and Portugal had extensive New World colonies and involvement in the slave trade, but it was not in Southern Europe or South America where the Industrial Revolution began. Your dismissal of Weber's theory does not explain differences of industrialization within Europe.
W European Germany had NO EMPIRE IN AFRICA, AMERICA OR ASIA to speak of in the 19th Century. They also had no role in the Slave trade. Nonetheless, they became an Economic/Military Powerhouse after Bismarck's 1870 unification.
Both Spain and Portugal had extensive New World colonies and involvement in the slave trade, but it was not in Southern Europe or South America where the Industrial Revolution began. Your dismissal of Weber's theory does not explain differences of industrialization within Europe.