Industrial Revolution

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Introduction

The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes.

Why did the Industrial Revolution Start in England?

By the end of the 19th century, the island of Great Britain, which is about the size of the state of Louisiana, controlled the largest empire in the history of the world—an empire that covered one quarter of the world’s land mass. You will learn more about this empire in the next chapter. But how did this little island come to rule an empire? How did Great Britain acquire so much military and economic power in the world? The answer, of course, is that it had an enormous commercial and technological head start over the rest of the world because the Industrial Revolution started in England. But why did the Industrial Revolution occur first in England and not somewhere else in the world? Historians describe a confluence—a coming together—of many factors and they do not agree on which are most important. Some of these factors we discussed earlier because they had their seeds in pre-industrial society. All of these factors came together in the late 18th century to create the unique conditions in England that culminated in the first-ever Industrial Revolution:

The Agricultural Revolution discussed earlier resulted in increased food production and increased population in England first.

Population Growth, also discussed earlier, resulted in more people from the countryside being freed up to work for wages in the new cities,— and eventually increased demand for products such as clothing.

Financial Innovations—such as central banks, stock markets, and joint stock companies—encouraged people, especially in Northern Europe, to take risks with investments, trade, and new technologies.

The Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution encouraged scholars and craftspeople to apply new scientific thinking to mechanical and technological challenges. In the centuries before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans gradually incorporated science and reason into their worldview. Some historians argue that these intellectual shifts made English culture, in particular, highly receptive to new mechanical and financial ideas.

Navigable Rivers and Canals in Great Britain quickened the pace and cheapened the cost of transportation of raw materials and finished products. Adam Smith, the first modern economist, believed this was a key reason for England’s early success. In 1776, in his famous book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, he wrote that “Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighborhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements” (Weightman 43).

Coal and Iron deposits were plentiful in Great Britain and proved essential to the development of all new machines made of iron or steel and powered by coal—such as the steam-powered machinery in textile factories, and the locomotive.

Government Policies in England toward property and commerce encouraged innovation and the spread of global trade. The government created patent laws that allowed inventors to benefit financially from the “intellectual property” of their inventions. The British government also encouraged global trade by expanding the Navy to protect trade and granting monopolies or other financial incentives to companies so they would explore the world to find resources.

World Trade gradually increased in the centuries before the Industrial Revolution and provided European countries access to raw materials and a market for goods. It also increased wealth that could then be loaned by banks to finance more industrial expansion in an upward spiral of economic growth. By 1500, Europe had a technological supremacy over the rest of the world in shipbuilding, navigation, and metallurgy (metal working). In successive years, European countries would use these advantages to dominate world trade with Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The Cottage Industry, discussed earlier, served as a transition from a rural to an industrial economy. Like the later industrial factories, the cottage industry relied on wage labor, cloth production, tools and rudimentary machines, and a market to buy and sell raw materials (cotton) and finished products (clothes).

The Large and Lucky Continent of Eurasia. Evolutionary Biologist Jared Diamond takes the long view to explain why the entire continent of Eurasia evolved to be so technologically advanced. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, Diamond argues that the good fortune of the entire continent of Eurasia was evident for thousands of years. Eurasia invented agriculture 12,000 years ago because large grains of rice and wheat just happened to originate and grow there. The efficiency of agriculture allowed various civilizations to grow population, free up labor for tasks besides food production, urbanize, invent writing, and create advanced technology. Diamond argues that the largest of continents was also blessed with the largest domesticated animals in the world—such as horses, donkeys, pigs, and cows. These animals served as beasts of burden in agriculture and also as a much-needed food source. And so the health of Eurasian populations improved. These animals also brought epidemic diseases that killed millions of Eurasians over thousands of years. But, after the plague ran its course through the population, surviving Eurasians then had antibodies to these illnesses, which made them and their ancestors resistant to them. So these plagues became a horrifying stroke of good luck for invading Eurasians later on. People from the Americas had no medium to large domesticated animals (with the exception of the Alpaca which didn’t leave the Andes mountain area). As a result, they did not

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