The Industrial Revolution
Ind. Rev. in England (18th C.)
• Industrial rev. triggered by
changes in agriculture
– Consolidation: wealthy
landowners bought up small
farmers’ land to make large
estates
– Enclosures: small sections of
larger fields used to
experiment, develop new
techniques
• Enclosure developments
– Seed drill (Jethro Tull)
– Idea of crop rotation
– Selective breeding of cattle
Results of Agricultural Advances, in
England
• Agricultural output skyrocketed,
supporting population explosion
in 18th-19th C.
– England’s population in 1750 = 5.7
million
– England’s population in 1850 = 16.6
million
• As farms became more efficient (&
big business), fewer farm workers
needed
• People moved to the cities,
providing ready labor force for
new industries springing up
Roots of Industrialization
• What is industrialization?
– Process of developing
machine production of
goods
– Industrialization roots were
in England
• Why England?
– Ample “Factors of
Production”
• Land, labor & capital
• These are required to produce
anything
– Presence of entrepreneurs
English Roots of Industrialization
• Why England?
– Expanding economy
• Many private banks
• Sophisticated methods of
lending and financing
– Form of government
• 100+ years of liberty, freedom
in a const. monarchy
• Laissez faire (“hands off”)
approach to business, by
government
– Climate of progress
• England a dynamic, open
society vs. rest of Europe /
Russia
Industrial Advancements
• Textile industry first to
industrialize (machines
replaced muscle power)
–
–
–
–
–
–
Flying shuttle (1733)
Spinning jenny (1764)
Steam engine (1765)
Spinning mule (1779)
Power loom (1787)
Cotton Gin (1793)
SJ: process thread
Weavers wove faster
• New methods
– Old technique: piece work
– Factory: a place where bulky,
expensive machinery – and
workers – were brought together
Cotton Gin
Steam engine
Transportation Advancements
• On water
Erie Canal: 363 miles long!
– Steam engine used to propel
boats (Steam ship & paddle
wheel boat)
– Man made canals connected
regions otherwise not fed
with rivers
– Why was river / canal trade
better than overland trade?
Transportation Advancements
• On Land
– Macadam road
• Large rocks on top of
smoothed gravel
• Easier travel, better drainage
• Allowed travel during rainy
seasons
– Steam engine led to
railroads
• First RR engine = 1804
• First RR line (1821)
transported coal to port city
• Liverpool to Manchester line
(1830): 24 MPH train!
Transportation Developments
• Railroads affected virtually
every other industry
– Spurred economic growth
(cheap way to transport goods)
– Created tens of thousands of
jobs
• Coal mining
• Iron smelting
• Shipping
– Boosted agriculture (get crops
to market quicker = higher
profits)
– Made migration to cities easier
– Killed canal industry
Industrial Rev. on Continent
• Belgium (ca. 1800)
– First country to adopt
industrial processes from UK
– Already had canals, raw
materials (textile industry)
– Employed skilled British
workers
– Built machinery, steam
engines, railroads on English
model
Industrial Rev. on Continent
• Germany, ca. 1835
– Imported British ideas,
engineers & equipment
– German children were sent
to UK schools, to learn about
industrialization
– Germany’s first RRs were
built connecting raw
materials to manufacturing
centers
• But divisions of German
Confederation slowed
industrialization
Industrial Rev. on Continent
• Regional spread of
industrialization to rest of
Europe
–
–
–
–
Parts of Spain
Parts of Italy
Parts of Russia
Generally into cities near rivers
(why?)
• France industrialized only
after 1830 (what slowed it
down?)
– Government sponsored dev. of
RR after 1850
– How was that different than UK?
Impact of Industrialization
• Global inequality
– Growing gap between
industrialized, nonindustrialized nations
– Outside of Europe / America,
no industrialization,
anywhere
Impact of Industrialization
• Economic & Social Inequality
– Owners of factories got rich
– Workers had hard, dangerous
life
• Imperialism
– Result of industrialization
– Need for raw materials
• Where to get them from?
– Need for vast markets to sell
finished (manufactured) goods
• Where to sell them?
– Thus, industrialized nations
took lands of nonindustrialized countries for
raw materials & sold their
people manufactured goods
– Result? Even more power to
industrialized nations
Impact of Industrialization
• Economic power was
concentrated in the
hands of parts of Europe
and America
• Asian & African
economies, based on
agriculture and small
work shops, were no
match for industrialized
Europe