c.
1750 – c. 1900 CE
Ch 13, pg. 151
Source: AP World History Crash Course
by J.P. Harmon
Most dramatic change since
the Neolithic Revolution
Begins in Britain
Western Europe’s governments
• Richest in the world (thank you Latin American gold and
silver)
• $$ invested part of this into prizes to inventors
• Resulted in more efficient ways to:
• Transport goods
• Grow crops
• Defeat enemies
Geography
The right type of natural resources
• iron
• coal
• good soil
• fast moving rivers
• natural harbors
Products exported back to colonial consumers
Belgium, Germany, France had similar conditions
and soon followed Britain
Economic and Social Mobility
Social mobility possible with reality of invention
• “a nation of tinkerers”
Banks loaned $$ (££)to inventors
Workforce
• Britain had large number of skilled workers
familiar with use of metal tools
• Contributed to the development of machines
• Enclosure Movement forced many farm workers
to cities to look for work
Why Britain?
Why not … anywhere else?
ONLY Western Europe had ALL the necessary
factors
• Incentive
• Materials
• Skilled labor
Africa had more natural resources but not stable
governments
Ming China strong government and economy but
not resources
India & China tradition of invention but not the
incentive
Mechanization of Textile Production
Machine to mass produce cloth and thread
Faster and cheaper cloth production
Machines so large they needed special
buildings
• factories
Waterwheels to provide power
The Steam Engine
Invented in Britain
Made waterpower obsolete
• Factories free to be build away from water
• Connection to machines made production
infinitely better
The Steam Engine
Technological changes came in rapid succession
• Invention of the cotton gin, took cotton production to a
new level
• Steam boat made sail transportation obsolete
• Locomotive
Fossil Fuels
• Coal was initial fuel
• Later on in the 19th century petroleum
was used more and more
• Development of the internal combustion
engine
Steel
• Advancements in production of steel was
lighter, stronger and more flexible
• Steel factories centered around iron and coal
mines
• “king of metals” of the industrial revolution
• Great Britain first; US, Japan, Russia to follow
Industrialization Spreads:
United States
• US quick to follow GB with the invention of the
cotton gin
• Single crop plantations (cotton, tobacco) and
slavery flourished
• Northeast textile factories; south raw materials
production
• Railroads
Industrialization Spreads:
United States
South’s loss to North in American Civil War
and abolition of slavery turning point in
government’s power to encourage
industrial build-up
Trans-continental Railroad
By 1900 US world’s largest steel producer
• US Steel world’s 1st billion $ company
Industrialization Spreads:
Japan
• Commodore Perry and the forced opening of
Japan to world trade
• Japan responded by embracing societal,
political and industrial change
• Used western technology to specialize in silk
textiles
• Differing from western: Japanese government
heavily involved in industry
Industrialization Spread:
Russia
Russia’s progress NOT like US and Japan– slow to
transform to industrialization
Russian gov’t primary focus was to support the
elite and the use of serfdom
Russia frees serfs and seeks foreign investment in
industry
Becomes the top producer of steel
Regardless, Russian economy still more like 15 th
century with most peasants still based in
agriculture
Industrialization Spreads:
Latin America
European invested in Latin American early
industrialization
Some railroads were built but LA remained
mostly agricultural and serf based
• Single crop products:
• Coffee
• Bananas
• Wheat
• Beef
• sugar
Industrialization Spreads:
India
• England rules India
• India leading grower of cotton which England eagerly
imported
• Some industry in India to create the thread and cloth
• But not rapid growth until end of 20 th C
Industrialization Spreads:
China
• Rejected most things Western
• Some industry for railroads
• Continued with peasant labor and hand-made items
• Industrial powers take advantage of China’s weak gov’t
and forced open trade regions (spheres of influence)
• US proposed “open door policy”
Industrialization Spreads:
Other Areas
Ottoman Empire
• Limited progress
• Gov’t misread the impact of industry in West
Africa
• Remained provider of raw materials
• Little to no industry allowed
Western Europe and the U.S.
Rapid changes made in “western” regions
affected the economy and everyday life
• Movement of workers from rural areas to cites in search of
work due to Agricultural Revolution (loss of job) or desire
of change
Rise of wages caused factory work to be “man’s
work”
• When factories became more efficient they required fewer
workers (women and children no longer needed)
• But children still used in agriculture and mining
Western Europe and the U.S.
Wages rising brings about a new social class
• Middle class
• Group lies between rich and poor
• Always existed but grew exponentially as Ind Rev
grew
Traditional family structure emerges
• Women expected to marry and stay home raising
children
• Urban families had fewer children that farm families
• Single women entered employment as teachers
Western Europe and the U.S.
Closer to 20th century women began to
enter the business world as secretaries and
telephone operators
• Women allowed to vote only after WWI (1918)
• Fewer children required in factories as laborers
caused gov’ts in the “west” to establish
compulsory education laws
Western Europe and the U.S.
• Cities developed and grew bigger than
ever in history
• Mass migration to cities caused deplorable
conditions
• Overcrowded housing
• Pollution
• High crime rates
• These conditions lead to sweeping
changes in gov’t policies
Western Europe and the U.S.
Art and literature changed as well
• Left the Romantic era of art and shifted to
Realism
• Invention of the camera
• Development of artistic style of Impressionism
• Deliberately unfocused scenes of nature
• Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist
• David Copperfield
• A Christmas Carol
Latin America
• Limited impact of Ind Rev
• Social structures and gender roles continued
status quo
• Mass migration of Europeans to Latin America
• Japanese immigrants came to western South
America as laborers
• Global Markets demand machine-made goods
• Large banks loan $$ for foreign investments
• British East India & Dutch East India – first 2
• United Fruit Corporation - bananas
• Exchange of goods & money caused economies
to grow fast
• Established gold standard for world currencies
From Steam to Gas
• 2nd half of 19th century pace of advancement
sped up
• Focus now on gas or diesel engine rather than
steam
• More inventions related to electrical systems,
scientific discoveries and medicine
• All inventions could be applied to warfare
Communication
Invention of the telegraph in 1840s
• telegraph cable laid under Atlantic from Britain to North
America late 1850s
• By 1870s across the Pacific
• 1902 entire British Empire connected
Telephone in 1876
• Popular because it required no special training and was
right there in the home
Radio developing
Transportation
Steam boat and steam train
Electric trolley car
Subway systems
Automobile invented in GERMANY in 1880s
• Mostly experimental device
Science and Medicine
Modern chemistry began in this era
• systematic studies of chemical compounds and composition of matter
• Developing compounds in labs
• Fertilizers
Science and Medicine
Government oversight of programs to provide
citizens with healthier lives
• Clean drinking water
Advances in medicine
• Smallpox and rabies vaccinations
• Sterilization of surgical instruments
• Use of anesthetics during surgery
• Aspirin
Science and Medicine
Science and Faith cross
• Charles Darwin
• Natural selection
• Humans and apes have similar characteristics
• Begun furious debates about the nature of humanity
• Survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom transferred
to human civilization
• SOCIAL DARWINISM
• Wherein the superior races must naturally defeat inferior ones