Bellringer – Short Essay
• How did the Industrial Revolution become a
turning point in history? Describe two
benefits and two problems that
industrialization brought to 19th century
Europe and North America.
2
The Industrial Revolution: Cause and Effect
Causes
•Increased agricultural productivity
•Growing population
•New sources of energy, such as steam and coal
•Growing demand for textiles and other mass-produced goods
•Improved technology
•Available natural resources, labor, and money
•Strong, stable governments that promoted economic growth
Immediate Effects
• Rise of factories
• Changes in transportation and
• Urbanization
• New methods of production
• Rise of urban working class
• Growth of reform movements
Long-Term Effects
• Growth of labor unions
• Inexpensive new products
• Spread of industrialization
• Rise of big business
• Expansion of public education
• Expansion of middle class
• Competition for world trade among industrialized
nations
• Progress in medical care
The Growth of Industrial
Prosperity
Page 472 in your textbook.
Read 472 – 475 and answer questions 1-4 tonight
A second Industrial Revolution
• During early industrial revolution, inventions
such as steam engine were the work of gifted
tinkerers
• 1880’s: pace of change quickened as
companies hired professional chemists and
engineers to create new products and
machinery
• Marriage of science, technology, and industry
spurred economic growth.
Steel
• 1856 British engineer Henry Bessemer developed
a process to purify iron or and produce a new
substance, steel (lighter, harder, more durable
than iron)
• Steel rapidly became the major material used in
tools, bridges, railroads.
• As production increased, industrialized countries
measured their success in steel output
• 1880- average German steel mill produced less
than 5 million metric tons of steel a year, but by
1910, it reached nearly 15 million metric tons
Chemicals
• Chemists created hundreds of new products,
from medicines to perfumes to soaps.
• Developed new chemical fertilizer that increased
food production.
• 1866: Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented
dynamite, explosive that was much safer than
others used at the time.
• Widely used in construction, and to Nobel’s
dismay, warfare. Dynamite earned Nobel a huge
fortune which he willed to fund the famous
Nobel prizes that are still awarded today.
Electricity
• New power source replaced steam as
dominant source of industrial power
• Scientists like Benjamin Franklin tinkered with
electricity a year earlier
• Italian scientist Alessandro Volta developed
first battery in about 1800.
Dynamo
• Later, English chemist Michael Faraday
created first simple electric motor and the first
dynamo, a machine that generates electricity
• Today all generators and transformers work on
principle of Faraday’s dynamo.
Lightbulb
• 1870’s – American inventor Thomas Edison
made first electric light bulb
• Soon these lamps illuminated whole cities
• Pace of city life quickened, factories could
operate after dark
Working Class Struggles
• While inventors prospered, the working class still
struggled.
• Workers tried to improve conditions of industrial
life.
• Protested low wages, long hours, unsafe
conditions, threat of unemployment
• Strikes and unions were illegal, demonstrations
were crushed .
• By mid century, they formed mutual aid societies,
groups to help sick or injured workers
Karl Marx
• One of the strongest critics of capitalism and
the factory system was Karl Marx.
• Believed it created prosperity for few and
poverty for many
• Called for international struggle to bring its
downfall “working men of all countries unite!”
Scientific Socialism
• 1840’s – Marx put forth his new theory
“scientific socialism” which he claimed was
based on scientific study of history
• 1848- Marx and Engels wrote pamphlet
“Communist Manifesto” where they put forth
their communist theory (a form of socialism
that sees class struggle between employers
and employees as unavoidable).
Marxism
• Economics = driving force in history
• Entire course of history is a history of class
struggle between the “haves” and “have-nots”
• The “haves have always owned the means of
production and thus controlled society and all
its wealth (Marx said in Europe the “haves”
were the bourgeoisie)
• The “have-nots” were the proletariat, or
working class.
• According to Marx, modern class struggle
pitted the bourgeoisie against the proletariat
• In the end he predicted the proletariat would
win, take control of the means of production
and set up a classless, communist society
• Such a society would mark and end to
struggles people endured throughout history,
because wealth and power would be equally
shared
Effects
• Marxism gained popularity at first with many around
the world
• Leaders adopted idea that power should be held by
workers rather than business owners
• Marx’s ideas were never practiced exactly as he
imagined them however
• Failures of Marxist governments would illustrate flaws
in his arguments
• Late 1800’s – Russian socialists embraced Marxism,
Russian Revolution of 1917 set up communist inspired
government
• 1900’s – revolutionaries around the world would adapt
Marxist ideas (Asia, Latin America, Africa)