The Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution was a period of major technological advancement and innovation spanning from the mid-18th to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• It fundamentally changed the political, economic, and social development of the West.
• Originating in late 18th century Britain, it later spread to Western Europe, America, and Japan in the 19th century.

Two Stages of the Industrial Revolution

• First Stage: c. 1760 – c. 1840
• Second Stage: c. 1870 – 1914

Features

• Characterized by mechanization, or the invention and large-scale use of machines in production.
• Machines replaced human and animal power, marking the "Age of Machines."
• Rapid growth of manufacturing industries.
• Agriculture was replaced as the main economic pillar.
• Industrialization became an indicator of a nation’s strength, development, and wealth.
• Significant urbanization through the growth and expansion of urban areas.
• Migration from the countryside to industrial towns.

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

• Population Growth – a steady increase in Europe, particularly in England, due to the introduction of new crops like potatoes, which improved nutrition and health.
• Growing population provided both a larger labor force and an expanding market, spurring the need for more consumer goods.
• Development of world trade, increasing global demand for manufactured goods, which led to the need for better machines, equipment, and technology to increase productivity.
• Accumulation of wealth by European merchants through world trade, which allowed for investments in new technologies, factories, and industries.
• Scientific and technological developments building upon the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution, greatly advancing technology by the 18th century.

Why the Industrial Revolution Started in Britain

• Natural Factors
  • Rich in natural resources like coal and iron.
  • Geographical advantage: an island separated from continental Europe with a long coastline, aiding maritime trade development.
• Growing Colonial Empire
  • Colonies provided a cheap, steady supply of raw materials and a large overseas market for Britain’s growing industries.
• Enclosure Movement led to increased productivity in British agriculture, creating an abundant food supply.
  • The eviction of rural farmers by rich landowners led to increased numbers of former farmland being turned into sheep farms.
  • Evicted farmers moved into cities for work, providing a cheap labor force for factories.
• Government Support
  • Mercantilism: Government actively supported the development of foreign trade by merchants and explorers through funding.
  • The Statute of Monopolies (1623) granted monopolies over particular industries to skilled individuals like those developing new scientific techniques.
  • Royal Society: Supported and funded scientists/intellectuals fostering technological development.

Course of the Industrial Revolution

• The First Industrial Revolution (1760–1840) began in 18th century Britain, then spread to Europe and America in the 19th century.
  • Referred to as the "Age of Steam."
• The Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870–1914) involved a second wave of industrialization in Germany, Britain, USA, and Japan.
  • Referred to as the "Age of Steel and Electricity."

Major Technological Developments of the Industrial Revolution

• The textile industry saw several new inventions of textile machines in the early to mid-18th century, including:
  • Flying Shuttle (Kay, 1733)
  • Spinning Jenny (Hargreaves, 1765)
  • Power Loom (Cartwright, 1785)
• Textile industry becomes the first to industrialize through new machines powered by steam engines

Steam and Coal

• Early steam engines were developed by Savery (1698) and Newcomen (1712) for pumping water out of coal mines.
• James Watt's steam engine (1769) was an improvement of Newcomen's design and first used to power machines in factories, like cotton mills.
• Coal also replaced charcoal as fuel for iron production, lowering the production costs of wrought iron and steel.
• Construction of large blast furnaces.

Rise of the Factory System

• Production moved increasingly into factories replacing domestic system (home/workshops).

Electricity and Oil

• Volta and Leclanche worked on early attempts to store electricity, resulting in the first dry battery by Gassner (German) in 1880.
• Thomas Edison created the first commercially successful lightbulb in the 1870s and the first electrical supply system.
• Gesner (Canadian) distilled kerosene as fuel
• The Oil Rush in the US in the mid-19th century led to oil replacing steam as the main energy source by the end of the 19th century.

Transportation

• Macadam roads: multi-layered with small and medium-sized stones, providing a smooth surface and side ditches for drainage.

Railways

• Improvement in coal mining: metal rails
• Improvements in steam engines > development of steam locomotives Models began to appear by the 19th century.
• The Salamanca locomotive was the first commercially successful steam locomotive, built in 1802.
• In 1829, Stephenson built the "Rocket," an improved design that became the standard model for 19th-century steam locomotives.

Automobiles:

• Steam engines were applied in early designs of road vehicles.
• In 1885, German engineer Carl Benz (Benz Patent-Motorwagen) built the first practical automobile.

Sea

• In 1807, Fulton designed the first practical steamship, the North River Steamboat.
• In 1838, the SS Great Western crossed the Atlantic Ocean in just 14 days.
• Steamships made transatlantic crossings faster, safer, and more reliable (reduced from six weeks to around two weeks).

Communication

• Telegraph:
  • Samuel Morse invented the telegraph and developed the Morse Code (1837) in 1832.
  • Bell invented the first practical telephone in 1876.

Medicine

• Dr. Edward Jenner (Britain) developed the first vaccine in 1796 against smallpox -> contributed to gradual eradication.
• Louis Pasteur (France): Germ theory of disease – improved cleanliness and developed the pasteurization process.
• Marie Curie (France): Discovery of X-rays → better diagnosis of patients; discovery of radium: treatment of cancer.
• Joseph Lister (Britain): Introduction of antiseptic surgery → reduced infections.
• Overall, improved public hygiene and increased life expectancy due to the Industrial Revolution.

Impacts of the Industrial Revolution

• The Rise of Modern Capitalism
  • A new wealthy class known as capitalists rise as owners of the means of production (e.g., factories, machines, capital, and mines).
  • Examples include Ford and Rockefeller.

Factory System

• Large factories with expensive and large machines.
• Many workers
• Assembly lines and division of labor
  • Separation of the production process into specialized parts
  • Each worker is assigned to a particular workstation and responsible for 1 part
  • Allowed Repetitive increase in efficiency and productivity

Economic Changes

• Establishment of joint-stock companies to maximize profit and raise capital for investment:
• Stocks or bonds are issued to accumulate capital and expand production capacity.

Urbanization

• Most people began to live in cities, giving rise to new industrial towns.
• Rise of industrial towns occurred in Britain, Germany, and America.
  • Britain: Manchester and Liverpool
  • USA: Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Philadelphia

Social Classes

• Capitalists: rich industrialists, owners/investors of factories and mines, and businessmen.
• Middle class (Bourgeoisie): professionals like lawyers, engineers, and doctors accumulated wealth with their expertise.
• Working class (Proletariat): poor factory workers and miners.

Labor Conditions

• Low income
  • Factory workers and miners received low wages.
  • Child Labor became widely utilized
    • Cheaper labor cost – only 10-20% of an adult male's wage
    • Predominantly found in coal mines and textile factories
• Dangerous and long working conditions
  • 14-15 hours per day
  • Lack of safety measures caused frequent accidents which became commonplace
• Poor living conditions
  • Workers lived in extremely crowded slums
  • Lack of basic amenities such as bathrooms, kitchens, drinking water, and heating
  • Poor sanitary conditions & spread of diseases
  • Malnutrition

Labor Movements

• Workers form trade unions to improve their conditions
  • Trade unions legalized in 1824
• Chartist Movement (1838-1848):
  • Demand for shorter working hours
  • Higher wages
  • Political rights such as the right to vote

Government Response (Britain)

• Series of acts to improve working and living conditions:
• Factory Acts:
  • Banned child labor (under the age of nine) and developed better conditions for workers.
  • Factory inspectors appointed to ensure compliance with the Factory Acts
• Mine Act: Banned child labor (under the age of 10) in mines banning women from working in mines.

Rise of Socialism

• Thinkers criticized ills of industrial revolution and capitalism like worker exploitation and consumerism
• Criticized unequal distribution of wealth - workers received poor wages while capitalists controlled all means of production
• Some intellectuals called for public ownership of the means of production and redistribution of wealth → socialism
• Marx and Engels' development of Communism

Further Expansion of World Trade

• Industrialization → increasing demand for raw materials → importation of raw materials from overseas, especially from colonies.
• Industrialization → constant need for expanding overseas market → export of manufactured goods.
• Improved transportation and communication helps facilitate international trade.
• Globalization and New Imperialism result
  • Industrialization → increasing demand for raw materials → the need for more colonies for cheap resources.
  • Industrialization → constant need for expanding overseas market → more colonies to consume manufactured goods.
  • Technological development → military supremacy of Western industrialized countries → colonial expansion in Asia and Africa.