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# The origins of the Industrial Revolution ## Natural Population Increase in England, 1700-1800 A graph showing the birth rate, death rate, and natural increase in England from 1700-1800. The birth rate is relatively stable throughout the 18th century. The death rate decreases significantly from...

# The origins of the Industrial Revolution ## Natural Population Increase in England, 1700-1800 A graph showing the birth rate, death rate, and natural increase in England from 1700-1800. The birth rate is relatively stable throughout the 18th century. The death rate decreases significantly from 1720 to 1800. The rate of natural increase rises gradually from 1720 to 1800, reaching its peak around 1780. ## What was the Industrial Revolution? The Industrial Revolution was a period of profound economic and social changes, caused by the widespread use of machinery in production. Agrarian, rural societies were transformed into industrial, urban societies. These changes began in Great Britain in the second half of the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution is divided into two stages: - The **First Industrial Revolution**, which began around 1760. - The **Second Industrial Revolution**, which began around 1870. The Industrial Revolution was accompanied by important changes in population and agriculture. ## The Demographic Revolution The English population grew slowly until the 18th century as both the birth rate and the death rate were high. In the late 18th century, however, there was high and sustained population growth. This was because the death rate decreased, while the birth rate continued to be high. The death rate decreased for several reasons: - **Nutrition**: This improved, making the population more resistant to illness. This was possible thanks to advances in agriculture and changes in people's diets. Potatoes became a basic food. - **Personal and public hygiene**: The use of soap was more widespread, and people began to wear cotton clothes, which were easier to wash. There was better access to clean drinking water, and streets were kept cleaner. Nevertheless, these changes took place very slowly. - **Public health**: In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered the vaccine for smallpox, a disease with a high mortality rate (although the vaccine was not widely used until the 19th century). New hospitals were also built in this period. - **Epidemics**: Which had been frequent in the Early Modern period, caused fewer deaths due to improved nutrition, hygiene and public health. Population growth produced increased demand for agricultural and industrial products. It also meant that more workers were available to fill all the new jobs in factories. ## The Agricultural Revolution The increased demand for food led to innovations in crop and livestock farming. - **Farming techniques**: The three-field system of crop rotation, in which one field always lay fallow, was replaced by the four-field system (also called the Norfolk system). The land was divided into four fields that alternated wheat, turnips, barley and clover. The nutrients in the soil were not used up, as the clover helped to replenish them. In addition, turnips and clover were used to feed livestock. This allowed farmers to keep more animals, which increased manure, a natural fertiliser, in the fields. In the late 18th century, the wood plough was replaced by the iron plough. Later, new farming machines were introduced: mechanical seeders, threshers and harvesters. - **Land ownership and use**: The liberal revolutions ended the practice of peasants farming communal lands under the authority of a lord or the Church. Land became private property. The bourgeoisie bought farmland in order to profit from selling its products. - **Livestock farming**: Part of the land was used to grow fodder, or food for livestock. The number of heads of livestock on each farm increased. Primary sector production increased in the 18th century. Farmers received greater income, and were able to save money. Some invested their savings in industry or banking. ## Other factors affecting economic growth Apart from demographic and agricultural growth, other conditions in Great Britain also favoured economic growth. - **Extensive markets**: Great Britain had a healthy domestic market, based on good infrastructure and the absence of domestic tariffs. It also sold its products in its numerous colonies around the world. Trade produced enormous profits, which were invested in new industries. - **A new mentality**: The British bourgeoisie was more open to investment, business risk and the pursuit of profit. Parliament supported these attitudes with laws that were favourable to business and trade. - **Abundance of iron and coal**: The British countryside was rich with iron and coal deposits, which were necessary to build and run the new factories. # The First Industrial Revolution ## Industrialisation in Great Britain in 1800 A map showing the locations of wool and cotton industries, coal regions, metallurgy centers, canals, and industrial regions in Great Britain in 1800. ## British Cotton Textile Exports A graph showing the number of yards of British cotton textile exports from 1820-1840. The exports increase significantly from 1820-1840 across all countries. ## From workshop to factory Until the 18th century, most products were made by artisans in small workshops using simple tools. Each artisan made the entire product by hand. In Great Britain in the late 18th century, several machines were invented that manufactured products much more quickly. These machines were often huge and needed to be housed in large spaces. Consequently, workshops were replaced by factories, which were large buildings in which workers operated machines. The first machines were powered by hydraulic energy. However, when James Watt patented the steam engine, machines became steam-powered and used coal as an energy source. With the rise of factories, industrial activities were concentrated in certain places. The manufacturing process changed as well: each worker specialised in a single task in the production process. This system is known as the division of labour. Workers had fixed timetables and worked at the speed required by the machines. The division of labour increased productivity: each worker produced more than an artisan could in the same amount of time. Manufacturing costs decreased, causing the prices of products to decrease as well. ## The Textile Industry The cotton grown in Great Britain's colonies provided the British textile industry with cheap and abundant raw material. The textile industry was the first to introduce technical innovations in spinning (mechanical spinners developed by James Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright and Samuel Crompton) and weaving (John Kay's flying shuttle and Edmund Cartwright's mechanical loom). When machines became steam-powered, British textile production expanded. In 1800, approximately 350,000 people worked in cotton spinning and weaving factories. British cotton products were cheap and well-made, and they flooded international markets. The textile boom also increased activity in other sectors, such as agriculture (which provided raw materials for textile products) and the iron industry (which provided raw materials for factory machines). ## The Iron Industry Until the early 18th century, British iron was of poor quality and so most iron used in Great Britain was imported from Sweden. However, this imported iron was very expensive. In 1709, Abraham Darby invented a blast furnace to smelt iron using products derived from coal, which was abundant in Great Britain. However, it was expensive to produce and the iron obtained was not strong enough. To solve these problems, Henry Cort invented a new type of furnace for making large amounts of high-quality wrought iron in the late 18th century. Wrought iron was a strong pure iron. Iron manufacturing grew greatly during the Industrial Revolution, because there was so much demand for machines and tools. ## Economic Liberalism The new economic doctrine of liberalism spread widely during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. This was based on the theories developed by the Scotsman Adam Smith in his book, The Wealth of Nations (1776). Smith said that economic activity should be governed by the principle of economic freedom, that is, freedom to create companies, hire workers and set the conditions and prices of products. Smith thought the guilds of the Old Regime were an obstacle to economic growth. Smith argued that the state should not intervene in the economy, as the economy adjusts itself naturally by means of the invisible hand. This refers to the way prices and salaries are regulated by the law of supply and demand. For example, if there is a high supply of products or labour and low demand, prices and salaries go down. On the other hand, if supply is low and demand is high, prices and salaries rise. Adam Smith was in favour of the division of labour (in which each worker specialised in a single stage of the production process), as this practice increased production and productivity. # The Second Industrial Revolution ## In Depth ### Changes in transportation Steam ships definitively replaced sailing ships after 1890. Iron hulls and propellers were added to steam ships, which increased their speed. Other advances, such as the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, greatly reduced travel times. Petroleum was used as fuel for two new means of transport: - The automobile. It was invented by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in 1895. - The aeroplane. The Wright brothers flew the first aeroplane with an engine in 1903. ## From about 1870, during the Second Industrial Revolution, the international economy grew rapidly thanks to several factors. ## New energy sources and industries Two new energy sources had a huge impact: - Electricity. This was used in industry to power machines and the electric railway, underground trains and trams, and new forms of communication like the telephone, radio and cinema. - Petroleum. The first oil wells were drilled in 1859. This energy source grew in importance with the invention of the combustion engine, which was used to power automobiles. The iron and steel industry and the chemical and electrical industries grew in importance. - The iron and steel industry. This industry expanded following the invention of the Bessemer converter, which could produce large amounts of steel at a low price. - The chemical industry. Raw materials, like petroleum and rubber, were used to make new products, such as pharmaceuticals, synthetics (rubber and artificial colours), and dynamite. - The electrical industry. Electricity was produced and distributed on a large scale. The United States of America and Germany strengthened their position as leading industrial powers. ## Large companies and modern banking When the Industrial Revolution began, most companies were small and owned by a single person or family. However, family businesses generally did not earn enough to buy new machines and hire more workers. To solve this problem, corporations were created. In corporations, the capital of the company is divided into shares. Shares are traded on the stock market, and whoever buys them participates in the company as a shareholder. Banks became key institutions. They lent money to companies and became intermediaries between private individuals and companies. Individuals saved their money in banks, and banks invested this money in industry and other businesses. This was the birth of financial capitalism. ## New Systems of Production In the late 19th century, new systems of production were adopted: - **Taylorism**. The engineer Frederick W. Taylor invented a production process, which was divided into small tasks that were timed. Each worker specialised in a certain task and was paid according to the work they completed. - **The assembly line** was used by the businessman Henry Ford in his automobile factories. Products were passed from one worker to the next along an assembly line. This eliminated the time that a worker wasted between tasks and increased their output. - **Mass production**. Ford's use of the assembly line prepared the way for mass production. Numerous identical parts of an item were manufactured before all the different parts were brought together to assemble the final product. In this way, large quantities of goods could be made at reduced production costs. As business was now carried out on a much larger scale, extremely large amounts of capital were required. Different types of corporate groups emerged from mergers and agreements between companies: - **Cartel**: A group of independent companies from the same industry that reach an agreement to control every phase of production. This allows them to limit distribution of the product and therefore set prices. Many of these agreements are illegal so they are not made public. - **Trust**: A company acquires all the other companies that perform the same economic activity. This gives them a monopoly over production. A single board of directors makes all the decisions. They are able to impose conditions on suppliers and set prices because there is no competition. - **Holding company**: A company buys all the shares in various other companies and forms a corporate group. The group consists of the holding company and its subsidiaries. The group can include companies from different industries. # The Spread of the Industrial Revolution ## The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. From there it spread to Europe and to other countries. ## Industrialisation in the rest of Europe The most industrialised European countries were: - **Belgium**: It was the first country after Great Britain to industrialise. Belgium benefitted from abundant natural resources, a tradition of craftsmanship, French investment in coal mines, and government support for railway building. The main industries were textiles, and iron and steel. - **Germany**: Before German unification in 1871, industrialisation was slowed down by the existence of many small states. The Zollverein (1834), a customs union of several states, was an attempt to create a large domestic market. In Germany, there was an alliance between agrarian nobles and the industrial bourgeoisie. The state played a role in promoting industrial development. The main industries were iron and steel, and metallurgy. - **France**: Industrialisation began between about 1830 and 1850. France did not become as industrialised as Great Britain because of a number of factors, such as the survival of many small independent farmers, the importance of traditional artisanal activity, and slow population growth. Sweden had an important iron industry. ## Industrialisation in America In the late 19th century, the United States of America became a great industrial power due to several factors: - **Extensive agricultural production**: Land was abundant and labour was scarce, leading to rapid mechanisation in agriculture. - **Abundant natural resources**: These included iron, coal and petroleum. - **Specialised production**: The industrial north was supplied with cotton from the agrarian south, and food products from the west. - **A large domestic market**: This was aided by the rapid construction of a railway network that ran from coast to coast. - **Innovation**: Technical advances, new systems of production and new types of companies were adopted quickly. # The Effects of Industrialisation ## Population Growth Throughout the 19th century, the European population grew quickly. There were two main causes for this growth: - **The death rate decreased** due to an improved food supply, medical advances, and improvements in public hygiene. In Western Europe, life expectancy at birth increased from 35 years in 1800 to 50 years in 1900. - **The birth rate remained high** in most of Europe until the 1870s. ## An Age of Migration The Industrial Revolution caused farmwork to become increasingly mechanised, and made cities the centres of production. Many peasants migrated to cities in search of work, which led to intense urbanisation in Europe. In 1800, only 10% of the population lived in cities, but by the late 19th century, the proportion was 40%. At the time, cities did not have the capacity to absorb all of Europe's growing rural population. As a result, 60 million Europeans emigrated to other continents between 1800 and 1924. The transport revolution made this large-scale movement of people possible. Two phases of transoceanic migration can be distinguished: - **Up to 1870, most emigrants were British and northern European**. - **Between 1870 and 1914, many emigrants were Italian, Spanish, Greek and Turkish**. Most Europeans migrated to the United States of America (which received almost 60% of European emigrants), as well as to Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Others migrated to Australia and New Zealand. # The Class System ## A New Society Industrial society was based on the principle of judicial equality. Men were judged by the same laws and courts, and there were few legal barriers preventing them from holding public office. However, in practice there was great inequality. Women were subordinate to men (either to their fathers or husbands). **Economic inequality** separated those who had property and financial resources from those who did not. Industrial society was divided into three social classes: - **The Upper class** - **Aristocracy**: In the 19th century, the aristocracy lost dominance when its rights over the peasants were abolished, and it began to pay taxes. Moreover, the wealth of most aristocrats was still based on land ownership so they did not benefit from business expansion. However, until the 20th century, many aristocrats still held leading positions in government, justice and the military. They maintained a luxurious lifestyle that the bourgeoisie imitated. - **Bourgeoisie**: It became the most powerful class. Industrialists and bankers formed the 'high bourgeoisie'. Businessmen, high officials and lawyers belonged to the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie lived in new neighbourhoods on the outskirts of cities, with comfortable homes surrounded by gardens and parks. Leisure activities such as the theatre, the opera and horse racing became popular. The bourgeoisie often attributed their wealth to their 'bourgeois values', such as hard work, saving money and enjoying the security of family life. In many countries, they made religion a strong feature of public life. - **The Middle Class** - A large **middle class (or petite bourgeoisie)** emerged in 19th century industrial cities. This was a very diverse class of all the people in the middle layer of society: thus, it included tradesmen, shopkeepers, artisans, teachers, and mid-level government officials and army officers. Many middle-class people owned property although they were less wealthy than the bourgeoisie. They were often fairly well educated thanks to the expansion of schools and training colleges in the 19th century. The middle class shared 'bourgeois values' with the bourgeoisie, like the idea that work and savings were the key to acquiring wealth. They did their best to have their children educated. In politics, the middle class supported reforms that would allow them to participate fully in political life. Not everyone had much free time, but there were cafés, casinos and social clubs. Both women and men were great readers, and the writing of popular authors like Charles Dickens was widely serialised in journals each month. - **The Lower Class** - Many people did not benefit from the wealth created by the Industrial Revolution: - **Peasants** still formed the majority of the population in the 19th century, but their conditions varied greatly from region to region. In some parts of Northern and Western Europe, they owned plots of land. In the south, there were more day labourers, who worked on estates using basic tools and earned low wages. In central and eastern Europe, peasants were still serfs until the mid-19th century. - **The proletariat** was the name given to workers who only possessed their labour, which they exchanged for a salary. Workers performed tasks that required little skill. They received very low salaries, which they barely survived on. Children left school at a young age to start working in factories and shops to support their families; with little education, they could not change their position in society. - **House servants** were also members of the lower class. They earned very low salaries and lived in the attics of the houses that they worked in. Servants worked more than 12 hours a day, and only had one afternoon off a week. # The Labour Movement ## Early Labour Movements The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, which was where workers first organised themselves into groups to pressure factory owners and governments. Working together in harsh conditions, workers saw the labour movement as a way to improve their situation. - **Luddism**: In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, new technologies made skilled workers lose their jobs in the textile industry. In response, some of them destroyed factory machines. This developed into the Luddite movement (which was named after a legendary English figure called Ned Ludd). - **Chartism**: was the first organised labour movement with political goals. Between 1838 and 1848, this movement had millions of supporters and presented its People’s Charter to the British Parliament. The movement demanded labour rights and universal suffrage, because at that time workers could not vote. - **Trade unions**: At the beginning of the 19th century, workers formed mutual aid societies, which helped members in case of illness or unemployment. The right of assembly was first granted in Great Britain in 1824, and after that, the first trade unions appeared. These associations of workers demanded better salaries, shorter work days, an end to child labour, etc. Their main means of pressure was the strike, in which workers refused to work until certain demands were met. ## Marxism and Anarchism **Marxism** is named after one of its founders, the German philosopher Karl Marx. Together with Friedrich Engels, Marx published the Communist Manifesto in 1848. According to Marxism, there was a class struggle between oppressors and the oppressed in industrial societies. The bourgeoisie were the oppressors because they owned the means of production and exploited workers for profit. The oppressed were the workers, who sold their only possession, their labour. Marx proposed a revolution in order to destroy capitalism and give power to workers. There would first be a stage of proletarian dictatorship, in which the state would control society. Then, a communist society could be established, without social classes or private property. At that point, the state would disappear. Marx also believed that labour parties and trade unions should participate in politics. In consequence, socialist parties were developed from 1875. The Frenchman Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and the Russian Mikhail Bakunin were the founders of **anarchism**. Anarchists opposed any form of state, and hoped to replace it with voluntary associations. They believed in collective use of property, and they rejected political parties and elections. Instead, they favoured trade unions and strikes as revolutionary instruments. ## The Workers' Internationals In 1864, labour organisations created the first **International Workingmen’s Association (IWA)**, often called the **First International**. It soon disappeared because of disagreements between socialists and anarchists. In 1889, a few socialist leaders founded the **Socialist International (or Second International)** to coordinate Marxist labour organisations. This organisation created well-known labour symbols, such as **International Workers’ Day on 1st May of each year**. Over time, pressure from the labour movement helped to achieve social advances in many countries, such as a shorter work day or restrictions on child labour.