Transcript Slide 1

Industrial Revolution
What factors combined to cause the Industrial Revolution?
• Industrialization is an enormous change in world history and
therefore is caused by not one thing but a combination of
forces. The cause of the Industrial Revolution is one of the
great questions of history.
• Contributing factors include availabilities of new territories
and resources (land) population growth (labor) and financial
ability to support the process (capital)
– Population growth in Europe in the eighteenth century due to
improved diet and greater control over disease.
• The second, the Agricultural Revolution is an important force with the
enclosure of lands, new crops, and fertilizers.
– The growth of “cottage industries” as well as the scientific innovations
and the improved transportation networks with construction of roads
as well as canals and railroads creating avenues for quicker
distribution of larger quantities of goods.
– Great wealth acquired through joint ventures stock companies and
conquests of territory and resources during the Age of Exploration
allowed for available capital
What four revolutionary innovations made possible the Industrial Revolution?
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mass production through the division of labor
– Josiah Wedgwood and the porcelain industry were one example of applying mass
production techniques originally developed by the Chinese.
– Wedgwood broke down the work into individual steps, maximizing the use of labor and
other resources within each step.
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new machines and mechanization
– The cotton industry exemplified the role of machines in the Industrial Revolution.
Machines such as the spinning jenny, the mule, and the power loom produced cotton
textiles at lower costs.
– Watermills improved both production and quality.
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an increase in the supply of iron
– As for the enormous increase in iron production, it allowed great expansion and
improvement of transportation through the building of bridges, railroads, and steamships.
– More iron also meant that more machinery could be built more cheaply, and larger
factories were constructed to accommodate those machines.
– Iron production was boosted by the innovation in removing impurities from both iron and
coal.
– Coke production allowed Britain to produce iron without depending on dwindling charcoal
supplies, as other nations did
– Later the Bessemer steel process magnified the early gains creating a new era in the
Industrial Revolution
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the steam engine.
– The most important innovation, however, was in energy. James Watt’s improvement of
previous designs of the steam engine made available cheap and portable energy
sources—and insufficient energy seemed to have been the only constraint on rampant
industrialism. Power for pumping water from mines, operating mills, and driving ships and
trains let the Industrial Revolution careen forward.
Describe both the positive and negative working conditions encountered by
women and men during the Industrial Revolution.
• On the positive side, many new opportunities opened up for those with
particular skills, such as machinists and metal workers.
– Wages for these specialties and others also increased.
• For other workers, the Industrial Revolution seemed like a nightmare.
– Most work was boring.
– Repetitive motions mandated by the mass-production system made workers
feel disassociated from their work.
– Employers added new machines and ran them faster and longer.
– Health conditions deteriorated, causing infant mortality rates to soar and
average life expectancies to plummet.
– Industrial accidents were commonplace, and workers were allowed little say
in controlling their workplace. Many factories sought women and children as
laborers.
– The work day routinely lasted fourteen to sixteen hours.
• National and international mass migrations of workers began, as workers
moved from rural areas to industrializing cities they had to adjust to their
new environment often causing dissonance in the quickly formed living
environments.
– Although some employers provided living quarters and places to buy items
on credit and health care, most of these were soon turned to ways to exploit
the newly arrived and trapped workers.
What were some of the ideological responses to industrialization? We refer to
most of these as the “isms” of the 1800s and include all areas of society
including culture, economic systems, political systems and social systems.
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Many different categories of responses:
laissez faire, utilitarianism, positivism, utopianism, Chartism, and workers’ protests. Laissez
faire, literally a policy of “let them do,” was embodied in Adam Smith and his The Wealth of
Nations. According to laissez faire, if individuals sought personal gain and advancement, the
general welfare would improve as well.
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Government should protect private property, should not interfere in business or in the relations
between workers and management, and should allow tax-free international trade.
Utilitarianism was a theory propounded by Jeremy Bentham, who said that an enlightened Parliament
could legislate improved social conditions to maximize “the greatest happiness of the greatest
number.”
The count of Saint-Simon espoused positivism, which argued that the poor should work in ideal
communities, led by scientists and benevolent business leaders. Utopians wanted to create communal
societies that would provide prosperity for all.
The Utopians were unrealistic, but did have a lasting influence on late-nineteenth-century socialism.
Chartists presented petitions to Parliament to improve working conditions and helped create a legacy
of labor organizing.
Workers themselves responded, sometimes in the extreme, with riots, strikes, boycotts,
violent protests, and sabotage. (some called themselves “Luddites” and destroyed machines)
However, workers often protested without violence—by unionizing, presenting demands in
common, and petitioning factory owners and political representatives.
Other isms include realism, modernism, impressionism, post-impressionism, naturalism,
victorianism (social), feminism, expressionism, socialism (as in Utopian socialism, Democratic
socialism, marxism) and more….
What was the environmental impact of the Industrial Revolution?
• Deforestation for construction and fuel was readily
apparent in Europe, but much less so in America.
Europeans then adopted coal, and almost immediately
suffered from breathing the harmful coal emissions.
• As cities grew larger and population density increased,
public water and sanitation became problems.
• On the other hand, industrialization had some positive
environmental effects.
• In Britain, underground resources such as coal replaced
wood, and overseas cotton replaced domestic wool.
• As land diminished and feed for horses became
expensive, less land-hungry mechanical transport spread.
• Shipbuilding, which had traditionally consumed enormous
quantities of wood, switched to iron.
How do you account for the spread of industrialization outside of
England in the nineteenth century?
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The beginnings of industrialization in Europe blossomed after the Napoleonic
wars ended in 1815.
Generally speaking, the nations closest to England industrialized most quickly.
Belgium and France stole industrial secrets and smuggled skilled workers and
machinery out of Britain.
Nations farthest from England, such as Russia and Sweden, industrialized much
more slowly.
Many countries also waited until the British had solved the problems they had
encountered.
Nations eliminated internal tariffs and tolls, and joint-stock companies and banks
secured the capital necessary for industrial expansion.
In the United States, a high standard of living and a growing urban population
created a demand for manufactured goods.
High tariffs helped ensure that they would be produced in the United States,
where large distances encouraged the development of the railroad, telegraph,
and steamboat.
American cotton growing spurred the development of the cloth and clothing
industry.
How did industrialization alter the relationship between Western Europe and the nonindustrialized world? How is the Nemesis as described in the text box a symbol of these
changes?
• The industrialization transformed Western Europe’s relationship with the non-industrialized
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In January 1840, a shipyard in Britain launched a radically new ship. The Nemesis had an iron
world profoundly.
hull, a flat bottom that allowed it to navigate in shallow waters, and a steam engine to power it
In the early
modern era, Europe sought luxury goods from India and China such as silk, tea and
priver and against the wind. In November it arrived off the coast of China, heavily armed. Though
cotton textiles
butEurope
that as
a been
result
of industrialization
Europe
beganwas
to demand
raw materials
ships from
had
sailing
to China for 300 years,
the Nemesis
the first steamfrom Egypt,
India
and
China
instead.
powered
iron
gunboat
seen
in Asian waters.
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andindustrialization
are calculated to offer
to many.”but rather stopped when it had hardly
In Egyptforeigners,
and India,
wasdelight
not delayed
Instead
of
offering
delight,
the
Nemesis
and
other
steam-powered warships that soon joined it
begun.
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steamed up the Chinese rivers, bombarded forts and cities and transported troops and supplies
Egypt developed a system of state capitalism, where the central government was the major benefactor.
from place to place along the coast and up rivers far more quickly than Chinese soldiers could
European
advisers
builtthis
factories,
foundries,
and
shipyards.
move on
foot. With
new weapon,
Britain,
a small
island nation half a world away, was able to
The defeat
aim was
to
lessen
Egypt’s
dependence
on
the
Ottoman
Empire,
instead itAbecame
the largest and most populated country in the world. (Earth
andbut
Its Peoples,
Global more
th
dependent
on
Great
Britain.
History, Bulliet et al, 4 Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, pg. 641)
The British intentionally flooded Egypt with cheap manufactured imports to prevent Egypt from becoming
powerful.
India, once the world’s largest producer and exporter of cotton textiles, suffered from the domination of
the British East India Company.
For example, after the Industrial Revolution began in England, the BEIC flooded India with dutyfree textiles.
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England
began
to built noted:
steam“Iron
powered
gunboats
like the
Nemesis
used
to penetrate China
A Chinese
observer
is employed
to make
it strong.
Thewhich
hull isthey
painted
black,
and weaver’s
humiliateshuttle
the large
Chinese
military.
fashion. On each side is a wheel, which by the use of coal fire is made to revolve
Thisas
gave
fast the
as aWest
running
a distinct
horse….At
military
the vessel’s
advantage
headover
is a China
Marine and
God,showed
and at the
thehead,
power
stern
of industry
and sidesin spite of
China’s
size, history
are cannon,
whichand
givepopulation.
it a terrific appearance. Steam vessels, are a wonderful invention of
The former handcraft workers could find no employment, and most became landless peasants or
emigrated overseas when slavery ended.
Like other colonies, India became an exporter of raw material and an importer of manufactured
goods.
The British, however, controlled the Indian government and were more interested in
encouraging British imports than in furthering Indian manufacturing.
Why did the Industrial Revolution take place first in Britain rather than in
another country?
• Great Britain had the means of production at the time they were needed.
Land, Labor and Capital
• Although the British were innovative, they were no more innovative than
some other nations
– however, they made practical applications of those innovations much more
quickly.
– Furthermore, they were the world’s leading exporters of tools, guns, hardware,
and other craft goods.
– British engineers tried new approaches to problems.
• Britain also had many skilled refugees, who brought important skills with
them.
• In addition, British society was a factor in promoting the Industrial
Revolution.
• The British monarchy was less powerful and oppressive than those in other
countries, and political power was less centralized.
• Because class lines were less sharply drawn, moving up through the classes
was more feasible in England.
• British superiority in shipping and water transportation played a crucial part
in the era before railroads, when land transportation was prohibitively
expensive. Finally, British financial institutions were most aptly suited to the
Industrial Revolution. Examples can be seen in the writings of Adam Smith,
as well as in joint-stock companies and the insurance system.