World History: Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution began in England and soon spread to Continental Europe and North America. It roughly corresponds to a period between 1750 to 1860. The first major industry to taste the Industrial revolution was Textile Industry. However, it was the Agricultural Revolution in England that eventually paved the way for Industrial Revolution.

British Agriculture Revolution

By the dawn of the 18^th century, the landscape of England was covered by small farms.

The much of these small farms were bought up by the wealthy landowners. After buying up the land of the villagers, the landowners enclosed their land with fences and called them Enclosures {Thus, it is sometimes called Enclosure Movement}. Due to the increased landholding, they were able to cultivate within the enclosures using new techniques and harvesting methods. The result was that

• Experiments with new harvesting methods were done
• The large landowners forced the small land owners to either give up farming and move to cities or work as tenant farmers.

Another major change in the practice of agriculture was the adoption of Crop Rotation.  Turnip was used for improvement of soil in rotation with other major crops such as wheat which depleted the soil nutrition.

The Livestock breeders also improved their methods to increase the meat output.  For example, Bakewell used only strongest and healthiest animals for breeding.

The increased food supply improved the living conditions, life span and decreased the infant mortality rate. Thus the population of England mushroomed. The increase in population boosted the demand for food and goods.

Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (1674-1741) was one of the first of these scientific English farmers, who is known as pioneer in the British Agricultural Revolution. He saw that the usual way of sowing seed by scattering it across the ground was wasteful as many of the seeds failed to take root. He invented the Seed Drill in 1701. This horse drawn seed drill sowed the seeds in neat rows and allowed a larger share of the seed to germinate thus, boosting crop yields. This method was later adopted by many large land owners.

Meaning of Industrial Revolution

Industrial revolution refers to a major change in a country’s method of producing goods and organizing labour and a movement from agricultural to an industrial society; manual labor to use of machines that lead to greatly increased output and rural society to an urban society.

Characteristics of Pre-Industrial Revolution Society

In the pre-industrial revolution period, most people lived and worked in farms, the land was controlled by nobles. Agricultural methods were archaic, remained unchanged drastically for centuries. People rarely travelled, Communication between towns and cities was slow and infrequent. People supplemented their income by mining their land, working out of their homes. There was high infant mortality and short life expectancy. The Industry was domestic system or Cottage Industry whereby:

• Produced goods such as Textile and coal in their homes or own land
• One step of manufacturing was completed in one house and then it was passed onto another home for the next step (Spinner, weaver, fuller, dryer)

This system had some advantages such as workers could set their own hours; women could carry along with their domestic duties and children worked along with their parents.

Why Industrial Revolution began in England only?

Apart from the above mentioned British Agricultural Revolution, the other reasons why Industrial Revolution was happened in England only are as follows:

• Though Britain took part in many wars during the 1700s, none of these struggles occurred on British soil. Furthermore, their military and political successes gave the British a positive attitude. The political stability and general peace in Britain was a very important factor.
• Increased Good Labour Supply because birth rates increased & death rates decreased, population mushroomed and skilled and educated workers were available.
• England was rich in coal, iron ore, waterways, resources from colonies (wool, cotton). It was rich in water power and coal to fuel the new machines; Iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings; rivers for inland transportation and harbours from which its merchant ships set sail.
• Britain had availability of Investment capital from wealthy landowners and merchants. It had a highly developed banking system contributed to the country’s industrialization. People were encouraged by the availability of bank loans to invest in new machinery and expand their operations.
• Availability of Markets because colonies provided markets to sell finished goods. New jobs and wealth created a cycle of new markets (more money made = more money to spend). Large demand for textiles (demand exceeded supply).
• Support of the Government because political stability due to long surviving constitutional monarchy. There were Laws to protect businesses. There were Patent laws, which encouraged investment. There were no internal tariffs.
• There was no rigid class system and work ethic admired

Contribution of Steam Power

• Cloth and other products were produced more efficiently
• Cost of producing textiles and other products was greatly reduced
• Put hand producers out of business
• Factories could be run continuously
• Factories could be built anywhere

Spread of Industrial Revolution

• Wealthy industrialist spread the Industrial Revolution to other countries for profit
• Railroads and factories were built in the Colonies
• France, Germany and US (Samuel Slater) follow
• By 1870 US ranks with England and Germany as one of 3 most industrial counties in the world

Impact of Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution changed England in character & culture. The effects of Industrial Revolution can be divided into three categories viz. Economic, Social and Political. They are as follows:

The Economic Effects

• New inventions and developments
• Rapid Growth of Industry
• Increased production and high demand for raw materials
• Growth of trade -worldwide
• Population explosion
• Exploitation of resources
• Development of Banking and Finance System
• Advances in travel, transport and agriculture

The Social Effects

• Long working Hours disturbed social fabric
• Population pressure on cities
• Poor city planning
• Expansion of middle class
• Working Problems for labour class
• Creation of new jobs and improvement in wages
• Technological progress

The Political Effects

• Enactment of Child Labour Laws
• Rise of reformers and social reform movements such as utilatarianism, utopianism, socialism and marxism
• Rise of Trade Unions
• Reform bills

The major impacts can also be enumerated under following heads.

Rising Middle Class

• A growing wealthy class of industrialists, business owners, and overseers appeared.
• Men work, women stay home – new men and women stereotypes emerged.
• Hired domestic help to help with women’s domestic chores
• Boys went to school, girls prepared for marriage

Growth of Urban Poor

• Once small rural farmers, now urban poor.
• Dependent on factory work for livelihood
• No longer made or grew what families need
• Lost jobs as competition for factory jobs grew

Pathetic Working Conditions

• Labour worked for 10-14 hr. days for low wages
• Men, women and children worked
• Dangerous Conditions – unventilated rooms, cramped work spaces, heavy machinery, dust and filth, few breaks, severe punishments

Poor condition of Female Workers

• Worked in factories, mines, as domestic servants
• Mill girls – single girls worked in mill towns away from families
• Spent long hours away from children
• Housework after 12-14 hour work days
• Hazardous working conditions
• Paid 50% of male wages

Proliferation of Child Labour

• No longer worked along side parents
• Started as early as 6 yrs old
• Paid 10% of male wages
• Few breaks and dangerous work that resulted in deformed bodies, lost limbs, long-term illness, sever punishments

Urbanization

• 5 out of 10 English lived in the city
• Poor Housing – dark, poorly constructed, badly ventilated, cramped dwellings
• Unsanitary conditions – no garbage removal, in-door plumbing
• There was a spread of disease and increase in crimes.

Beginning of Labor Unions

• Labour Unions as group of workers formed to compel business owners to improve wages and working conditions.
• They used various tools to achieve their goals such as sit-ins (Stopped working but also refusing to leave), Walk-out (Stopped working at a specific time and walked out), Strikes (Refused to return until demands were met), Collective Bargaining (both sides meet to negotiate a compromise) and slow downs (purposefully slow down production).

Other Notes

Three Factors of Production and Britain

Britain had an all the factors of production viz. Land, Labour and Capital. These were the resources needed to produce goods and services that the Industrial Revolution required. They included land, labor, and capital (or wealth).

Cotton Gin

England’s cotton came from plantations in the Americas. Removing seeds from the raw cotton by hand was hard work. In 1793, an American inventor named Eli Whitney invented a machine to speed up the work. His cotton gin multiplied the amount of cotton that could be cleaned.

Steam Engine and Steamboats

The invention of the steam team engine, stemmed from the search for a cheap, convenient source of power. The earliest steam engine was used in mining as early as 1705. This was not an economic engine because it used too much fuel. In 1765, James Watt of Scotland figured out a way to make the steam engine work faster and more efficiently while burning less fuel.

In 1774, Watt was employed by an entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, who encouraged him to build better engines. After that, an American inventor named Robert Fulton ordered a steam engine from Boulton and Watt. He developed the steamboat, the Clermont which ferried passengers up and down New York’s Hudson River. In England, a network of canals was created. By the mid-1800s, 4,250 miles of inland channels slashed the cost of transporting raw materials. A steam engine on wheels drove English industry after 1820.

Road Development

John McAdam, a Scottish engineer developed the macadam roads in 1805. Toll was charged on these roads to it became a profitable business. On the macadamised roads, even in rainy weather heavy wagons could travel over without sinking in mud.

Impact of Industrial Revolution in England over other European Countries

Though the businesses in continental Europe languished for adopting the British Miracle, yet most of the states could not do so as early as Britain because of the political troubles. Between 1789 till 1815, the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars kept the continental Europe plunged into political instability; the frequent wars interrupted communication, trade and caused inflation.  Thus, Industrial Revolution came to continental Europe only after a few decades and these countries could now see the gap between themselves and England.

Belgium

• The First notable country to adopt Britain’s path was Belgium. This region was rich in Iron ore, coal etc. and had fine waterways for cheap transportation. The British workers brought here the technology and secret plans to build factories and equipments.
• A British carpenter William Cockerill arrived in Belgium in 1799 and brought with himself the secret plans for building spinning machinery. His son John Cockerill built an enormous industrial enterprise in eastern Belgium. Many more British came and established themselves in Belgium.

Germany

• Germany was a scattered empire yet some pockets of industrialization appeared in some parts such as coal rich Ruhr valley. Ruhr Valley was later called ‘Miniature England’ because of its similarities to the industrial areas of England.
• Till 1835, Germany could not speed up the industrialization. From then onward, it started copying the British model and imported British equipment and engineers. The German manufacturers also sent their children to England to get education on industries.
• Germany built railroads linking its growing manufacturing cities, such as Frankfurt, with the Ruhr Valley’s coal and iron deposits. Soon Germany became an economic and military giant in Europe.

Rest of Europe

• The Industrialization came up in rest of the Europe in specialized pockets rather than the entire regions. For example, Bohemia became specialized in Spinning Industry, Catalonia in Cotton processing, Northern Italy in silk spinning.
• The country where Industrialization came very late was France. In France, the industrial growth could occur only after 1850, when the government constructed railroads.
• Most of other European countries could not industrialize due to many reasons such as tough geography (Example Mountains of Austria and Hungary) and social structures.

Worldwide Impact of Industrialization

• Shift in the balance of power
• Increased competition among the Industrialized countries
• Rise of Global Inequality, widened gap between Industrialized and non-industrialized countries, which were later known as Third world.
• Less developed countries were seen as sources of raw material and markets for finished goods. The demand for raw material and look for markets led to exploitation of the colonies. This led to a large inequality between the industrialized West and the rest of the world. A competition among industrialized countries to seize the colonies and their economic resources started.
• Thus, Colonialism and Imperialism were born out of the cycle of industrialization, the development of new markets around the world, and the need for resources to supply the factories of Europe.