During the late nineteenth century Germany and the USA began to overtake Britain’s industrial dominance, Eric Hobsbawm believes that ‘it is not surprising that Britain was unable to maintain the extraordinary position as workshop of the world’. This is due to a number of factors such as, more railways in other countries, decline in exports compared to other nations, the British government followed a policy of free trade and the production of materials like steel in Germany and the USA was far greater than what the British produced. However, even though other nations began to industrialise and catch up with Britain, she still remained a leading industrial power. This is because Britain was still in the world’s top three economies, exports were high during the 1870s also Britain …show more content…
In 1871 the German population had risen by 59% to 40 million people whilst the British population was at 31.6 million people . This shows that Britain did lose her industrial dominance because with her rivals having larger populations than her meant that her rivals became more productive and by having a bigger population more goods can be produced. Both Germany and the USA are far bigger nations than Britain. This is factor in why Britain lost her industrial dominance because a bigger nation meant more resources which were vital for industrialisation. This led to a decline in Britain industrial dominance because larger nations with more resources did not need to import as many raw materials from other countries and this affected British exports. Furthermore, by having more resources meant that countries like Germany and the USA could exploit them and use them to make more industrial goods which in turn led to Germany and the USA catching up with Britain and producing and exporting more than
Throughout the 1700s, the relationship between Britain and their colonies became more tension filled. The new generations of colonists felt more entitled to certain rights and liberties that had been considered privileges to their ancestors. Over the years Britain had been becoming progressively worse at keeping their colonies happy. Eventually, colonists did not even feel incorporated in their mother country, Britain. The deterioration of British colonial relations in the late 1700s was caused by a lack of representation and care from Britain.
The mid-19th century is one of the major turnarounds in the history of the United States. That is the time when America became an industrial giant and emerged as one of the most powerful countries in the world. The Industrial Revolution changed the people’s way of living in the whole world, especially the United States, from hand and home productivity to machine and factory. America rose from a rural and agricultural country to an urban-industrial that introduced new technologies. The United States has been through a lot of ups and downs in spite of its emergence and three books tell the story of the Industrial America from three different perspectives.
Much of Western Europe quickly industrialized after Great Britain. If they did not, they were immediately outclassed by the British in trade and military strength. Industrialization made good use of the natural resources in a state. Some nations industrialized a while after Great Britain and were falling behind. Two of these states were Russia and Japan. These countries experienced change in governments, economic power, and social structure as a result of industrialization. Yet, these states went through their industrializations in very different ways than each other.
§ Aldcroft, D. H. (ed.) The Development of British Industry and Foreign Competition, 1875-1914 (1968), London: Allen and Unwin
Industrialization is the process of developing machine production of goods. Extensive natural resources such as water power, coal, iron ore, rivers, and harbors were required for industrialization. Britain had not only these resources but in addition it had an expanding economy to support industrialization, a large population of workers, and political stability which gave Britain an advantage. All these things are called the factors of production.
Despite a continued growth of production and wealth in absolute terms, the economy of "the first industrial nation" began to decelerate after 1870, in comparison with that of her closest competitors. This so called "decline" was caused by a number of factors not merely one as the question suggests, indeed Supple` s foreword (1) asks, "Are we to be concerned with the rate of growth of total income or of manufacturing output? Above all, by what standards do we assess `failure` or `success`?"
Century. There were several key factors in Britain’s rapid growth as an international empire. Britain 's development at this time had an important international and military dimension. An empire based on sea power, commerce and naval dominance consolidated British overseas colonization and trade. Three key factors facilitated Britain’s rise to power, the first is warfare, the second is colonization and the third is trade.
The increase in population meant that there were more people in surplus from agricultural jobs and they had to find work in industrial factories, which was the basis of the Industrial Revolution. One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially. The new invention of steam power was one of the great motives for the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, steam was used to power many of the machines, thus with the invention of steam power, the Industrial Revolution was powered onwards.
During the late 1800s, Great Britain flourished. It was a time of innovation and progress, directed by the leadership of Queen Victoria. Her limited political power allowed Victoria to have a tremendous positive effect on the British Empire. She helped spread and popularize new technology by using it herself and supporting it financially. She used her limited power to avoid conflicts and wars and was seen as a relatable figure due to her middle class values.
powers. Owing to her superior position in industry and trade, Britain tended to benefit from the introduction of free trade and end of protectionism. Thus, these reforms were stimulated chiefly by economic advantages. Therefore, all forms of imperial reform in the 19th century were influenced by economic factors to an extent. Underlying economic factors contributed to social and political change which resulted in the abolition of slavery and the granting of self-government to settlement colonies.
O'Brien, Patrick, and Roland Quinault, eds. The Industrial Revolution and British Society. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print.
During the 1800’s Great Britain’s empire stretched around the world, and with raw materials easily available to them this way, they inevitably began refining and manufacturing all stages of many new machines and other goods, distributing locally and globally. However, despite being the central ‘workshop of the world,’ Britain was not producing the highest quality of merchandise. When comparing factory-made products made in England to surrounding countries, most notably France, those products could not compare as far as craftsmanship and sometimes, simply innovation. It was suggested by Prince Albert that England host a sort of free-for-all technological exposition to bring in outside crafts into the country and also show their national pride.
Why was Britain was the first country to first to industrialize was because it had one of the four following Coal and Iron, Cottage Industry, Textile Inventions and food surplus. In the industrial age coal and iron was very important to the workers. Iron was steel and coal was used for steamed power machinery in textile factories and the locomotives.The Cottage Industry is an industry made up of people working from their own houses and using their own equipment. Products or services made from a home based business instead of in a factory setting. Many people operate their own cottage industries by making and marketing crafts, weaving,crochet and knitting are among the craft work found in cottage industries, In the Industrial era, most people
The concept of imperialism is one that has pervaded nearly every major society or empire throughout human history. It seems to be a natural consequence of societies growing in size, power, and knowledge. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries vast changes occurred in Western Europe (and soon spread elsewhere) that spurred a new round of imperialism the likes of which had not been seen before. The changes were the industrial revolution that was taking place. Countries were rapidly advancing to industrial societies producing much greater quantities of goods at much lower costs. The goods produced ranged everywhere from cotton textiles to military machinery, all of which would play important roles in rounds of imperialistic expansion that would follow. The imperialistic displays by Western European nations also brought about several other industrial revolutions in other regions including the Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Japan. I will take a look at how the industrial revolution encouraged imperialistic expansion, as well as some of the results of that expansion in other regions.
Gray, Robert. The factory question and industrial England, 1830-1860. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, Great Britain, 1996.