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All about the industrial revolution
Industrial revolution in modern history
Industrial revolution in modern history
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The Industrial Revolution refers to the major change that happened in the manufacturing process in the 18th century. These changes that covered many branches first appeared in Britain.
Britain was the world’s first industrial economy, in fact, the process of industrialization began in Britain. This process was greatly advanced during the second part of the eighteenth century. These innovations were centered mainly in two sectors cotton textiles and ironmaking.
The technological success of Brittan lays in the positive factors that they had such as generation of innovative technological ideas and implementing the same. Nonetheless, the British were very good at implementing ideas, in fact, many of the ideas that they had happened to implement
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weren’t even theirs but instead originated from the continent inventors. Skilled labor was what gave Britain the head start in the Industrial revolution. Other than that, the unified market in which the goods and people moved easily was another factor that contributed to their head start in technology at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Many historian and scholars have tried to analyze and understand the main reasons of why the Industrial revolution appeared exactly in Britain and not in any other European Country.
Different approaches and different views have brought different conclusions and arguments.
Neither can be argued to be as hundred percent right or wrong, but instead, each and every contributed to a better understanding of the Industrial Revolution and the period in which it appeared.
Many would have argued that the British success in the Industrial revolution mainly relied on the geographical factors. Mineral wealth, precisely coal, and iron have played a role in their success in the industrial revolution, and what caused the industrial revolution to appear there and not for example in the Dutch Republic.
Nevertheless, even though geographical factors are important they are not entirely responsible. In order for the goods and services to be produced the country has to have something else going.
However, it can be stated that geography, after all, played a certain part regarding the Industrial Revolution to happen exactly there. Britain being an island has never been as abused by warfare as some other country like for example Belgium or Poland. Concluding, that they never actually had to spend large sums in order to protect
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themselves. Not only geography but also Political actors were attributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution in Britan. Moreover, other contributions to the appearance of the industrial revolution in Britain have been argued by some recent thinking economist. Mainly the arguments blamed the better-specified property rights which led to a more efficient organization in Britain , to induce the Industrial Revolution in Britain and not some other place. This argument was made by Douglass C.North. The free enterprise was seen as important to the industrial revolution, thus, the laissez-free economy had a certain part in the whole thing ,however not entirely. Mainly because Britain was not an entirely laissez-free economy ,but compared with the other countries such as France or Prussia it could be argued that it was. That was because Britain didn’t speculate into commercial or industrial enterprises and tried to leave the businessman in peace to carry on their own affairs. One of the major differences between Britain and the continent lays on the mandatory poor relief system.
And it is argued that the poor laws, in fact, have had some positive effects on the Industrial Revolution, Due to this were the English enabled to take risks, whereas, in Ireland who didn’t have the formal system of poor relief before 1838,the starvation was still possible.This was important in cases when manufacturing workers had to be laid off. Where in England the manufacturing worker can be allowed to take off period during business slumps without the fear that the workers could starve in Ireland the situation was different , the employers had to pay the workers during these periods or they risked the chance of losing them. This is one of the major advantages of the system and relatively here lays the connection with the Industrial revolution and the
system. Another argument regarding the politics, the industrial revolution and the rest of the European countries is regarding the concentration of power. Wrigley has attributed London to be the one who created major conditions for the Industrial Revolution. London’s size and needs for food ,fuel, and other products served as supporters to his claim. Other Historians, on the other hand, have argued that the industrial revolution was induced by the demand for the military products by the British government. These were one of the main causes and reasons regarding the question why the industrial revolution appeared in Britain and not in some other protestant country in Europe. However, different historians held different thoughts on that matter. For example, the Joel Mokyr argued that even though the population growth, the agricultural development, and the foreign trade helped the British Industry ,none of them really caused it. Instead, he bases his argument on invention and innovation as being the real causes of the industrial revolution. Nonetheless, he doesn’t deny the other factors such as natural resources ,the state, and social ideal to have played an important part as well. But many economic historians would agree that the politics in Britain was one of the important keys and positive factor that singled them out from the rest of the European countries in regards to the Industrial revolution.
The period during which there was an increased output of machine-made goods, also known as the Industrial Revolution, played a critical role in reshaping Britain’s economy. The Industrial Revolution, stimulated by advancements that were made during the Agricultural Revolution, began in Great Britain for many reasons. In addition to Britain’s broad availability of natural resources, the count...
Undoubtedly the British drove the economy with trade, they created commerce by using the navy as a well-protected and highly effective transoceanic transportation company.
The Industrial Revolution was the rapid growth of industrialization in Europe and later the U.S. Starting in England in the late eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was a time of great advancements. Changes took place in almost every industry including transportation, mining, textile, and more. But didn’t just stop there, modifications were also made to the social world. All of these new ideas combined made what we know today as the Industrial Revolution.1
The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history, because before this revolution, life for the average person was difficult, as incomes were very little, and malnourishment and disease were common. People produce the most of their own food, clothing, furniture and tools. Robert E. Lucas, Jr., winner of Nobel Prize, said: ‘’For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility.’’1.
... Professor of History Jeremy Black from Exeter University says, "Naval power and imperial possessions enabled Britain to dominate trans-oceanic trade and to profit accordingly." (“Why the Industrial Revolution Happened in Britain”) This quote ultimately sums up the truth of Britain’s success; the need for security of this island nation started a chain reaction that began with its naval power. The Industrial Revolution would not have been possible in Britain without the success of its foreign trade, which would not have been possible without the success of the British navy, thus coming back to the fact that Britain is an island.
So after all the years we wonder why Britain lead the industrial revolution, well the reason is that they enjoyed many advantages that helped them take the lead in the revolution. As I have wrote the agricultural revolution increased food production, which freed many laborers to work in indust...
First of all, Britain was lucky to have all the necessary natural resources to make industrialization happen. Those resources were coal, iron, rivers, and ships. Iron and coal were used to operate and make machines
The industrial revolution of 17th and 18th centuries saw the transformation of Britain from a Neolithic nation into an industrious nation. However, this spread quickly throughout the world, introducing the modernisation of agriculture, revolution in power and manufacturing of textile.
“Revolutions are the locomotives of history” (Karl Marx). The concept of how far we’ve progressed in the past couple of centuries is hard to grasp. A revolution is defined as an instance of revolving and I think this quote from Karl Marx sums up the significance of revolutions in relevance to us as the human race; they pull us forward and allow us to progress. It’s whether or not these progressions are beneficial or not that makes or breaks the usefulness of a revolution. Although the industrial revolution in Britain had its ups and downs, it ultimately paved the road for Britain to become the world power it is today. There is much discussion about how, or why, the Industrial revolution started in Britain. I contribute this to three main attributes of Britain; the scientific and agricultural revolution, the cheap energy economy, and their social structure.
This inclination creates the rigid dichotomy between whether industrialisation was detrimental or beneficial. In fact, industrial Britain had elements of both, but ultimately was just a massive change, catalyzing change across Europe and shaping the future. Industrialisation created benefits and detriments, but it is impossible to objectively compare them. The changes were so vast and varied and affecting many different levels of society that to come to a conclusion, one aspect must be favoured. Major bias exists in discussion of the Industrial Revolution even among its contemporaries. Thus, it is quite impossible to determine empirically whether industrialisation is best described as detrimental or beneficial. Indeed, industrialisation radically changed the way of life in Britain and all of Europe, but the varying changes are intertwined and not able to be separated and compared fairly. Complex change such as this cannot be dissected and scrutinised for good versus bad; the industrial revolution is both and it is neither. It cannot be
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.
Great Britain’s imperialism and colonization of the majority of the world allowed the nation to gain access to a variety of natural resources, and increased revenue through taxes. It also greatly increased trade, as Great Britain opened up trade paths, and took control of many trade industries which greatly boosted the economy. With a stronger economy and increased money flow, there was an increase in consumer goods which was benefited by the fact that families had more money to spend on goods. In addition, there were higher wages, which was an incentive for people to innovate and join the workforce. The economy also experienced an increase with the rapid population growth of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, which led to a larger work force, allowing the innovations of the Industrial Revolution to become major manufacturing tools and to create factories and assembly lines. This imperialism, and thus boosted economy led directly to the Industrial Revolution, and allowed Great Britain to develop more
First, Britain had some tremendous natural attributes. It was naturally endowed with many deposits of coal and iron ore, which were used heavily in the early stages of factory production. In addition, Britain was situated at a critical point for international trade. Its position between the United States and the rest of Europe allowed them to have a serious impact in all matters of trade. Likewise, a multitude of navigable waterways, easy access to the sea, and a mild climate all contributed to the onset of industrialism. Britain's topography was conducive to industrialism because its diversity allowed for the production of many agricultural products, preventing any sort of shortage or famine. Evans remarks, “Each single such advantage could be replicated in other European countries and some could be accentuated, but no other nation enjoyed such a rich combination of natural bounties” (111). Furthermore, the nation was free of many trade tariffs that hampered industry in other European nations while featuring a real opportunity for upward movement in society which provided a great incentive for acquiring wealth. Britain also experienced tremendous population growth which provided a potential workforce as well as an increase in the demand for goods.
Britain, specifically England, was a politically stable society at the time and became the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution for a number of other reasons. They had merchants who already had the capital for investing in the means of production and producing factories, they held more colonies than any other nation (some already rich in their own textile industries), they had the key raw materials needed for production, and there was a large number of readily available workers (Zmolek
A major cause for the Industrial Revolution was the enormous spurt of population growth in England. The increase in population meant that there were more people in surplus from agricultural jobs, and they had to find work in industrial factories. Enclosure brought forth a great increase in farming production and profits. Farming was improved through the use of crop rotation, enclosures, and the division on farms across England. Crops that were grown consisted of turnips, barley, clover, wheat. This improvement in farming caused a population explosion, which soon led to a higher demand for goods. The new means of production demanded new kinds of skills, new regulation in work, and a large labor force. The goods produced met immediate consumer demand and also created new demands. In the long run, industrialization raised the standard of living and overcame the poverty that most Europeans, who lived d...