More handpicked essays just for you.
The causes of the Industrial Revolution
Socio economic effects of the industrial revolution
The social and economic effects of the industrial revolution
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change in the world and changed the way many products were manufactured. Originating in England and Great Britain, its effects spread across the globe and influenced the way people lived and worked and lead to the modern world known today. While it did not always have positive effects, through imperialism, Britain’s Industrial Revolution brought about technological innovations that transformed the world and its economies.
What was the Industrial Revolution?
The Industrial Revolution was a time of immense changes that occurred in the manufacturing process, transportation means, and economy of the agriculture, textile, and metal industries in England, turning it into “the workshop of the world”
…show more content…
People needed faster and more reliable means of transporting the large number of products being produced from factories. Wooden sail boats became steam powered boiler ships made out of iron and steel that more effectively and reliably moved goods from one place to another while steam powered trains took the place of horses, carts, and wagons and made land travel swift and safe. Practical steam engines and new ways of travel had abrupt effects on employment, resulting in even more factories and mills, and centering even more on cities (“Industrial Revolution,” History.com). Communication improved as well, not just by people being able to travel from one place to the next more quickly. Telegraphs and eventually the telephone and radio resulted in handwritten letters no longer having to survive week long trips, but instead being relayed halfway around the globe in just minutes (Deane 72-74).
Why did it begin in Britain? 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
The Industrial Revolution began over two centuries ago and has had a major impact on every current world power. It began in a group of islands off the North West coast of Europe and has been imitated or tried by every nation looking to increase its wealth and power throughout the world. Industrialization came out of the basic ideas of capitalism because it fostered individuals who were willing to take high risks in hopes of high returns on their investments. These investments included factories and machines that would be put to use by people to better their standard of living. These entrepreneurs would return their profits back to the expansion and improvement of their factories and machines.
As much as ideas are positive and helpful, not all had great effect throughout. During the Industrial Revolution amazing ideas and inventions were created to help out the society and make life easier, but not every idea had a good effect. The Industrial Revolution did bring positive outcome, however many of them were negative. Not every idea had positive outcomes, like pollution and child labor. These outcomes were one of the worsts and caused many issues in people's lives.
The Industrial Revolution was an age of great change and growth throughout the world. It represented change from 1760 and on. The movement started in Great Britain and impacted everything from manufacturing processes to the daily life of every average citizen. The social impacts of the Industrial Revolution greatly impacted the world for years to come.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term ‘Industrial Revolution’ is defined as “the rapid development of industry that occurred in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery…characterised by the use of steam power, growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods.” . However, although this may be a commonly shared view of this period, the concept of the Industrial Revolution is widely debated amongst various historians. Whilst many feel the term well describes the changes taking place within industry, trading and the new energy being used at the time, some historians find the concept problematic due to its implication that the changes of the time happened at a ‘revolutionary’
The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain for several reasons. By the mid-1700's, the country had become the world's leading colonial power. Great Britain's colonies not only provided raw materials, but also provided markets for manufactured products. These colonial markets helped stimulate the textile and iron industries, which were probably the two most important industries during the Industrial Revolution.
Also, railroads lured city dwellers to resorts in the countryside. In conclusion, the industrial revolution brought many changes to Britain. The changes included the textile industry, the steam powered engines, which helped create steam-powered locomotives and steam boats. Because of this major improvement in the industrial revolution, railroads began to sprout and was a more efficient way to transport goods and people across Britain. The Industrial Revolution no doubt brought rapid changes to people’s lives in Britain.
The industrial revolution started in the early seventeenth century in Britain. Britain had an established central bank and credit market, along with a modernized legal system, which allowed the English people means to greatly develop new scientific techniques in agriculture, transportation and labor methods. In the late 1700s new inventions allowed the use of machinery to speed up the manufacturing process and replace manual labor, thus the “factory system” is born. With these new methods of manufacturing and the increase in production, Britain needed new improved ways of transportation to expand trade. These scientific breakthroughs laid behind the West’s leap in productivity.
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.
People no longer worked on farms in rural areas. They now worked in factories in urban areas. With different countries going through the industrial revolution, some countries that were more industrialized than others. Britain was the most industrialized country during the Industrial Revolution during the 1700s and 1800s because it had a large population, natural resources, and a stable economy.
Great Britain was the first country to experience industrialization due to its abundant natural resources such as coal and iron, immense expansion throughout the world and subsequent economic growth from trade, and its governmental and financial strength. The industrial revolution was fast and maintained strength in Great Britain, whereas other Western countries experienced industrialization much more gradually and with more difficulty, due to political, social, and economic instability.
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.
The industrial revolution was a period of time where major technological advances took place in Europe in the middle of the 1700s. Without the advances of the Industrial Revolution our world would not have progressed the way it did. This revolution was net positive. With everything, there is going to be some faults. But, in this case, the pros outweigh the cons. Like, discovering new ways of harnessing energy, textile production, and the steam engine all impacted how fast technology advanced in our world today.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and technology went through a period of significant change. These changes had a profound impact on the social and cultural conditions of the time, beginning in the Untied Kingdom and spreading throughout Western Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. The Industrial Revolution, considered a major turning point in history, effected almost every aspect of daily life; through new discoveries in technology came new jobs; through new jobs came new working conditions; through new working conditions came new laws and new politics, the repercussions of which extend to today. As Crump emphasizes: ‘The world as we have come to know it in the twenty-first century is impossible to understand without looking at the foundations laid – mainly in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century – in the course of what is now known, but not then, as the ‘Industrial Revolution’ .
The Industrial Revolution was a movement that shifted England’s economy from one that is focused on agriculture to an economy that is based on manufactured goods. Although, the Agricultural Revolution began around 1500 and ended around 1850, it was not until the Industrial Revolution that the changes significantly took off.
The Industrial Revolution was changing England from a rural society to a nation of factories (Fuller, 280). England changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one as well as home manufacturing to factory production. When Napoleon came into power, people became violent and corrupt, as their former rulers had once been, this was known as the Reign of Terror.