basics on Industrial Revo

1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

2. CHANGING POINT IN WORLD HISTORY
The Industrial Revolution, which took
place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was
a period during which predominantly
agrarian, rural societies in Europe and
America became industrial and urban.
Other changing points you may be familiar
with:
The Neolithic revolution, moving from the
nomadic world to more agrarian settlements.
The Enlightenment, another scientific

3. WHEN DID IT BEGIN?
Unlike other “revolutions” there’s no exact date.
Historians sometimes refer to it as two parts:
The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1850)
• Fundamental changes in agriculture, the development
of factories and rural-to-urban migration. Took place
primarily in Great Britain, Belgium, France, and the US
The Second Industrial Revolution (1850-1950s)
• Electricity becomes the primary source of power for
factories, farms, and homes. Rise of mass production,
particularly consumer goods. Spreads to places like
Germany, Japan, and Russia.

4. BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Most people lived a rural lifestyle that had
remained largely unchanged for centuries.
More innovations were created during the
250+ years of the Industrial Revolution than
in the previous 2500+ years of known human
history before.

5. BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
In 1750 most people are still living a
somewhat isolated, agrarian lifestyle:
• They’re self-sufficient, living on farms,
growing their own food, making their own
clothes, engaging in simple bartering…etc
However, the life of someone living in Great
Britain around 1750 is going to be much
different than someone living in 1850.

6. FROM FARMS TO FACTORIES
The Industrial Revolution is essentially the
urbanization of the world. People begin moving
to cities for jobs as a result of factory
production.
This has major effects on economies, consumer
goods, types of jobs being created, and the
overall lifestyle of people around the world.
People start living with complex machinery built
largely on steam power rather than man or
horse power as things were before.

7. BIRTHPLACE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The Industrial Revolution
began in Great Britain.
Historians sometimes
break down the causes
into three main
categories:
Land, Labor, and Capitol

8. HOW THE BRITISH GOT A HEAD START
Beginning in the 1750s, Great Britain experienced
an unprecedented increase in agricultural
production due to new technological improvements
in farming. This became known as the Agricultural
Revolution.
During this time, the Enclosure Movement began
in Great Britain. This was a push to take land that
had formerly been owned in common by members
of a family or village, and change it to privately
owned land, usually with hedges around it.
This created a system where small farms were
consolidated into larger farms and it turned out to

9. THE ENCLOSURE MOVEMENT
This marked the industrialization of the farming
complex itself and lead to large numbers of
small family farmers become displaced.
In need of work, many of these farmers moved
to
big cities like London.
So now Great Britain
has two things going on:
• Availability of food
• Availability of workers

10. GEOGRAPHY OF GREAT BRITAIN
Abundant natural resources and lots of land.
Plenty of coal and iron ore deposits, this helps
the growth of factories, steam powered
machines, and steel production.
Damp climate benefitted growth of textile
industry (thread didn’t dry out).
Excellent harbors and ports.
Navigable river systems eased transportation of
raw materials and natural resources across the
country for efficient trade and commerce.

11. CAPITOL AND ITS ROLE IN INDUSTRIALIZATION
Great Britain had grown it’s empire and its
wealth to a point far beyond what any other
nation had been able to achieve.
With the world’s largest merchant fleet, Great
Britain was able to bring raw materials and
finished goods to and from England’s colonies
and possessions, as well as to and from other
countries.
Remember, capitol isn’t just money, it’s all
human creations that help produce wealth.

13. OTHER REASONS WHY BRITAIN WAS FIRST
Politically stable society with a government that
allowed business to flourish with laissez-faire
policies while encouraging improvements in
transportation, using the navy to protect trade.
A high demand for British goods made
merchants come up with more cost-effective
methods of production, which led to the rise of
mechanization and the factory system.
Dozens of remarkable innovations were created
first by British inventors.

14. INVENTIONS AND TEXTILES

15. INVENTIONS AND TEXTILES

16. INVENTIONS AND IRON
In the early 18th century, Englishman Abraham
Darby discovered a cheaper, easier method to
produce cast iron, using a coke-fueled (as
opposed to charcoal-fired) furnace.
In the 1850s, British engineer Henry Bessemer
developed the first inexpensive process for
mass-producing steel. Both iron and steel
became essential materials, used to make
everything from appliances, tools and
machines, to ships, buildings and infrastructure.

17. STEAM POWER
In 1712, Englishman Thomas Newcomen
developed the first practical steam engine
(which was used primarily to pump water out
of mines).
By the 1770s, Scottish inventor James Watt
had improved on Newcomen’s work, and the
steam engine went on to power machinery,
locomotives and ships during the Industrial
Revolution.

19. TRANSFORMATION OF TRANSPORTATION
Before the advent of the steam engine, raw
materials and finished goods were transported
by horse-drawn wagons, or boats along canals
and rivers.

20. TRANSFORMATION OF TRANSPORTATION
In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton
built the first commercially successful
steamboat, and by the mid-19th century,
steamships were carrying goods all the way
across the Atlantic.
Around the same time, British engineer
Richard Trevithick constructed the first
railway steam locomotive.

21. RAILWAY SYSTEMS
In 1830, England’s Liverpool and Manchester
Railway became the first to offer regular
passenger services. By 1850, Great Britain
had more than 6,000 miles of railroad track.

22. ROADS AND TRANSPORTATION
In 1820, Scottish engineer John McAdam
developed a new process for road
construction. His technique, known as
macadam, resulted in roads that were
smoother, more durable and less muddy.

23. INNOVATIONS IN COMMUNICATION
Communication became easier during the
Industrial Revolution with the telegraph.
Originally invited by Samuel Morse in 1837,
but later patented for commercial used by
two Brits, William Cooke and Charles
Wheatstone.
In 1866, a telegraph cable was successfully
laid all the way across the Atlantic.
For the first time in human history, people
could now quickly send messages across

25. THE WORLD CATCHES UP TO GREAT BRITAIN
For a while, the government of Great Britain
tried their best to prohibit the export of all the
cool ideas and technology that had been
invented there. But that simply didn’t work.
Soon enough, ideas were stolen, copied, and
used in other nations.
By the mid-19th century, industrialization was
well-established throughout western Europe
and the United states.
By the early 20th century, the U.S. had become
the world’s leading industrial nation.

26. BANKING IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
In the late 18th century, the world witnessed the
rise of big banks and industrial financiers, as
well as a factory system dependent on owners
and managers.
In the 1770s, a stock exchange was established
in London.
In the 1790s, the New York Stock Exchange
was founded.
Stock broking allowed people to buy and sell
shares of enterprises and commodities.

27. CAPITALISM TAKES OVER
In 1776, Scottish social philosopher Adam
Smith published “The Wealth of Nations.” In
it, Smith promoted an economic system
based on free enterprise, the private
ownership of means of production, and lack
of government interference (laissez-faire).
Adam smith is widely regarded as the
founder of Capitalism, and his ideas greatly
influenced the movers and shakers of the
Industrial Revolution.

28. INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM: POSITIVE EFFECTS
Industrial tycoons began to amass huge amounts
of wealth. They built more factories that required
more labor while also producing more goods for
more people to purchase.
Many of these new entrepreneurs found
themselves making more money than the old
nobles and aristocratic families who had been on
top for centuries.
For the first time in history, common people could
have hopes of becoming wealthy without being
born into it.
Mass production made manufactured goods less
expensive, so more people could afford them.

29. INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM: POSITIVE EFFECTS
Capitalism became the first system to benefit all
levels of society rather than just the noble classes.
For the most part, wages increased and the
standard of living also increased with help from the
formation of unions, and the abundance of
affordable products being mass-produced.
The emergence of capitalism led to the formation
of a middle class. Over time, this began to lift
more and more people from the lower classes out
of poverty and even made room for more leisure
time.
The financial investments required to run large
industries during the Industrial Revolution brought
about modern capitalism.

30. INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM: POSITIVE EFFECTS
The emergence of capitalism led to the
formation of a middle class. Over time, this
began to lift more and more people from the
lower classes out of poverty and even made
room for more leisure time.
The financial investments required to run
large industries during the Industrial
Revolution brought about modern capitalism.

31. INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM: NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Although new technological achievements
and an abundance of goods were enjoyed by
almost everyone, the actual standard of living
for the average worker wasn’t necessarily
any better.
Factories paid low wages, and many
immigrants and rural-to-urban migrants lived
poorer lives than their parents and
grandparents had lived.

32. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE WORKING CLASS
Rural families who lived
before the Industrial
Revolution did not rely solely
on wages to live.
People who moved to cities
and got factory jobs, left their
independence behind with
them.
For most rural farmers, they
had never even seen a clock
before. Suddenly there was a
set schedule of when to work.

33. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE WORKING CLASS
People who labored in factories received very
low wages and working conditions could be
extremely dangerous and tedious.
Unskilled workers had virtually no job security
and were easily replaceable.

34. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE WORKING CLASS
Industrialization also meant that some
craftspeople were replaced by machines.
Luddites and Ned Ludd

35. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE WORKING CLASS
Children were a large part of the labor force and
often worked insanely long hours and were used
for some of the most dangerous jobs, like
cleaning the machines.
In the early 1860s, over 20% of British textile
workers were younger than 15.

36. WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE
Traditionally women had been limited to domestic jobs as
housemaids or working on the farm.
The growth of Industrial towns offered young women an
opportunity to be self-sufficient.
Usually female workers lived together in boardinghouses,
away from their family homes, and were able to hopefully
save money for their own personal use

37. LIVING AND WORKING IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE
Urban environments were polluted and
housing was overcrowded.
Living conditions in Factory Towns were
unsanitary and disease was rampant.
Conditions for Britain’s working-class
improved by the later part of the 19th century,
as various labor reforms were passed and
workers gained the right to form trade
unions.

38. LONG TERM EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
All sorts of new technologies and material
goods
Advanced communication and transportation
Rise in global commerce
New sources of power and electricity
Rise in the standard of living, life expectancy
Education becomes more commonplace
Growth of suburbs and the middle class
Worker’s rights/protections

39. LONG TERM EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
Pollution
Rise of Imperialism
Social class disparity
Rise of socialist thought, communism, Marxism
Totalitarian regimes