Spread of Industrial Revolution

Spread of Industrialization

The Steam Engine

• The development of the steam engine was a key factor in the rapid spread of industrialization.
• The steam engine converted fossil fuel into mechanical energy.
• Earlier factories were water-powered and had to be built near fast-moving water.
• Steam engines allowed factories to be built virtually anywhere, removing geographical restrictions.
• Steam engines were also incorporated into ships, enabling faster and more extensive transportation of mass-produced goods, further connecting the world into a global economy.

Factors Influencing the Pace of Industrialization

• The degree to which different places possessed factors similar to those in Great Britain (waterways, coal deposits, favorable government policies) determined how quickly they industrialized.
• Regions lacking these factors, such as many parts of Eastern and Southern Europe (deficient in coal and waterways) or those hindered by powerful groups like the nobility, industrialized slowly.
• The world began to divide into industrialized and non-industrialized nations during the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Industrialized nations like Great Britain, France, and the United States increased their share of global manufacturing output and economic wealth.
• Countries in the Middle East and Asia, previously significant manufacturing centers, experienced a decline in their global production share. For example, India and Egypt saw decline in textile production and shipbuilding in India and Southeast Asia declined due to British command.

Case Studies of Industrialization

France

• France began to industrialize after 1815, following the Napoleonic era.
• Industrialization in France was slower than in Britain due to a lack of abundant coal and iron deposits.
• Napoleon's construction of the Quenton Canal, connecting Paris with iron and coal fields, laid some groundwork for industrialization.
• The government sponsored railroad construction, and textile factories were established by the 1830s, boosting the cotton industry and aiding the silk industry.
• The slower pace of industrialization in France mitigated some of the social upheavals experienced in Britain.

United States

• After resolving internal conflicts (Civil War), the United States industrialized rapidly.
• The US possessed abundant natural resources and had relative political stability.
• Rapid population growth, through both natural increase and migration, provided a large market for mass-produced goods.
• The US economy became prosperous, leading to a higher standard of living for workers compared to their European counterparts.

Russia

• By the end of the 19th century, Russia, under an absolutist czar, recognized the need to industrialize to avoid falling behind.
• The czar initiated the adoption of industrial technologies, particularly railroads and steam engines.
• The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, from Moscow to the Pacific Ocean, significantly increased trade with eastern states like China and created an interdependent market within Russia.
• The top-down approach to industrialization led to harsh conditions for workers, resulting in uprisings and the Russian Revolution of 1905.
• Industrialization was state-driven, in response to Russia's developmental lag compared to Western Europe.

Japan

• Japan pursued defensive industrialization during the Meiji Restoration to avoid becoming subservient to Western powers.
• They adopted Western technology, education, and practices to rapidly become an industrial power in the East.
• Within a few decades, Japan became the most powerful state in the region.