5.5 and 5.6

Internal Combustion Engine and Fossil Fuels

• The internal combustion engine was an improvement on the steam engine.

• It harnessed new fossil fuels: coal and oil (not electricity yet).

Steel Production

• Steel was known before the Second Industrial Revolution, but production was slow and expensive.

• The Chinese knew how to make steel but only used it for high-end items due to the cost and time required for production (forks, knives, armor).

• Bessemer Process:

  • Developed in the 1850s, enabling mass production of steel.

  • Involved blasting cold air onto iron in a furnace to facilitate chemical reactions.

  • Significantly reduced the price of steel, allowing for broader applications such as:

    • Railroad tracks

    • Skyscrapers (due to steel's strength)

New Forms of Transportation and Communication

• Railroads: The DBQ to be reviewed based on the DBQ from 2018 is all about railroads.

• Steam Ships:

  • Important for travel across oceans, rivers, and canals.

  • Facilitated quicker movement of goods across different climates within empires, spurring trade.

• Telegraph:

  • Used by President Lincoln during the Civil War to communicate with generals.

  • Transatlantic communications were established in the 1840's using submarine cables.

Global Manufacturing Decline in Middle Eastern and Asian Countries

• While older societies like those in the Middle East and Asia continued manufacturing, their share of global manufacturing declined.

• Indian Ocean trade routes persisted, and China and the Ottoman Empire continued their activities, but their global economic share decreased.

• Wealth shifted towards European societies and the U.S. as they rapidly industrialized.

Industrialization in Russia and Japan

• Russia and Japan industrialized rapidly with strong leadership-driven focus.

• They embraced industrialization quickly and became powerful.

• Russo-Japanese War (early 1900s) where Japan beat Russia shocked Western powers.

• Russia built the Trans-Siberian Railroad (using steel technology), signaling their entry into the global economic arena, similar to the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States.