Industrial Revolution

Before the Industrial Revolution
  • People lived in small communities
  • Farming was a major economic sector
  • 1/3 of small children died before they were 1
  • Life expectancy was 40yo
  • Disease was common
  • Private farmlands were not fenced off
  • Daily activities revolved around farming
Early IR
  • Great Britain = wool industry
  • Domestic System: (cottage industry) products produced in the home by hand
  • Coal mining; most coal fields lay under the farmland
  • Enclosure Movement: passing of laws that allowed landowners to take over and fence off private and common lands

Causes of the IR

  • @@Agricultural Revolution@@: series of new agricultural innovations (seed drill; crop rotation)
  • Farmers forced to move into towns/cities for work
Explaining IR
  • 1400-1800; rapid population growth worldwide → led to energy crisis
  • IR was a @@response to energy crisis@@
  • New fuels discovered in IR (@@coal, oil, natural gas@@)
  • New fuels led to increased output and rate of tech. innovation
IR began in Europe
  • @@Internal development favored innovation@@
  • Newness of European states and their monarchs’ need for revenue in the absence of effective tax systems led leaders into @@alliances with their merchant classes@@
  • Europe had widespread @@contact with culturally diverse people; generated global exchange@@
  • @@Competition to make valuable goods and trade to foreign countries sparked production and industrialization@@
  • Colonies produced @@food, raw materials, and silver; led to marketplaces@@
Why Great Britain Specifically?
  • @@Natural Resources@@ - iron and coal
  • @@Harbors and River Canals@@ - transportation and power
  • @@Location@@ - on the Atlantic
  • @@Easy Import/Export@@
  • @@Capital@@: Money to invest in labor, machines, and raw materials
  • @@World’s strongest fleet@@ - protect from invasion and protect trade route
  • @@Wages@@ - highest wages in the world at the time
  • @@Large Labor Supply@@ - farms needed fewer workers → more workers in factories; religious toleration led to workers of all faiths
  • @@British Government Favored Businessmen@@ - passed tariffs to keep out cheap foreign products; laws made it easy to form companies; forbid workers unions; build roads and canals to create a strong internal market; patent laws protected inventors
  • @@Scientific Revolution in England@@ - observation, experiment, measurements, mechanical devices, and practical applicators
  • @@Island Location Protected It from Invasions@@
  • @@No Violent Revolutions@@
  • Three @@factors of production@@:
      * @@Land@@ - natural resources
      * @@Labor@@ - growing population → willing workforce
      * @@Capitol@@ - funds for investment from wealthy citizens
Growing Textile Industry
  • Flying Shuttle: didn’t have to push shuttle back and forth across loom anymore; could pull a cord and it would “fly” → wider fabrics now woven at faster pace; James Hargreaves
  • Spinning Jenny: could spin more threads at once
  • Water Frame: huge spinning frame that ran continuously on waterpower
  • Power Loom: faster loom that allowed weavers to keep up with the amount of thread used
  • Cotton Gin: created by Eli Whitney; mechanically cleaned and removed the seeds from raw cotton
  • Interchangeable Parts: streamlined and improved manufacturing
The Factory System
  • New textile machines were large and costly
  • Production shifted from homes to factories
  • @@Factory System: organized system of production that brings machines and workers together under the control of a manager; Arkwright@@
  • Machines powered by water - lot of factories located close to rivers
  • @@Steam Engine@@: invented by James Watt; new source of power; factories could be moved anywhere

Spread of IR

  • France did not have big cities and large labor supply
      * Revolutions and European wars occupied France’s time and money
  • Germany was a collection of small states, not a nation
      * Upon unification, industrialization spread rapidly
  • USA was fully industrialized by 1900
      * use of transcontinental railroad
      * vast natural resources (timber, coal, oil)
      * many Europeans/Asians fled to the US for work
  • Telegraph enabled long-distance communications
  • Second Industrial Revolution: steel, chemicals, precision machinery, electronics, internal combustion engine, automobiles and planes, electrification, telephone, and radio
  • @@Bessemer Process@@: Henry Bessemer; converts iron to steel; sturdier, more workable metal
  • Steam Locomotive → eventually led to the building of railroads
  • Robert Fulton invented the @@steamboat@@
  • Communications:
      * Samuel Morse - invented the telegraph
      * Alexander Graham Bell - invented the telephone
  • Electricity:
      * Thomas Edison - invented the light bulb and phonograph
        * by 1900s scientists harnessed electrical power
        * replaced coal as a major source of energy
      * Gottlieb Daimler - invented the internal-combustion engine to run on gasoline
      * Rudolf Diesel - oil burning internal combustion engine used in factories, ship, and trains
      * Ferdinand von Zeppelin - invented the dirigible (old blimp)
      * Wilbur and Orville Wright - first successful flight of a motorized plane
      * Henry Ford - Model T (1909); Assembly Line (1913)
  • Japan finally begins to industrialize under Meiji in late 19th century
      * Industrialized in fear of being attacked by industrialized countries
  • Russia entered industrial phase by 1900
      * Trans-Siberian railroad (Moscow to Pacific Ocean)
      * Coal, iron, and steel industries grew; agriculture was still main focus

Effects of IR

  • Working class
      * lived in overcrowded, smoky cities
      * lived in Tenements (crowded, cold apartments near factories)
      * whole families lived in 1-2 rooms
      * human and industrial waste contaminated waters → led to disease and death
      * few public services, such as sanitation
  • Society before IR
      * position in life determined at birth; no social mobility → changed in IR
      * talents and abilities brought money and success
  • Declining British Aristocracy
      * landowning aristocrats, on an individual basis, did not suffer due to IR
      * the aristocracy as a class declined
        * declining political power
        * urban wealth was more important
        * @@land ownership was no longer the basis of wealth@@
  • The Rise of the Middle Class
      * @@benefited most from industrialization@@
      * @@size, power, and wealth of the middle class increased@@
        * Upper Levels: factory and mine owners, bankers, merchants
        * Middle Levels: smaller businessmen, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, journalists, scientists, other professionals
        * Lower Levels: clerks, salespeople, bank tellers, secretaries, hotel staff, police officers
      * @@Political Values@@: constitutional government, private property, free trade, social reforms
      * @@Cultural Values@@: hard work, thrift, cleanliness, strict morality
      * @@Respectability@@: combined ideas of social status and virtuous behavior; education and hard work were keys to success
        * individuals - responsible for their own destiny
        * poor are poor due to their own misconduct
  • Middle Class lifestyles:
      * Men were at work, women stayed home
      * @@Cult of Domesticity@@: homemakers, mothers, wives; create “emotional havens” for their husbands after work; moral center of the family; “managers of consumption” (shoppers); teach respectability
  • The Working Class:
      * grew in numbers
      * few (if any) luxuries
      * worked dangerous jobs in factories
      * accidents were common; no workers compensation
      * monotonous work; noisy; heavy machines
      * strict work schedules; 10-14 hours per day
      * diseases (pneumonia, tuberculosis) were common
      * extremely low wages; even lower for women/children
      * women worked like the men
      * Mill Girls: some women enjoyed a sense of independence; made money and friends
  • Conditions of Coal Mines:
      * Steam Engine increased demand for Coal
      * men, women, and children were used in mines
      * mines were unhealthy and dangerous; lung disease, poison gas, drowning, explosions, and cave-ins were common
      * workers could go days without seeing sunlight → lead to health issues
  • Child Labor
      * children worked for very low wages, had dangerous jobs, and were often beaten in factories/mines
      * families needed their children to work for the money
  • Rise of Leisure
      * Second IR led to shorter work weeks
      * Mass leisure = amusement parks and dance halls
      * Organized team sports (baseball, rugby)
      * Summer Vacations

Responses to IR

  • Social Protests - workers demand better working conditions; knew they were stronger as a group than individuals
  • @@Labor Unions@@: organizations of workers created to pressure business owners to improve working conditions and wages
      * Trade Unions legalized in 1924
      * Union Tactics: nationwide organization/cooperation; strikes; collective bargaining; threat of violence
  • Many workers joined self-help groups (friendly societies)
      * paid dues
      * benefits: insurance against sickness; decent funerals; a social life with people sharing common problems
  • @@Karl Marx@@
      * Viewed industrial capitalism as an unstable system that was doomed to collapse
        * this would create a @@classless, socialist society@@
      * Inspired socialist movements of workers throughout Europe

Legacy of IR

  • Improvements led to the working-class movement away from revolution
      * wages rose
      * cheap imported food improved diets
      * infant mortality rates fell
      * shops and chain stores multiplied
      * all male workers gradually gained the right to vote
      * child labor abolished
      * factory conditions improved
      * system of relief for the unemployed
      * sanitation reform