AP Euro: Unit 13.1 - Second Industrial Revolution

Impact of Second Industrial Revolution

• second industrial revolution:
  • began in 1871
  • first industrial revolution:
    • new textiles
    • railroads
    • iron
    • fueled by coal
  • second industrial revolution:
    • steel
    • chemicals
    • electricity
    • mostly fueled by petroleum
• electricity:
  • allowed nations without coal to industrialize and compete with other nations
  • machines and factories could now be located anywhere and be powered from afar
  • ushered in a new way of life:
    • electricity/power was carried on unseen wires
    • efforts were reduced
    • lightbulb
    • telephone
    • radio waves
    • streetcars/subways
• dynamo:
  • invented by Michael Faraday
  • machine that generates electricity
  • electric power replaces steam power
  • all modern electric transformers/generators/motors were based on the dynamo
• electricity₂:
  • easily converted into other powers through machines
  • 1870s - power generators developed
  • 1881 - Britain opened the first power stations
  • 1910 - electricity was created through water power
  • new power plants powered new factories in cities and eventually expanded to power people's homes and community shopping areas
• Samuel Morse:
  • developed telegraph which revolutionized communication
  • 1860s - underwater cable linked continents
  • telegraph lines carried pulses in Morse code and delivered code at the opposite end --> code would be deciphered and picked up/delivered to the recipient
• Alexander Graham Bell:
  • invented the telephone
  • earpiece connected with wire and mouthpiece
  • callers got on with operator who connected call
  • phone lines were set up across the country
• Guglielmo Marconi:
  • invented the first wireless radio
  • improved radio signal strength to cross continents
  • early radio broadcasted the news, music, tv-show-like audios
• Thomas Edison:
  • inventions: 
    • phonograph (record/playback sound)
    • light bulb
    • stock ticker
    • developed telegraph line that carried 4 signals at once
  • cities and factories used light bulbs --> open around the clock --> new lifestyle
  • cables run from dynamos to cities/factories to provide power
• Henry Bessemer:
  • invented process which made iron into steel
  • steel is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than iron (perfect construction material)
  • countries began to measure success by how much steel they produced
• steel:
  • used in production from arms/guns to buildings
  • 1870 - Great Britain produced two times as much steel as Germany
  • 1910 - Germany produced two times as much steel as Great Britain
  • the US later surpassed both in steel production
• chemicals:
  • new ways of making soda (stuff in soap, paper, textile manufacturing) allowed Germany and France to surpass Great Britain in the production of alkalis 
  • Germany dominated the dye market and made better film
• Alfred Nobel:
  • created dynamite (considered safer than other explosives but has nitroglycerine and becomes unstable as it ages)
  • used in construction, demolition, and war (Nobel didn't intend for it to be used for violence)
  • Nobel earned a fortune and created the Nobel Peace Prize (award for humanitarian efforts)
• internal combustion engine:
  • allowed people to generate power/electricity on the move
  • drove the need for oil
  • powered old and new transportation modes
  • led to the mass production of automobiles and the development of airplanes
  • revolutionized warfare
• automobile:
  • Nicholas Otto - invented the gas combustion engine
  • Karl Benz -  invented the first automobile (3-wheeled, Gottlieb Daimler later invented the 4-wheeled automobile)
  • Henry Ford - first use of assembly lines to mass-produce automobiles
• Wright brothers:
  • had the first successful pilot-controlled airplane
    • only possible because of the combustion engine
  • air travel takes off in the 1920s
• oversaturation and adaption:
  • foreign markets become oversaturated by European manufactured goods --> new focus for Europeans - to develop internal markets
  • since Europeans were the richest consumers, there was income to be made by selling consumer products --> mass marketing
  • national incomes soar, doubling and tripling incomes of top-tier industrial powers like Great Britain and Germany
• advertising and new products:
  • most new advertising was aimed at the middle class
  • excessive/false ads
  • development of 'cult of domesticity:'
    • family values - men work, and women stay at home
  • new products aimed at making home life easier (aimed at women)
  • opening of department stores
  • mass marketing --> mass consumerism
• eliminate competition:
  • governments wanted to protect domestic markets so they erected tariffs to slow down foreign competition and stimulate domestic markets
  • competition in domestic markets was eliminated through cartels (businesses work together to fix prices, set quotas, and organize industries, later became illegal)
  • banks were more likely to invest in businesses in nations where competition was limited and had stable markets (like Germany)
• new way to assemble goods:
  • manufacturers use interchangeable parts (identical components that could be used in place of one another)
  • easier to put together, 1 person isn't efficient --> use of assembly line (workers add a specific part to each product as it passes them conveyor belt)
• larger banks --> larger factories --> larger profit:
  • banks were willing to invest in businesses (especially German businesses) but wanted to get good returns on investments
  • factory sizes increased to house all parts of production for goods and cut costs by using more machines in production (required more money from banks --> greater profits)
• Germany steams ahead:
  • Germany surged ahead of Great Britain because of their banking and business conditions, and they focused heavily on science and engineering in their schools which led to an educated, motivated, capable workforce
  • change to new methods of production led to a further oversaturation of markets which led to a depression
• growing divide:
  • need to industrialize become more evident because industrialization brought a higher standard of living, decent transportation, healthcare, and educated people
  • specialization of labor reached a global state
  • those who didn't industrialize were relegated to providing goods and raw materials to industrialized nations
  • creation of economic zones of Europe
• world dominance:
  • Europeans prospered from a global economy (nitrates from Chile, coffee/wool from Brazil, sugar from Java, iron ore from Algeria)
  • people in industrialized European nations had spare capital to invest --> invested in foreign markets (develop railroads, banking systems, hospitals, etc.)