Why the Industrial Revolution

Started in Great Britain

1760 AD – 1840 AD in England
1800s-1900s in France and Germany
1840s -1920s in United States
That Nation of Shopkeepers!
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
How did the world go from this?
 Life in England Before the
Industrial Revolution?
• 8 out of 10 worked in countryside
• Subsistence farming
• Cottage industries - factories rarely Welsh
employed more than 50 people spinsters

• Handmade – buttons, needles, cloth,

bricks, pottery, bread etc.
• Developing towns – Liverpool,
Birmingham, Glasgow
How many objects do you
have about you or can
you see in the room that
are handmade?
Before the Industrial Revolution:
Cottage Industry
 How did people get around before
the Industrial Revolution?
• ‘We set out at six in the morning and didn’t get out
of the carriages (except when we overturned or got
stuck in the mud) for 14 hours. We had nothing to
eat and passed through some of the worst roads I
ever saw in my life’

This is a description of a
journey by Queen Anne in
1704 from Windsor to
Petworth – a journey of 40
miles. What does it tell us
about transport at the
time?
To this?
 Definitions of Industrial Revolution
and Industrialization
• Industrial Revolution: a period of increased
output of goods made by machines and new
inventions; a series of dramatic changes in the
way work was done
• Industrialization: the process of developing
machine production of goods that led to a
better quality of life for people and also
caused immense suffering
 Two great economic “revolutions”
occurred in human development
• The Industrial Revolution, started in the
eighteenth century, is still taking place today
– Involves a series of inventions leading to the use of
machines and inanimate power in the manufacturing
process
– Suddenly whole societies could engage in seemingly
limitless multiplication of goods and services
– Rapid bursts of human inventiveness followed
– Gigantic population increases
 Industrial Revolution
• Began around 1750 in Great Britain
• New machines led to the Industrial Revolution.
• They replaced hand labor and helped workers
produce more things faster.
• Moving water power in rivers replaced
worker’s muscle.
• One water wheel could turn hundreds of
machines.
 A technological revolution
A series of inventions that built on principles of mass
production, mechanization and interchangeable parts

Josiah Wedgwood developed a

mold for pottery that replaced
the potters wheel, making
mass production possible
 Industrial Revolution
• Machines also started the factory system.
• The new machines were too large and costly
to be put into a person’s home.
• Large buildings called factories were built to
hold many of the machines.
• The workers in one factory manufactured
more in a day than one person working in his
or her home could manufacture in a lifetime.
 Industrial Revolution
• Steam engines began to appear in the 1700s.
• This important invention used wood or coal as
fuel to heat water in a boiler.
• Steam from the hot water powered the engine,
which ran the machines.
• Since a steam engine could be placed anywhere,
factories no longer had to be built along rivers.
• They could be built near fuel, raw materials, or
labor.
 Industrial Revolution Included:
• 1) the use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and
steel
• (2) the use of new energy sources, including both
fuels and motive power, such as coal, the steam
engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-
combustion engine
• (3) the invention of new machines, such as the
spinning jenny and the power loom that permitted
increased production with a smaller expenditure of
human energy
 Industrial Revolution Included:
• (4) a new organization of work known as the
factory system, which entailed increased division
of labor and specialization of function-- the
worker acquired new and distinctive skills, and his
relation to his task shifted; instead of being a
craftsman working with hand tools, he became a
machine operator, subject to factory discipline
• (5) important developments in transportation
and communication, including the steam
locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane,
telegraph, and radio, and
• (6) the increasing application of science to
industry
 Industrial Revolution

• As factories produced more, better

transportation was needed.
• More canals were dug and better roads were
built.
• Here again the steam engine was able to help.
• By 1830, steam locomotives began to pull
trains.
 Man of Steel: Henry Bessemer
• Before 1850, railroads
and trains were made
of iron
• Iron is brittle
• Railroads were unsafe
• 1850 Henry Bessemer
(England) invents a way
to turn iron ore into
steel
 The Role of the Railroads
• The railroads, built during the
1830s and 1840s:
– Enabled people to leave the
place of their birth and
migrate easily to the cities.
– Allowed cheaper and more
rapid transport of raw
materials and finished
products.
– Created an increased demand
for iron and steel and a skilled
labor force.
 The Industrial Revolution
The Spinning Mill

Consequences on
In the 18th century, English merchants were leaders in world commerce. It
created a demand for more goods and a cheaper system of production.
Besides, there were new ideas in England : an interest in scientific
investigation and invention, and the doctrine of “laissez-faire” : letting business
be regulated by supply and demand rather than by laws. Most important of all,
new machines and techniques were developed by British inventors (for
example : James Hargreaves, James Watt, John Blenkinsop…)

society
Stephenson's Rocket
 On your Left Side with your
partner:
• Compare and contrast this Industrial
Revolution to the Technological Revolution of
the last twenty years.
• What are the similarities?
• What are the differences?
 Origins---Why England?
• Agricultural Revolution
– Horse and steel plow
– Fertilizer use
– Yields improved 300% 1700-1850
• Growth of foreign trade for
manufactured goods
– Foreign colonies
– Increase in ships and size
• Successful wars and foreign conquest
 Origins – Why England?
• Factors in England
– No civil strife
– Government favored
trade
– Laissez-faire capitalism
– Large middle class
– Island geography
– Mobile population
– Everyone lived within 20
miles of navigable river
– Tradition of experimental
science
– Weak guilds
 The Agricultural Revolution
 
During the early 1700's, a great change in farming called the Agricultural
Revolution began in Great Britain.

The revolution resulted from a series of discoveries and inventions that made
farming much more productive than ever before.

By the mid-1800's, the Agricultural Revolution had spread throughout much of

Europe and North America.

One of the revolution's chief effects was the rapid growth of towns and cities in
Europe and the United States during the 1800's.

Because fewer people were needed to produce food, farm families by the
thousands moved to the towns and cities.
 Agricultural Revolution
More food was available.
Food production increased over 60% during the 1700s; twice
the rate between the 1500s and 1700s.
Introduction of new crops, Columbian Exchange, from the
New World.
English farmers began to raise potatoes which proved cheap
and nourishing.
Other new crops indirectly benefitted humans as they
improved animal feed: corn, buckwheat, carrots and cabbage.
This new animal feed produced larger quantities of better
tasting meat and milk.
 Agricultural Revolution
• Enclosure Movement---allowed landowners to fence off land
through the use of hedges and resulted in the loss of common
lands used by many small farmers
• Development of More Effective Farming Methods
a)Townshend---crop rotation
b)Bakewell---animal breeding
c)Tull---seed drill
*These advances displaced smaller farmers who now needed
new employment
*Provided large land-owning farmers with more money to invest
•Cooperative plowing
•Conserved the quality of land
•Balanced distribution of good
land
•Farmers were part of a “team”
•Gleaning
OPEN FIELD SYSTEM---Old System

ADVANTAGES
• All villagers worked
together
• All the land was shared
out
• Everyone helped each
other
• Everyone had land to
grow food
• For centuries enough
food had been grown
OPEN FIELD SYSTEM---Old System
DISADVANTAGES
•Strips in
different fields
•Fallow land
•Waste of time
•Waste of land
•Common land
 Disadvantages of the Open Field
People have to walk
System
Field left fallow
over your strips to
reach theirs
Difficult to
No take
hedges advantage of
or new farming
fences techniques
No proper
drainage

Because land in Animals can

different fields takes trample crops
time to get to each and spread
field disease
 Why did the Open Field System
change?
population

8 What was
7
6
happening to
5 population?
millions 4
3
2
1
0
1700 1720 1740 1760 1780
year
Causes of the Industrial
Revolution
– A. Farming Changes: During
the 1700’s, farmers were
able to reclaim more land to
plant, made better use of
land, and used fertilizer to
improve the soil.
– B. Enclosure Movement: In
the 1700’s, rich landowners
and the English Parliament
began taking away land from
peasants and were able to
harvest more which made
farming profitable.
 Enclosures?
• This meant enclosing the land with fences or hedges.
• The open fields were divided up and everyone who could prove
they owned some land would get a share.
• Dividing the open land into small fields and putting hedges and
fences around them.
• Everyone had their own fields and could use them how they
wished.
• Open land and common land would also be enclosed and
divided up.
Common lands are enclosed;
larger farms are created
 Enclosure Movement
• By the late eighteenth century enclosures were becoming very
common in Great Britain.
• Enclosure simply meant joining the strips of the open fields to make
larger compact units of land.
• These units were then fenced or hedged off from the next person’s
land.
• This meant that a farmer had his land together in one farm rather
than in scattered strips.
• The farmer now had a greater amount of independence.
• This was not a new idea
• Enclosures had been around since Tudor times, but increased
dramatically in the 1700s because they made it easier for farmers to
try out new ideas.
The Enclosure Movement
 Methods of Enclosure
• During the later 1770s, the number of enclosures in Britain increased
because they made it easier for farmers to try out new farming
techniques.
• Farmers could now invest in new machinery for use on their land,
work in one area and not waste time walking between strips of land.
• The enclosed land was also useful for farmers wanting to
experiment with selective breeding and new crops from abroad.
• There were two ways for villages to enclose land.
• One was by getting the whole village to agree among themselves,
which was more common during the early 18th century.
• The second was by an Act of Parliament. By 1770, landowners were
forcing enclosure on their local village by using an Act of Parliament.
“Enclosed” Lands Today
 Ways to Enclose
• There were two ways to enclose a field.
• Before 1740 most villages were enclosed by agreement.
• This was when all of the major landowners in the village made a
private agreement to join their strips together.
• This possibly meant buying out smaller farmers.
• When a small number or farmers did not want to sell their land an
Act of Parliament had to be obtained.
• This became seen as perfectly acceptable after 1750 because it had
a number of really good points:
 1. Each piece of enclosed land had legal documentation.
 2. It provided a forum for opposition to be heard.
 3. It allowed the whole village to be enclosed at the same time.
 Role of Parliament with Enclosure
Movement
• So how did Parliamentary enclosures take place?
• A village meeting was held and the owners of three quarters of the
village's land had to agree to enclosure. In many cases, the Lord of
the Manor and his friends owned three quarters of the land.
• A petition was drawn up by landowners asking Parliament to pass an
act enclosing local land.
• A notice about the petition was placed on the village church door.
• Parliament considered the petition and then passed an Enclosure Act
and sent three commissioners to supervise the enclosure and decide
who had the right to land in the village.
• The commissioners then drew up a new map of the enclosed fields.
 So did people want to enclose their
land?

•Well, some did and some didn’t. If they did not

agree it was hard luck.
• If the owners of four-fifths of the land agreed,
they could force an Act of Parliament-
• There was a great increase in the number of
these in the eighteenth century, from 30 a year
to 60, then from 1801 to 1810 there were 906,
nearly 3 million hectares were enclosed.
 Benefits to the Enclosure Movement
• Some agricultural improvers enclosed their land so as to reduce
wastage.
• It also meant it was easier for them to make decisions about
changing the use of the land.
• Because enclosure brought a farmer’s lands together, it was worth
investing in machinery, lime, manure or seed from one strip to
another.
• Enclosures would also help farmers interested in selective breeding.
• It also made it worthwhile to dig drainage ditches around their
fields.
• Historians generally agree that farmers enclosed land in order to
produce a greater tonnage, thereby earning bigger profits.
• In addition, where land was enclosed, landlords could charge
tenants higher rents.
 So what’s wrong with that?

Nothing - if you could

prove you owned the land,
if you had the money for
fences and hedges and if you
could afford to pay the
commissioners to come
and map the land,
not to mention the cost of an Act
of Parliament.
 Groups That Supported The
Enclosure Movement
• Landowners: They made • Labourers: They were
large profits from the given more work
enclosures because the new
fields were more efficient,
digging ditches, planting
and they could charge their hedges, and building
tenants higher rents. roads. Many of them
• Tenant Farmers: They did even gained new homes
not mind the higher rents, on their master’s
because they were making estates.
so much profit that they
could afford new machinery
and the best fertilizer.
 Groups That Were Against The
Enclosure Movement
• Smallholders: Many • Landless Labourers:
villagers lost land and People like squatters
were forced to become really suffered, because
labourers, either the common land was
because they could not turned into enclose
prove their right to the land. Many of them
enclosed land or were left hungry.
because they could not
afford to enclose the
land.
 Were there winners and losers?
•Yes, the better off farmers and landowners gained the
most - the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.
• People who had no written proof of ownership lost
their land altogether.
•Some couldn’t afford to pay for fences and had to sell
their land.
•These people either became labourers on other
peoples land or headed for the towns to try and get a
job.
•One farm labourer said: ‘All I know is that I had a cow
and an Act of Parliament has taken it from me.’
•There were riots in some villages.
Invention of the Plow
Better food production methods are developed.
Nitrogen was recognized as an important
fertilizer. Turnips and clover replaced lost
nutrients. Science and Agriculture merged.
The appliance of organic chemistry
solved the old problem of keeping soil
fertile.

A scientist, Justus von Leibig,

discovered that chemicals known as
nitrates and phosphates were the
most important nutrients needed by
plants and crops.

The best source for this was crushed

animal bones which could be spread on
the fields.
•Another important development came in
1843.
•A landowner, called J.B. Lawes set up a
scientific research station on his fields at
Rothamstead.
•He experimented and noted the effects of
different fertilisers on different plots of land.

•His greatest success was the production of

superphosphates which he made by using
sulphuric acid on bones.
•Britain had discovered artificial fertilisers.
 Selective Breeding?

•Some farmers such as Robert Bakewell and the Culley brothers

•This meant only allowing the fittest and strongest of their
•cattle, sheep, pigs and horses to mate.
•You can tell how successful they were:

•In 1710 the average weight for cattle was

•168 Kg by 1795 - it was 363 Kg
Robert Bakewell
 Selective Breeding
• Robert Bakewell
• He was a pioneering selective breeder. His new methods were
simple:
• He only chose the best farm animals and bred from them. His most
successful animals were the New Leicester Sheep and the Dishley
Longhorn cattle.
• They were bigger animals, but they did not have better meat.
• Bakewell kept detailed records about his livestock, made sure they
were very healthy and their stables and pens were always clean.
• He was so successful that other farmers often hired his animals to
breed from.
• Bakewell also wrote articles and pamphlets describing his new
breeding techniques and their advantages.
Robert Bakewell and Selective
Breeding of Sheep
 Development of the Breed by
Bakewell in 1700s
• Bakewell was the first to utilize
modern animal breeding
techniques in the selection of
livestock.
• His selection techniques changed
a coarsely boned, slow growing
Leicester into an animal that put
on weight more rapidly and
produced less waste when
slaughtered.
• Robert Bakewell deserves
recognition for his work with
these sheep because it changed
livestock farming forever and
because it influenced the work of
people such as Charles Darwin
and Gregor Mendel.
 The Colling or Culley Brothers
• They were also selective breeders, but
not as well known as Robert Bakewell.
• They improved on Robert Bakewell's
methods and their main success was
breeding the Durham Shorthorn cattle,
which were able to produce large
amounts of milk and high quality lean
meat for sale at market.
 Charles Townshend-Crop Rotation
• Charles 'Turnip' Townshend
• He popularised new techniques and proved that they were more profitable.
• He introduced the Norfolk Four-Course Crop Rotation (wheat, turnips, barley,
clover) to Britain.
• Turnips were used as a cleansing crop to allow the land to be hoed to kill the
weeds, and clover was grown to replace the nutrients in the soil that the crops
had depleted.
• This rotation prevented land from lying fallow and both turnips and clover were
fodder crops, which could be fed to animals to allow more of them to survive
cold winters.
• Used a method called marling, which mixed rich subsoil with a poorer sandy soil
to produce better quality crops and increasingly more profit.
• Gave his tenant farmers longer leases to encourage them to invest more money
to experiment with new ideas and improving their land.
 Norfolk Crop Rotations
• This system meant that no land had to remain fallow. The
system worked like this:
• Each area of land would be split into four sections.
• The crop that was grown on each field would be rotated so
that different nutrients would be taken from the land.
• In the first year turnips or another root crop would be grown;
• In the second year barley was grown in the field (barley could
be sold at a profit);
• In the third year clover or a grass crop was grown and in the
fourth year wheat was grown in the field (wheat could also be
sold for a profit).
Planting Crops Before The Seed
Drill
 Tull and Seed Drill
• Up until this period, farmers planted
the seeds for cereal crops by carrying • Jethro Tull invented a Seed
the seeds in a bag and walking up
and down the field throwing or Drill which could be pulled
broadcasting the seed. behind a horse.
• They broadcast the seed by hand on • It consisted of a wheeled
to the ploughed and harrowed vehicle containing a box
ground.
filled with grain.
• The problem with this method was
that it did not give a very even • There was a wheel-driven
distribution. ratchet that sprayed the
• It was not, therefore, an efficient use seed out evenly as the
of the seed and much of it was Seed Drill was pulled across
wasted. the field.
The First Seed Drill
 Jethro Tull
• He is important because he introduced ideas that others
went on to develop.
• In 1701, he invented a horse-powered seed drill that
planted seeds at the same depth in straight lines.
• This wasted less seeds and allowed farmers to manage
their crops more easily.
• In 1714, he invented a horse-drawn hoe that made it
easier for farmers to weed between their seed rows.
• In 1731, he wrote a book called "Horse Hoeing
Husbandry", which promoted new farming ideas.
Tull’s Seed Drill
 Jethro Tull and the Seed Drill
• Since earliest times seeds had always been sown by hand
• People who worked on the land would walk over the fields
randomly scattering handfuls of grain
• .Jethro Tull invented a machine which greatly helped to
increase the harvest yield by planting seeds in straight lines.
• Tull was far more interested in the farming methods employed
on his land, which he called Prosperous Farm.
• Tull travelled throughout Europe to study new farming
techniques.
• On his return to Prosperous Farm in 1701, he developed a
horse-drawn mechanical Seed Drill.
• The Seed Drill not only planted seeds at regular intervals but
also planted them at the right depth and covered them with
earth.
• Because the seed drill planted seeds in straight lines, a
mechanical horse-drawn hoe, which Tull also invented, could
be used to remove weeds from between the lines of crop
plants.
Tull’s Seed Drill
 Jethro Tull
• Tull advocated the importance of pulverising (crumbling) the soil so that air
and moisture could reach the roots of the crop plants. His horse-drawn hoe
was able to do this.
• He also emphasised the importance of manure and of tilling the soil during
the growing season.
• At the time, Tull's ideas came under attack, mainly because they were new.
• His Seed Drill was not immediately popular in England, although it was
quickly adopted by the New England colonists across the Atlantic.
• In 1731, Tull wrote a book called "Horse-houghing (hoeing) Husbandry"
which he revised in 1733.
• Although his Seed Drill was improved in 1782 by adding gears to the
distribution mechanism, the rotary mechanism of the drill provided the
foundation for all future sowing technology.
Seed Drill
 Feedstuffs
• Animal feedstuffs, made from linseed, rapeseed and cotton seed, were also
being produced.
• Firms such as Thornley’s of Hull and Paul’s of Ipswich specialised in this.
• Over £5 million worth of artificial feed was being sold per year by the 1870s.
• Up to the 1850s most farmers used mixed farming.
• They needed animal dung as manure, and needed to grow grain to feed the
animals.
• With artificial fertilisers and feedstuffs farmers could now specialise in
livestock or cereals.
• They used their land in which ever way was best.
• As a result, wheat yields rose from about 22 bushels per acre in the 1820s to
about 35 bushels per acre in the 1850s.
 Steam Powered Machines
• Steam power had brought such great changes to the other industries of
Britain that it is not surprising it was also applied to agriculture. Some
of the results were successful, such as the steam-powered threshing
machine.
• These were usually owned by contractors and hired by farmers on a
daily basis.
• A steam engine, called a traction engine, provided the power;
unthreshed corn was fed in at the top of the threshing machine, grain
poured into sacks at the back, and straw was stacked at the far left.
• It is estimated that about two thirds of the corn harvest was threshed
by machine by 1880.
• Steam ploughing was more complicated. The traction engine stood at
one side of the field and round a wheel on the other side.
• A special balance plough was then hauled from side to side of the field .
 Additional Machines
 Horse-drawn cultivator – Jethro Tull
 Cast-iron plow (1797) – American Charles Newbold
 Reaper – Englishman Joseph Boyce (1799) and American
Cyrus McCormic (1834)
 Self-cleaning steel plow – John Deere(1837)
 Thresher – separated grain from stalk
 Harvester – cut and bind grain
 Combine - cut, thresh, and sack grain
 Tractor – pulled equipment through the field
 Corn planter
 Potato digger
 Electric milker
 Cotton picker
 A New Agricultural Revolution

Improved Enclosure Population

Methods of Movement Explosion
Farming
•Dikes for land •Rich landowners •Britain’s population
reclamation fenced in land rose from 5 million
•Fertilizer formerly shared by in 1700 to 9 million
•Seed Drill – peasant farmers. in 1800.
Jethro Tull •Output rose with •Declining death
•Crop rotation fewer workers rates
•Tenants displaced •Reduced risk of
•Moved to cities famine.
 On your Left Side:
• Which of the new inventions and techniques
developed during the Agricultural Revolution
do you think had the greatest impact?
• Explain why.
 Publicity to Encourage the
Agricultural Revolution?!
•Yeah, books were written on farming, there were
model farms set up - George III set up one at
Windsor.
•The Board of Agriculture was set up and Arthur
Young, the new secretary, went round the country
recording the progress of the revolution and others
could read his report to find out more.
•Agricultural shows with competitions were held
and people could exchange ideas and see the
latest things.
 The Propagandists of the
Agricultural Revolution
• Arthur Young • Thomas Coke

• He was a propagandist for agricultural • He was a Norfolk landowner who adopted and
spread new agricultural methods on his farm in
improvement who was convinced that Norfolk.
Britain needed a strong agricultural • He gave his tenant farmers leases of 20 to 40 years
community. to encourage them to try out new methods.
• Young traveled around the country • He believed that if his tenant farmers felt they
owned the land for a significant period of time,
and some parts of Europe, writing they would be more willing to invest in it.
articles about agricultural change and • Coke encouraged farmers to use the new
also edited an agricultural journal techniques by organising annual events
called "The Annals of Agriculture". • on his estate that demonstrated the newest
methods. One such event was called Coke's
• In 1793, he became secretary of the
Clipping.
new Board of Agriculture and • This was a competition to see how quickly a sheep
encouraged the spread of new could be sheared.
agricultural techniques and ideas. • He was important for sharing and spreading new
farming ideas.
 Primary Sources on Agricultural
Revolution on Introduction of Potato
• William Somerville, Fable of the Two Springs, 1725
• “In the course of a very few years, the consumption
of potatoes in this Kingdom will be almost as
general and universal as that of wheat. “
• David Henry, The Complete English Farmer, 1771
• “Certainly, potatoes might be used instead of rye as
a substitute for bread, and of this discovery the
poor may avail themselves in time of dearth.”
 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

 “The food produced by a field of potatoes is not inferior in quantity to that

produced by a field of rice, and much superior to what is produced by a field of
wheat. Twelve thousand weight of potatoes from an acre of land is not a greater
produce than two thousand weight of wheat. The food or solid nourishment,
indeed, which can be drawn from each of those two plants, is not altogether in
proportion to their weight, on account of the watery nature of potatoes.
Allowing, however, half the weight of this root to go to water, a very large
allowance, such an acre of potatoes will still produce six thousand weight of solid
nourishment, three times the quantity produced by the acre of wheat. An acre of
potatoes is cultivated with less expense than an acre of wheat; the fallow, which
generally precedes the sowing of wheat, more than compensating the hoeing and
other extraordinary culture which is always given to potatoes. Should this root
ever become in any part of Europe, like rice in some rice countries, the common
and favorite vegetable food of the people, so as to occupy the same proportion of
the lands in tillage which wheat and other sorts of grain for human food do at
present, the same quantity of cultivated land would maintain a much greater
number of people, and the laborers being generally fed with potatoes, a greater
surplus would remain after replacing all the stock and maintaining all the labor
employed in cultivation. A greater share of this surplus, too, would belong to the
landlord. Population would increase, and rents would rise much beyond what
they are at present.”
 On your Left Side:
• How would you have brought publicity and
support to the Agricultural Revolution?
• Explain.
But it wasn’t all good news
New machines meant less people were needed
to work the land - so there was unemployment,
enclosure meant people lost land - this meant
losing their homes as they had nowhere to grow
food and there was little work- so they moved to
towns.

In addition there were change in the

way the land looked from
open fields to a sort of patchwork quilt.
Changes in the shape of a village
as people could build on their own land
 Effects in the Countryside
• The only successful farmers
were those with large
landholdings who could afford
agricultural innovations.
• Most peasants:
– Didn’t have enough land to
support themselves
– Were devastated by poor harvests
(e.g., the Irish Potato Famine of
1845-47)
– Were forced to move to the cities
to find work in the factories.
1. Agricultural production 6. The number of farmers, in
increased proportion to total
population, decreased
2. Cost of foodstuffs sharply
dropped 7. Many farmers moved to the
3. Increased production of cities
food resulted in part, in a 8. The population of cities
rapid growth of increased rapidly
population 9. Farmers found their work
4. Large farms, using less difficult because
machines and scientific machines performed the
methods, began to back breaking labor
dominate agriculture 10. Farming changed from a
5. Number of small farms self-sufficient way of life to
began to decline big business
 Banking and Capital
Aristocracy and middle class had grown wealthy from
overseas trading and large-scale farming.
Now people had capital, or money, to invest in new
industries.
Parliament encouraged investments in new businesses
by passing laws to help growing businesses.
Had a strong banking system set up to make loans
available
Made numerous loans at fair rates that encouraged new
businesses and inventions
 Banking and Capital
• Britain had a ready
supply of capital for
investment
– Britain excelled at
banking
– Had flexible credit
facilities because they
used paper money for
transactions
 Weak Guilds and Unions Made
Illegal
"The weak position of the guilds in Britain
in the eighteenth century can go some way
in explaining the series of technological
successes we usually refer to as the British
Industrial Revolution and why it occurred in
Britain rather than on the European
continent, although clearly this was only
one of many variables at work."

– Mokyr, Joel, The Gifts of Athena, Princeton

University Press, 2002, p.260.
 England’s Resources: Geography
 England is the political center of Great Britain, an
island
 Great Britain (as the entire island was called
beginning in 1707) did not suffer fighting on its land
during the wars of the 18th century
 Island has excellent harbors and ports
 Damp climate benefited the textile industry (thread
did not dry out)
 A country with
many rivers and
streams…so water
power can be
harnessed.
 Natural Resources/Geography
Rich in natural resources
Large number of harbors and rivers that could be used year-
round for shipping
Water also could be used as a power source
Huge supplies of iron and coal---raw materials for the building
of machines and fueling the new machines
The damp climate was good for textile production, because it
helped to keep the fibers in the material soft and easy to work
with.
Separated from the continent, Britain was able to remain apart
from the wars plaguing Europe during the 1600 and 1700s and
thus conserve their resources.
 Natural Resources/Geography
• England substituted coal for charcoal in the
manufacturing of iron because by the 1700s,
most of the forests were gone.
• In 1708, the Darby family of Coalbrookdale
started smelting iron using coke that was
processed from coal. It made the highest
quality of iron.
• Since England had a large supply of coal, it
was able to dominate the iron industry.
Early Canals

Britain’s Earliest
Transportation
Infrastructure
Metals, Woolens, & Canals
Coalfields & Industrial Areas
Mine & Forge [1840-1880]
ù More powerful than water is coal.

ù More powerful than wood is iron.

ù Innovations make steel feasible.

 “Puddling” [1820] – “pig iron.”
 “Hot blast” [1829] – cheaper, purer
steel.
 Bessemer process [1856] – strong,
flexible steel.
 Coal Mining in Britain:
1800-1914

1800 1 ton of coal 50, 000 miners

1850 30 tons 200, 000 miners
1880 300 million tons 500, 000 miners
1914 250 million tons 1, 200, 000 miners
Output of Coal and Lignite - Selected Countries, Annual Averages
(in million metric tonnes)

Germa Austri Belgi

UK France Russia
ny a um
1820
17.7 1.1 1.2 0.1 - -
-4
1840
34.2 3.5 4.4 0.52 4.1 -
-4
1860
86.3 10.0 20.8 4.1 10.2 0.04
-4
1880
158.9 20.2 65.7 17.0 17.5 3.7
-4
1900
230.4 33.0 157.3 38.8 23.3 17.3
-4
Output of Pig Iron - Selected Countries, Annual Averages
(in thousand metric tons)

Germ Austri Belgi Russi

UK France
any a um a
1781-
69 141 - - - -
90
1825-
669 212 90 85 - 164
29
1855-
3,583 900 422 306 312 254
59
1875-
6,484 1,462 1,770 418 484 424
79
1900-
8,778 2,665 7,925 1,425 1,070 2,773
14
British Pig Iron Production
 Large Labor Supply of Workers
 Serfdom and guilds ended earlier in England
than other countries
 English people could freely travel from the
countryside to the cities
 Enclosure Acts – caused many small farmers
to lose their lands, and these former farmers
increased the labor supply
 Large Labor Supply
Growing population of workers due to the improvements in
farming---more food available leads to better diet and longer
life expectancy
1700---less than 7 million, 1800---11 million
Rapid population growth increased demand for goods
Displaced farmers due to the enclosure movement took over
jobs in factories and mining
Birth rates rose in the 1700s, while death rates dropped.
In 1700 in London, there was a half-million more deaths than
births.
By 1800 in London, the deaths only outnumbered births by
20,000.
 Large Labor Supply
The death rate dropped because more babies were surviving
childbirth due to the better training of midwives and
formation of maternity hospitals.
Both children and adults were dying less from disease.
The major health epidemics like the Bubonic Plague had
vanished in Britain after 1660 and the Great Fire of London.
Other major diseases followed a similar pattern like Syphilis
which stopped being an epidemic in the 1700s.
Inoculations started in 1760 with Jenner’s Smallpox vaccine.
Other reasons for the reduction of the epidemics are
unknown.
How many people were there?
How do historians
know how many
people lived in
Britain in 1750?
Population
(tentative estimates in millions - much of it guesswork)

* 1750/1 1800/1 1850/1 1990

Great Britain 7.4 10.5 20.8 57.1

France 21 27.3 35.8 56.1
Germany | 34.0 79.0

|-[Germ+Aust] 18 23

Austria | 17.5 7.6

Hungary 3.5 5.0 13.2 10.5
Belgium 2.2 3.1 4.3 9.9
Italy 16.0 19.0 24.4 57.6
Netherlands 1.6 2.1 3.1 14.9
Portugal 2.3 2.9 3.5 10.5
Russia 28 40.0 68.5 146.4
Spain 8.2 10.5 15.0 39.6
Sweden 1.8 2.3 3.5 8.4
EUROPE (approx) 132.0 190.0 260.0 775.0
 Social Factors
• British society was organized in a less rigid and
hierarchical manner than France or Germany
who held on to feudalism.
• British society was fairly egalitarian.
• The most significant social class in Britain was
the middle class that was comprised of
merchants and artisans. Where in Germany
and France, it was the nobility.
 Social Factors
• Most people moved to the cities
instead of living in rural areas.
• This was only seen in Britain and
Germany.
• By the mid 1800s, 70% to 80% of
Britain’s population lived in urban
areas.
• Society During the Industrial
Revolution
– Urbanization-The movement
of people from the country to
the city.
– Social Classes during the
Industrial Revolution
• Upper class elite, 5%
(owned most of the country’s
wealth)
• Middle classes, 15% (women
worked at home raising kids)
• Lower classes, 80% (lived mostly
in tenement housing-tightly
packed apartment like housing)
 Openness to New Ideas
Ambitious upper and middle class people willing to invest in new
inventions and industries---ENTREPRENEURS
 British people were interested in science and technology due to the
Scientific Revolution
Not afraid to take risks to make a profit
Most of the early inventors were British or Scottish
a)John Kay---flying shuttle
b)James Hargreaves---spinning jenny
c)Richard Arkwright---waterframe
d)Samuel Crompton---spinning mule
e)Edmund Cartwright---power loom
(all of these led to the development of textile factories)
f)James Watt---steam engine
g)Henry Bessemer---inexpensive way to make steel
h)Thomas Telford & John McAdam---paving roads
i)Richard Trevithick---steam locomotive
 Openness to New Ideas
• Due to the increase in wealth and the
middle class due to exploration and
colonization of the New World, the
middle class was willing to invest in the
new industries.
• By the end of the 1700s, the investments
earned them 50% returns.
 The first inventions are in the textile
industry. With the increased population,
the demand for cloth was great.
 Flying Shuttle
• John Kay
• 1733
• Hand-operated
machine which
increased the
speed of
weaving
John Kay’s “Flying Shuttle”
 Spinning Jenny
• James Hargreaves---1765
• Home-based machine that spun thread 8 times
faster than when spun by hand
 Water Frame
• Richard Arkwright
• 1769
• Water-powered
spinning machine that
was too large for use in
a home – led to the
creation of factories
• Samuel Spinning Mule
Crompton
• 1779
• Combined the
spinning jenny
and the water
frame into a
single device,
increasing the
production of
fine thread
Edmund Cartwright---Power Loom
• 1785
• Water-powered device
that automatically and
quickly wove thread
into cloth
The Power Loom
James Watt’s Steam Engine
 James Watt (1736-1819) and
Steam Engine
• Improved Atmospheric Engine of Savery and
Newcomen by adding separate condenser for
steam.
• Perfected flywheel
• Made double reciprocating engine: steam
drives piston in both directions
• 1000 steam engines in England in 1800
Watt’s Steam Engine
Openness to New Ideas:
Inventions
• Steam Engine-
– Provided a new source
of power in factories.
– Eventually redesigned
by James Watt
– Led to all factories
being run by steam
and not water.
• The location of
factories was now
unlimited
Openness to New Ideas:
Inventions
• Steam Locomotive
– Started in 1820’s to
improve transportation
– Led to a boom in railroads-
which helped business and
increased jobs
– Eventually was a major
cause for westward
expansion in the United
States
– Why is the development of
the Railroad so important
to history?
 First class and
mail

Second
class

Manchester-Liverpool Trains (1830)

 Openness to New Ideas:
Inventions
• Steamboat
– Invented to improve
transportation of
people and goods
– Some ships were also
used as party ships up
and down rivers in the
19th and early 20th
centuries
 Great Britain is an island nation with a
relatively stable constitutional monarchy.
 Political Stability/Government
Britain fought many wars during the 1700s, but never on
British soil.
So they never had to rebuild farms or towns due to war
damages.
British citizens did not have to worry about the threat of
war destroying their property and had more time to
consider ways to improve the quality of their lives.
The British government favored economic growth by
passing laws that encouraged investment in new inventions
and industries.
There were no internal trade barriers within Britain unlike
most European countries.
 Political Stability/Government
Britain had unified much earlier in terms of government
and culture than Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.
This encouraged internal British trade and circulation of
goods that helped strengthen the domestic economy.
Industrialization was also encouraged by the ability of the
population to relocate relatively freely.
 In most European countries, it was difficult for people to
transfer citizenship from one town to another.
England allowed its population geographical mobility.
Travel and trade were also made easier by the early
development of canals and rivers due to private and
government investment.
 Government: Parliament
• Parliament helped by
providing a favorable
business climate
– Provided a stable
government
– Passed laws to protect
private property
– Very few restrictions
on private enterprises
 Government: Turnpikes & Canals
• Turnpike trusts created new
roads and networks of canals
– Soon overtaken by railroads
• Railroads were the most
important single factor in
promoting European
economic progress
• Railroad construction created
jobs that many farm laborers
and peasants filled
 British Government Supporting
The Growth
• From 1760 – 1774, Parliament passed over 500 laws
related to building more and better roads
• Between 1790 and 1794, the British Parliament
passed 89 laws concerning the building of new
canals.
• The government pursued Laissez-Faire Capitalism
and did not regulate working hours, pay, conditions,
child labor, environmental issues, etc…that allowed
for fast and cheap growth.
 Importance of Railroads
• Most important thing about railroads is that
they provided a faster and cheaper means of
transportation
• Reduced the price of goods
– Which increased sales
– Which created more factories and machines
– And the process started over again
 Colonies and Navy
British took advantage of their access to international markets.
A British law requiring merchants to use British ships for foreign trade
promoted the British fleet.
The heavy use of the British fleet for trade increased the volume of
imports and exports.
 This gave Britain more purchasing power and increased the
importance of the British fleet.
It became a self-perpetuating cycle.
To preserve a monopoly on the industrial technology, the British
government prohibited industrial workers, inventors, or anyone
familiar with industrial technology to leave the country.
 England’s Resources: Colonies and
Markets
 Wealth from the Commercial Revolution spread
beyond the merchant class
 England had more colonies than any other nation
 Its colonies gave England access to enormous markets
and vast amounts of raw materials
 Colonies had rich textile industries for centuries
Many of the natural cloths popular today, such as calico and
gingham, were originally created in India
China had a silk industry
 Colonial Empire
• Britain’s colonial empire encouraged industrialization.
• Because Britain had a lot of control over its colonies, it created and
enforced the economic system of Mercantilism.
• Britain purchased and imported raw materials from her colonies.
• From these raw materials, British companies produced
manufactured goods which they sold back to the colonies and to
Europe.
• British controlled colonies provided a ready-made, steady market
for British goods.
• The war ravaged European continent also imported British goods
which increased the demand on British industries and pushed the
industries to produce more.
 How ‘Great’ was Britain?
• British empire growing – Canada, West Indies,
Africa, India & America
• Imported goods from plantations, e.g. cotton,
tobacco & sugar
• Exported – cloth, pottery, metal goods
 Colonial Markets
• Had a large supply of
markets for their
manufactured goods
– Included Europe, the
Americas, Africa & the
East
• Efficient merchant
marine system to
transport goods
anywhere in the world
 Colonies and Merchant Marine
• World’s largest merchant fleet
• Merchant marine built up from the
Commercial Revolution
• Vast numbers of ships could bring raw
materials and finished goods to and from
England’s colonies and possessions, as well as
to and from other countries
Britain’s Colonial Empire By End of
1800s
 On your Left Side with your
partner:
• Which of the factors for why the Industrial
Revolution began in Great Britain first do you think
had the most impact?
• Explain why.
• Is there a country today who shares similarities with
Industrial Revolution Great Britain?
• Who and how?
 The Industrial Revolution
• Benefits of Industrialization
– Better clothes, better heat, better food
– Increased goods
– More jobs
– More opportunities
 Advantages of Industrializing First
Growth of early British factories was impressive.
As early as 1820, only 30% of the British labor remained in
agriculture, while 80 to 100% of the continental labor was still
devoted to agriculture.
Britain was able to specialize in industry and import agricultural
products from the continental Europe.
Due to the effects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic
Wars, the Industrial Revolution was delayed in continental Europe.
It would not arrive until 1830.
The French only began industrializing in the period 1830 – 1871, and
only with a focus on luxury items and small-scale manufacturing.
German industrialization happened even later in the 1870s and
1880s after the German unification process.
 Continental Know How
• The continent lacked the
technical knowledge of
the British
– They “borrowed” ideas
• The British forbade
artisans from leaving the
country and prohibited
the export of machinery
• Didn’t work because of
the black market
 Continental Skills
• Gradually they
obtained the skills and
machines they needed
• Established technical
schools to train
engineers and
mechanics
 Thank Napoleon

• One factor that kept the

continent behind Great
Britain was the French
Revolution and the
Napoleonic Era
– Wars caused destruction,
disrupted trade, death,
economic crisis and social
& political instability
– Napoleon only widened
the gap between British
and Europe
Advantages of Industrializing First
• Belgium started in 1807.
• Holland, northern Italy, and
Switzerland would not industrialize
until the start of the 20th century.
• Spain and Portugal were largely
removed from the industrialization
process.
 Continental Industrial Centers

• Belgium, France and the German states

• The cotton industry was different on the
continent in two ways
– It was dispersed through many regions as
opposed to being centered in a couple of cities
like Lancashire and Glasgow
– Industry was built on iron and coal as opposed to
being built on the cotton industry
 Continental Governments
• Government played an important role in
industrialization
– Took on the cost of building canals, roads & railways
– Created tariffs against British goods
– Necessary because they were cheaper and it protected
their industry as well
• Continental investment banks used their saving as
capital to develop industry
 Continental Governments and IR
• Record is mixed.
• Government often sided with owners—
Pullman Strike in U. S. (1894).
• Influenced by evolving liberalism (J. S. Mill),
Government sought to create safety nets.
• Bismarck’s Germany—accident, disability, and
old age insurance.
England vs. Continental Europe
• Produced 20% of • Belgium’s coal and
industrial goods iron resources
• Gross national • Germany iron and
product rose 4x wool factories
• Population increase • France slow to
• Inventors took industrialize
inventions abroad • Mechanization
came but late
 The Industrial Revolution
Other Countries soon followed the example of
Great Britain’s industrialization
– 1. The United States- many natural resources and
many workers good combination for industrialization
• Industry started in the Northeast many people moved into
factory towns
– 2. Belgium, Germany, and France were also affected
by the Industrial Revolution
Percentage Distribution of the World's Manufacturing Production,
1870 and 1913
(percentage of world total)
1870 1913
USA 23.3 35.8
Germany 13.2 15.7
U.K. 31.8 14.0
France 10.3 6.4
Russia 3.7 5.5
Italy 2.4 2.7
Canada 1.0 2.3
Belgium 2.9 2.1
Sweden 0.4 1.0
Japan | 1.2
India |- 11.0 1.1

Other Countries | 12.2

The Rate of Industrial Growth in Five Selected Countries
Indices of Industrial Production
(Base Figures - 1905-13 = 100)

Germa
UK France Russia Italy
ny
1781-90 3.8 10.9 - - -
1801-14 7.1 12.3 - - -
1825-34 18.8 21.5 - - -
1845-54 27.5 33.7 11.7 - -
1865-74 49.2 49.8 24.2 13.5 42.9
1885-94 70.5 68.2 45.3 38.7 54.6
1905-13 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

% of world
industrial
14.0 6.4 17.7 5.5 2.7
production
in 1913
Industrialization By 1850
 Industrialization Spreads
Industrialization soon spread to western Europe and the United States. Other
regions did not industrialize in the 1800s. What was it about Western
countries that encouraged them to embrace industry?

Why Western America Europe

Countries?
• British restrictions • Belgium, 1807
• Political liberty
• Hamilton, 1791 • France, 1815
• Freedom to compete
• Samuel Slater • Germany, 1850
• Rewards reaped
– Water frame – Railroads
• Exploitation and
improvements – Slater’s Mill – Treaties
• Lowell’s Mill
Results of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution
Economic Effects Social Effects
• New inventions and • Long hours worked by
development of children in factories
factories • Increase in population
• Rapidly growing of cities Political Effects
industry in the 1800s • Poor city planning
• Loss of family stability • Child labor laws to
• Increased production
and higher demand for • Expansion of middle end abuses
raw materials class • Reformers urging
• Growth of worldwide • Harsh conditions for equal distribution of
trade laborers wealth (i.e.
• Workers’ progress vs. Karl Marx)
• Population explosion
and a large labor force laissez-faire economic • Trade unions
attitudes
• Exploitation of mineral • Social reform
• Improved standard of
resources movements, such
living
as utilitarianism,
• Highly developed • Creation of new jobs
banking and investment utopianism,
• Encouragement of socialism, and
system technological progress
Marxism
• Advances in
transportation, • Reform bills in
agriculture, and Parliament
communication
 Industrial Revolution’s Impact
• Growth of large factory towns like
Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool
• Division of Labor, both according to task and
increasingly of gender
• Efficiency—F. W. Taylor
• Material quality of life increased among
workers as did alienation
 The Industrial Revolution
• Effects--- Working Conditions
– Men, women, and children worked 12-16 hours a
day
– Working conditions were very dangerous & made
little money
 Social Implications
• Urbanization
• New demands on city services
• Separation of work from home—home
becomes a place to produce children, not
goods.
• Clock/calendar regimented life styles
• Child labor
The Industrial Revolution
• Changes as a result of
the Industrial Revolution
– 1. More people moved to
the enlarged cities
– 2. New cities- poor housing,
few schools, and little
police protection
– Newcastle in England
became a large steel
producer
 The Industrial Revolution
• Cities became filled
with garbage and
highly polluted
– Average lifespan in the
city was 17 while in
the countryside it was
38 (over double)
 The Industrial Revolution
Huge cities like Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool
grew rapidly out of obscure village, and Lancashire,
London, Clyde, and the black country” engulfed old rural
beauty. Village life crumbled, and the population massively
migrated to new centres of manufacture.
With the progress of medicine, the population increased and
more people needed to be fed. Fields were fertilised and closed
with thick stone walls to be easier to cultivate.

Canals were opened all over Britain, the first

one in 1757. They enabled the transportation of
industrial goods at a low cost.

The use of machines meant that workers had to be gathered in

one single place, the factory. Many people left their villages in the
hope of finding work in the cities. In big industrial cities, houses
were built very fast to house the numerous workers arriving from
the country. These districts were invaded by disease and revolt.

Railways developed : in 1825 a line

Population 1750 1815 1850 opened between Stockton and
United Kingdom 7,4 billions 15 billions 23 billions Darlington and another one was
England/Wales 10 billions 18 billions inaugurated in 1830 between
Urbanisation rate (UK) 19 % 37% Liverpool and Manchester.

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 Child Labour
A Day in the life of a Yorkshire girl
This testimony was gathered by Lord Ashley when
he conducted an investigation into the conditions of
labour in mines. His report led to the mines Act of
1842 that prohibited the employment in the mines of
children under thirteen.
Patiente Kershaw, 17-May 15, 1842
“My father has been dead about a year ; my mother
is living and has ten children, five lads and five
lasses ; the oldest is about thirty, the youngest is
four ; three lasses go to mill ; all the lads work at the
pit ; mother does nothing but look after home.
I never went to day-school ; I go to Sunday-school
but I cannot read or write ; I go to pit at five o’clock
in the morning and come out at five in the evening ;
I get my breakfast of porridge and milk first ; I take
The brickyards of England - Children carrying clay
my dinner with me, a cake, and eat it as I go ; I do
not stop or rest any time ;I get nothing else until I
get home, and then I have potatoes and meat - not
meat every day.
At the pit, I hurry the corves about a mile under
ground and back ; I wear a belt and chain to get the
corves out ; the getters that I work for are naked
except their caps ; they pull off all their clothes ;
sometimes they beat me, if I am not quick enough ;
the boys take liberties with me sometimes they pull
me about ; I am the only girl. I would rather work in
mill than in coal-pit.”
Young girl pulling a corve The girl is an ignorant, fithy, deplorable-looking
object, one that the uncivilized natives of the prairies
would be shocked to look upon.
Parliamentary Papers, 1842.

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