- The Industrial Revolution in europe was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States, in the period from between 1760 to 1820 and 1840.This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power and water power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the mechanized factory system. The Industrial Revolution also led to an unprecedented rise in the rate of population growth.
- It is the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. These technological changes introduced novel ways of working and living and fundamentally transformed society.
- The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. Some economists have said the most important effect of the Industrial Revolution was that the standard of living for the general population in the western world began to increase consistently for the first time in history, although others have said that it did not begin to meaningfully improve until the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Characteristics of the Industrial Revolution
The main features involved in the Industrial Revolution were technological, socio-economic, and cultural. The technological changes included the following:
- the use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel.
- 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.
- 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.
- a new organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed increased division of labour and specialization of function.
- important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegram and radio.
- the increasing application of science to industry.
These technological changes made possible a tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass production of manufactured goods.
Reason for the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 1760s, largely with new developments in the textile industry.
The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated and remain a topic for debate. Geographic factors include Britain’s vast mineral resources. In addition to metal ores, Britain had the highest quality coal reserves known at the time, as well as abundant water power, highly productive agriculture, and numerous ports and navigable waterways.
- Economic and political competition:(colonialism)
The European states are competing among themselves for the global resources and most of them are rising colonial powers.This competition and desperation to dominate made them innovate labour and cost saving machinery.
- Scientific Revolution in Europe
The rise in scientific temperament and a society more open to ideas formed a fertile ground for innovations and newer ideas.
- Agricultural Revolution in Britain
Under the enclosure movement the big landlords of Britain started taking away the lands of small farmers and peasants which created unemployment in the agri sector and this unemployed labour fulfilled the demands of the industrial sector.
- Geographical discoveries and world trade
With the beginning of geographical discoveries, new lands were introduced while the west had direct contact with the East which increased the demand of the products and this became the basic factor for industrial revolution.
- Capitalism and capitalist class:
The ideology of capitalism created a new capitalist class(investors) who invested heavily on capital goods.
- Availability of coal and iron:
Coal and iron reserves in England was also one of the causes for the Industrial revolution.
Invention Spar Technological Advances
In an explosion of creativity, inventions now revolutionized industry. Britain’s textile industry clothed the world in wool, linen, and cotton. This industry was the first to be transformed. Cloth merchants boosted their profits by speeding up the process by which spinners and weavers made cloth.
Major Inventions in the Textile Industry by 1800, several major inventions had modernized the cotton industry. One invention led to another. In 1733, a machinist named John Kay made a shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels. This flying shuttle, a boat-shaped piece of wood to which yarn was attached, doubled the work a weaver could do in a day. Because spinners could not keep up with these speedy weavers, a cash prize attracted contestants to produce a better spinning machine. Around 1764, a textile worker named James Hargreaves invented a spinning wheel he named after his daughter. Hargreaves’s spinning jenny allowed one spinner to work eight threads at a time.
At first, textile workers operated the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny by hand. Richard Arkwright invented the water frame in 1769. The machine used the water- power from rapid streams to drive spinning wheels.
In 1779, Samuel Crompton combined features of the spinning jenny and the water frame to produce the spinning mule. The spinning mule made thread that was stronger, finer, and more consistent than earlier spinning machines. Run by water- power, Edmund Cartwright’s power loom sped up weaving after its invention in 1787.
The water frame, the spinning mule, and the power loom were bulky and expensive machines. They took the work of spinning and weaving out of the house. Wealthy textile merchants set up the machines in large buildings called factories. At first the new factories needed waterpower, so they were built near sources of water such as rivers and streams:
England’s cotton came from plantations in the American South in the 1790s. Removing seeds from the raw cotton by hand was hard work. In 1793, an American inventor named Eli Whitney invented a machine to speed the chore. His cotton gin multiplied the amount of cotton that could be cleaned. American cotton production skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in 1810.
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- Improvements in Transportation:Â Progress in the textile industry spurred other industrial improvements. The first such development, the steam engine, stemmed from the search for a cheap, convenient source of power. The earliest steam engine was used in mining as early as 1705. But this early model gobbled great quantities of fuel, making it expensive to run.
- James Watt, a mathematical instrument maker at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, thought about the problem for two years. In 1765, Watt figured out a way to make the steam engine work faster and more efficiently while burning less fuel. In 1774, Watt joined with a businessman named Matthew Boulton. This entrepreneur —a person who organizes, man- ages, and takes on the risks of a business—paid Watt a salary and encouraged him to build better engines.
- Water Transportation Steam could also be used to propel boats. An American inventor named Robert Fulton ordered a steam engine from Boulton and Watt. After its first successful trip in 1807, Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, ferried passengers up and down New York’s Hudson River.
- In England, water transportation improved with the creation of a network of canals, or human-made waterways. By the mid-1800s, 4,250 miles of inland channels slashed the cost of transporting raw materials.
- Road Transportation British roads improved, too, thanks largely to the efforts of John McAdam, a Scottish engineer. Working in the early 1800s, McAdam equipped roadbeds with a layer of large stones for drainage. On top, he placed a carefully smoothed layer of crushed rock. Even in rainy weather heavy wagons could travel over the new “macadam” roads without sinking in mud. Private investors formed companies that built roads and then operated them for profit. People called the new roads turnpikes because travelers had to stop at toll gates (turnstiles or turnpikes) to pay a toll before traveling farther.
- The Railway Age Begins: Steam-driven machinery propelled English factories in the late 1700s. A steam engine on wheels—the railroad locomotive—drove the English industry after 1820.
- In 1804, an English engineer named Richard Trevithick won a bet of several thousand dollars. He did this by hauling ten tons of iron over nearly ten miles of track in a steam-driven locomotive. Other British engineers soon built improved versions of Trevithick’s locomotive. One of these early railroad engineers was George Stephenson. He had gained a solid reputation by building some 20 engines for mine operators in northern England. In 1821, Stephenson began work on the world’s first railroad line. It was to run 27 miles from the Yorkshire coalfields to the port of Stockton on the North Sea. In 1825, the railroad opened. It used four locomotives that Stephenson had designed and built.
- The Liverpool-Manchester Railroad: News of this success quickly spread throughout Britain. The entrepreneurs of northern England wanted a railroad line to connect the port of Liverpool with the inland city of Manchester. The track was laid. In 1829 trials were held to choose the best locomotive for use on the new line. Five engines entered the competition. None could compare with the Rocket, designed by Stephenson and his son. Smoke poured from its tall smokestack and its two pistons pumped to and fro as they drove the front wheels. The Rocket hauled a 13-ton load at an unheard-of speed—more than 24 miles per hour. The Liverpool-Manchester Railway opened officially in 1830. It was an immediate success.
- Railroads Revolutionize Life in Britain: First, railroads spurred industrial growth by giving manufacturers a cheap way to transport materials and finished products. Second, the railroad boom created hundreds of thousands of new jobs for both railroad workers and miners. These miners provided iron for the tracks and coal for the steam engines. Third, the railroads boosted England’s agricultural and fishing industries, which could transport their products to distant cities. Finally, by making travel easier, railroads encouraged country people to take distant city jobs. Also, railroads lured city dwellers to resorts in the countryside. Like a locomotive racing across the country, the Industrial Revolution brought rapid and unsettling changes to people’s lives.
Effects of the industrial revolution:
Economic:
- Rise of capitalists.
- International economic dependence.
- Improved standard of living.
- Increased Agricultural productivity
- Laissez Faire economies.
Political:
- Adoption of democracies.
- Liberal political atmosphere.(Liberalism)
- Rise of new political ideologies like Socialism, Marxism, Anarchism.
Social:
- New class formation.
- Nuclear Families.
- Increased crime.
- New professions.
Environmental:
- Rise of pollution
- Degradation of Nature-Rivers,Lakes,Forests,etc
- Unsustainable extraction of natural resources.
- Ecological collapse.
