The Industrial The Industrial RevolutionRevolution

A Major Change

Revolutionary Changes in…

• patterns of work• social class structure• standard of living• int’l. balance of power

Where? When? What?

Britain1780s

textiles

Timeline – Events around IR

1650 18501780s

1815

1790

Agricultural Revolution

Growth of Atlantic economy

1700 1720

Pop. Boom

Cottage industry + Atlantic slave trade

IR Begins

Timeline – Events around IR

1650 18501780s

1815

1790

Agricultural Revolution

Growth of Atlantic economy

1700 1720

Pop. Boom

Cottage industry + Atlantic slave trade

IR Begins

Timeline – the IR

18501780s

1815

1830

IR begins in Britain

IR reaches the Continent

1820s

Labor Movement/Legislation

Standard of living after

1850

Timeline – the IR

IR begins in Britain

18501780s

1815

1830

IR reaches the Continent

1820s

Labor Movement/Legislation

Standard of living after

1850

Why Britain?

1. large market (domestic & colonial)2. rivers & canals – easy transport3. natural resources – iron & coal4. large labor force

5. agricultural revolution

Canals

Why Britain?

6. strong central bank7. well-developed credit markets8. stable government9. laissez-faire economy10. no domestic tariffs

Textile Industry 1st!

New Raw Material: Cotton

Textile Industry – SpinningJames Hargreaves – Spinning Jenny (1765)

6-24 spindles; hand-powered

Textile Industry – SpinningRichard Arkwright – Water Frame (ca. 1770)

100s of spindles; water-powered factories

Textile Industry – Spinning

Samuel Crompton – Spinning Mule (1779)

factories

Textile Industry – Weaving

Edmund Cartwright – Power Loom (1785)

Consequences of Δs in Textile Industry

1. cheaper cotton goods2. weavers’ wages until ca. 1792 and stayed

good until ca. 18003. poor factory working conditions4. child labor5. industrial dominance

1831 – 22% of GB’s industrial production

The Energy Problem

• pre-industrial sources (human & animal) = not enough power

• shortage of WOOD– due to Ag. Rev. (forests

into fields)– important for heat &

iron-making

The Energy Solution

• STEAM ENGINE– Thomas Savery (1698)– Thomas Newcomen

(1705)**JAMES WATT (1769)**

Raw material: COAL

Watt’s Engine

Importance of the Steam Engine

The steam engine was “the Industrial Revolution’s most fundamental

advance in technology. For the first time in history, humanity had …

almost unlimited power at its disposal.” (McKay 731)

•Uses: mills, draining mines, **iron industry**, steamships, railroads

Iron Industry Boom• steam engine burned coke (coal

derivative) rather than charcoal (wood derivative)

• Henry Cort’s puddling furnace (1780s)

“Iron became the cheap, basic,

indispensable building block of the economy.”

(McKay 732)

Puddlers at work

RailroadsGeorge Stephenson – Rocket (1830)

16 mph!!!

Railroads

• Factors enabling RRs:– iron strong rails– steam engine

locomotive

Consequences of the Railroad

1. ↓ shipping cost & uncertainty2. larger markets larger factories cheaper

goods (economies of scale)3. expanded labor market (huge demand for

unskilled labor to build RRs)4. change in social values: new obsession with

power & speed

Shorter Journeys

“The Great Land Serpent”

Monet’s Gare St. Lazare (1877)

Turner’s Rain, Steam and Speed (1844)

Crystal Palace Exhibition, 1851

Celebrating Britain’s industrial dominance, in London.

Crystal Palace – Interior Exhibits

Britain: “Workshop of the World”

• Produced:– 2/3 of the world’s coal– ½ of the world’s iron and cotton– 20% of the world’s industrial goods in 1860

(vs. 2% in 1750)

• Huge growth, 1780-1851:– GNP x4– pop. x2+ (9 to 21 mil.)

THE IR IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

Per Capita Levels of Industrialization, 1750-1913

1750 1800 1830 1860 1880 1900 1913

GB 10 16 25 64 87 100 115

Belgium 9 10 14 28 43 56 88

US 4 9 14 21 38 69 126

France 9 9 12 20 28 39 59

Germany 8 8 9 15 25 52 85

A-H 7 7 8 11 15 23 32

Italy 8 8 8 10 12 17 26

Russia 6 6 7 8 10 15 20

China 8 6 6 4 4 3 3

India 7 6 6 3 2 1 2

Note: All entries are based on an index of 100, equal to the per capita level of industrialization in Great Britain in 1900 … how much industrial product was available, on average, to each person in a given country in a given year.

Data Analysis

1. 1750 – all countries close together2. by 1800 – GB gained big lead3. nat’l. variations in timing & extent

– Belgium 1st

4. Western nations (+ Japan) industrial levels vs. non-Western nations

Why did the Continent lag until 1815?

Battle of Waterloo

The Continent in 1815

CHALLENGES1. GB goods already

dominant2. tech. too complicated3. pricey to invest4. factory labor shortage

ADVANTAGES1. strong tradition of

cottage industry 2. people: merchant

capitalist class + urban artisans

3. borrow existing tech.4. strong independent

gov’ts.

Agents of Continental Industrialization

1. skilled workers2. entrepreneurs3. governments – protective tariffs– funded RRs

4. banks– limited liability– Crédit Mobilier

Economic NationalismFriedrich List, National System of Political Economy (1841)•anti-free trade•pro-protective tariff

“An individual, in promoting his own interest, may injure the public interest; a nation, in

promoting the general welfare, may check the interest of a part of its members.”

The “Second Industrial Revolution” (1860-1914)

• steel• chemicals• oil

• electricity• planes, cars, subs• telephone, telegraph • movies, radio