1 The Industrial Revolution (Notes)

Introduction

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, great changes took place in the lives and work of people in
several parts of the Western world. These changes resulted from the development of industrialization.
The term Industrial Revolution refers both to the changes that occurred and to the period itself.
Before the revolution, manufacturing was done by hand, or by using animal power or simple machines.
Most people worked at home in rural areas. A few worked in shops in towns and belonged to associations
called guilds. The Industrial Revolution eventually took manufacturing out of the homes and workshop.
Power-driven machines replaced handwork, and factories developed as the most economical way of
bringing together the machines and the workers to operate them.
Most historians agree that the industrial revolution was a great turning point in the history of the world. It
changed the Western world from a basically rural and agricultural society to a basically urban and
industrial society. Industrialization brought many material benefits, but it also created a large number of
problems that remain critical in the modern world. For example, most industrial countries face problems
of air, land, and water pollution.

Definition of the Industrial Revolution:

The Industrial Revolution is the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft
economy to one dominated by industry and manufacturing. This process began in
Britain in the 18th century then it started spreading to other parts of Europe and
North America.
The I.R was a time in the 18th century when many important inventions were
made. Many of these inventions made work easier and cheaper. As these
inventions created new manufacturing and industry, many people also
moved from farms into cities. It was time of very rapid change in the world.

Life before industrialization:

Before the I.R began in England around the year 1760, the way most people lived in Europe and America
was very different from the way they live today. Nine out of ten people lived in rural areas. There was a
large, mostly poor, lower class, a small rich upper class, and not much of a middle class. Rural people
raised their food on small farms and they didnt have to leave home each day to work at their jobs. Back
then, there were no electric lights, no movies, no telephone, no recorded music, and no cars. Ordinary
people used their hands to make most of the things they needed. They had no reason to earn a clock since
their lives were tuned to the rising and setting of the sun. The world was pretty quiet before the I.R
because there were no machines for rapid transportation to fill the air with noise. Without these devices
ppl didnt travel much. Consequently, except for their own villages, they knew very little about the world
in which they lived. The pace of life was much slower before the I.R because ppl had to walk or use horses
to move from one place to another. There was no public education, so few ppl could read or write, and
due to the poor nutrition and living conditions they didnt nearly live as long as people do today.

Why did the I.R start in Britain first?

-Cheap labour - raw materials(coal & iron in both England and its
-Availability of capital colonies)
-Inventors who had brilliant ideas( ppl who had money - Englands Geographical position = islands = harbours =
were willing to invest and inventors took the money) access to the sea = overseas trade also merchant marine
- Risk-taking entrepreneurs - Rich of rivers and streams = easy transport especially
-peace in Britain heavy things
-openness to new ideas ( flexible society: in England ppl - Government didnt put barriers that prevent ppl from
supported and encouraged inventors to work not like in working (encouraged ppl to work= laissez-faire.
France )

Textile manufacturing
2 The Industrial Revolution (Notes)

textile manufacturing was the first industry to be industrialised

Before the I.R , the poor, rural population had few ways of earning a living except for
what they get from farming. However, in Europe especially, many rural ppl could add to
their incomes by working on what was known as domestic or cottage industry. The way
this worked was that cloth merchants purchased large quantities of wool or any other
material then they deliver it to cottage workers to be made into cloth. The merchants
financed the entire operation. Some of them own the spinning and weaving equipment
and the workers cottages. However, the workers had much independence and set their
own pace of work.
Ppl who made cloth used their skill, muscle power, or water power to llargely hand-
make cloth. These workers were the first ppl to be replaced by machines because of the
growing demand of the population.
In the late 18th century, a series of innovations shifted textile production to a new
factory system and cotton led the way.
Demand for cotton grew with a change in the upper class fashion, and Britain started to
allow more cotton production but it was not enough to satisfy the demand. This
demand was the inspiration for the following inventions.

Steam Power:
The early factories were powered by waterwheels and were located next to rivers. Gradually
steam replaced water as the main source of power in the industrial revolution.
Early water power had problems
Not enough rivers to provide the power needed to meet growing demand
Rivers and streams might be far removed from raw materials, workers, and markets
Rivers are prone to flooding and drying
The switch from water to steam power sped up the I.R and led to huge changes in
manufacturing, farming, and transportation.
The process of developing a steam engine capable of meeting the needs of industry took
decades.
3 The Industrial Revolution (Notes)

The first steam engine: it was developed to pump water out of the bottom of coal mines. (By
Savery in 1698 /Before the IR) and in 1712, by THOMAS NEWCOMEN, ENGLAND.
By 1769, James Watt (Scottish) had managed to design a steam engine developed on the one
of Newcomen, but this one could turn a wheel to power machinery.
Factories that started using steam engines were more efficient than water-powered factories
and could be built far away from rivers (source of flowing water).
Steam power was far more widespread, especially in the cotton industry. It also had a crucial
role in the development of railways and steamboats.
Coal and Iron:
Vast amounts of fuel were required to smelt iron ore to burn out impurities
Abraham Darby (1709)
o Discovered that heating coal turned it into more efficient coke
John Smeaton (1760)
o Smelted iron by using water-powered air pumps to create steam blasts
Henry Cort (1783)
o Developed the puddling process which purified and strengthened molten iron
Increases in Coal and Iron Production, 1770-1800 (Great Britain produced as much coal and iron
as every other country combined.)
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, steel was difficult to produce and expensive
Henry Bessemer, 1856
o Developed the Bessemer process
o Brought on the Age of Steel
o Steel is the most important metal used over the past 150+ years
Other improvements in steel production
o Open-hearth furnace
o Electric furnace
o Use of other metals to produce various types of steel
P.S the increasing demand for coal was due to a number of reasons:
A growing population which used coal for heating/ the building of the railways and the running
of steam trains/ the growth of the iron industry/ the development of coal gas lighting which
used coal to produce the gas.
As a result of this increased demand, it was necessary to dig deeper mines so more coal
could be extracted.
Miners came across problems (more water, pockets of methane gas and darkness).
Steam pumps were used to circulate air and remove water.
The problem of explosions underground was tackled by John Buddie who, in 1810, used
trap doors to introduce fresh air to various parts of the mines.
Sir Humphrey Davy introduced the Davy Safety Lamp in 1815.
Transportation:
Neither agricultural revolution nor the industrial one could take place without a reliable
transportation system. The I.R was made possible by improvements in the way in which
ppl and goods were transported.
Before the industrial revolution, ppl used ships powered by sails, horse-drawn wagons,
carts, and carriages. They also used canal barges pulled by mules.
After the Industrial Revolution: Trains/ Steamships/ Trolleys/ Automobiles.
Roads: Strong, hard roads invented by Thomas Telford and John McAdam. They repaired
up to 2000 miles of roads.
Canals were used to transport coal and goods. In the 1840s they were used to transport
goods needed for building railways.
Steamboat (1807) Sped water transportation by Robert Fulton (American)
Locomotive (1825) Fast land transport of people and goods by George Stephenson
(English)
4 The Industrial Revolution (Notes)

Many canals were dug. They connected the main rivers and so furnished a network of
waterways for transporting coal and other heavy goods. A canalboat held much more
than a wagon. It moved smoothly if slowly over the water, with a single horse hitched to
the towline. In some places, where it was impossible to dig canals and where heavy
loads of coal had to be hauled; mine owners laid down wooden or iron rails. On these
early railroads one horse could haul as much coal as 20 horses could on ordinary roads.
Early in the 19th century came George Stephenson's locomotive and Robert Fulton's
steamboat, American inventions. They marked the beginning of modern transportation
on land and sea. Railroads called for the production of more goods; for they put factory-
made products within reach of many more people at prices they could afford to pay.
Impacts of Industrialization:

Expansion of world trade

Economic Factory system

Mass production of goods
Industrial capitalism
Changes Increased standard of living
Unemployment

Decline of landed aristocracy

Growth and expansion of democracy
Political Increased government involvement in society
Increased power of industrialized nations
Changes Nationalism and imperialism stimulated
Rise to power of businesspeople

Development and growth of cities

Social Improved status and earning power of women

Increase in leisure time
Population increases
Changes Problems economic insecurity, increased deadliness of war, urban slums, etc.
Science and research stimulated