Positive and Negative Impacts Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and

discomforts. - Arnold Bennett. This is prominent today and was prominent during 1850-1914 as well, when Britain and Russia were both impacted positively and negatively by social and technological advances. Both Britain and Russia were heavily affected by industrialization. Both had breakthroughs such as the pneumatic tyre (Britain), fingerprinting (Britain), basis of the periodical table (Russia) and the radiator (Russia). These inventions were major because they were the basis for all the appliances, systems, and technology we use today. However, Britain was still more industrialized during this time period, mainly because it had many colonies to supply it with the raw materials and resources needed to create all the products its citizens constantly used. One can tell that Britain is more developed than Russia as it had a larger network of railways, the first electric power-plants, and its citizens had more office jobs. While although Russia does have a network of railway and valuable scientific information, many of the people were the lower class or peasants, which from this we can tell that Russia is not as developed and industrialized than Britain. This benefits Britain because it had better technology to imperialise and therefore access and exploit more of the raw materials available to them in their colonies. In contrast, this left the natives of their colonies with barely anything that used to be available at the time. Britain was less affected by social and political impacts than Russia during the 1850-1914 time period. At the time, Russia was under Tsarist rule, and their ruler being Alexander II. As mentioned above, a majority of the Russian people were peasants. As they wanted more freedom, fears of anarchy rose. Also, as the countrys borders grew to China and Afghanistan, the government got stretched, and the inadequacies of Tsarist system showed. Russia was not stable ; the government lost much control to the far ends of their huge country. On the other hand, Britain was displaying a good, strong central government. Although it had colonies around the world, Britain showed a good level of control and power. This could be because of the respect the British people had towards the head of Britain (the Queen) than the Russians had towards their Tsar. One can see that Britain was prospering more than Russia as it came up with more ingenuitive ideas and inventions such as the pneumatic wheel that are critical to our society today. Having said that, Britain also created many environmental problems as the factories churned out a lot of pollution. The benefits of a stronger

central government is that it prevents the overlap or clash between the country and state rules, and also allowed for a easier and less complicated method to initiate government projects; while Russia displayed a mix of both federal and central government. It provided a barrier to the dominance of the majority, but was very cumbersome when planning its whole economic life. In conclusion, Britain and Russia were both impacted by many technological improvements. Technological and social improvements during the 1850-1914 period affected Britain and Russia negatively and positively. Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. - Robert C. Gallagher

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Citations Abbott, David, and Catherine Glass. "BRITS AT THEIR BEST: British Inventions Ingenious Timeline 19th Century 1855 - Copyright 2006 - 2010 David Abbott and Catherine Glass." Brits at Their Best. Brits at Their Best. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.britsattheirbest.com/ingenious/ii_19th_century_1855. htm>. Great Idea Finder. "Pneumatic Tire History - Invention of the Pneumatic Tire." The Great Idea Finder - Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation. The Great Idea Finder, 2006. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/pneumatictire.htm >. Virtual Scotland.com. "John Dunlop." Virtual Scotland. Famous Scots. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http:// www.virtualscotland.co.uk/scotland_articles/famousscots/dunlop.htm>. Pearson Longman International. "Russia and Japan:Industrialization Outside The Wesst." Russia and Japan. Pearson Longman. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://wps.ablongman.com/ long_stearns_wc_4/17/4399/1126309.cw/index.html%20paren tloc>. INKC. "History & Culture of Russia / The Path to Revolution." Geographia - World Travel Destinations, Culture and History Guide. InterKnowledge Cooperation. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis06.htm>.