The
Industrial Revolution was a fundamental change in the way goods were produced,
from human labor to machines. The more efficient means of production and
subsequent higher levels of production triggered far-reaching changes to
industrialized societies. The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the
period in the 18th and 19th centuries when Britain was transformed from a
predominantly agricultural nation into the manufacturing workshop of the world.
Rapid scientific, technological and commercial innovations, a rising
population, improved transportation and expanding domestic and international
markets provided the context for the development of thousands of mills,
factories, mines and workshops. Mining, engineering and manufacturing continued
to provide employment for millions of people well into the 20th century.
Major
technological developments of the Industrial revolution included:
- Mechanized production of cloth, especially cotton.
- The use of coke in iron smelting and wrought iron production.
- The pudding process for making wrought iron and later, steel.
- New chemical processes to produce sulfuric acid, sodium carbonate and other chemicals.
- Improvements to the atmospheric steam engine to increase efficiency, speed and uniformity of motion.
- Development of high pressure steam engines for use in factories, steamboats and later, railroads.
- Development of more efficient water wheels.
- Development of machine tools.
- Development of a machinery industry.
- Introduction of hot blast heat recovery in iron smelting.
The economic, social, and political effects of
Industrial Revolution:
social effects:
Before the Industrial Revolution, Europe was
mostly an agrarian society. This means that they worked off the land to make
money. Most Europeans were farmers and worked in the country. All of this
changed once the Industrial Revolution started. Production became automated or
done my machines and required less human labor. The automation of production
all started because of an amalgamation of some great inventions. The spinning
jenny invented by James Hargreaves in 1764 was a spinning machine that made it
possible to produce more cotton cloth. The manufacturing and production of the
steam engine done by James Watt and Matthew Bolton also increase productivity.
Steam power was used in power looms which became one of the most important
technologies developed in the Industrial Revolution. These power looms allowed
work to be done faster and required less labor to produce the cloth. Even
though these changes occurred and production became more automated, there were
still some things that stayed the same. Human labor was still needed to work in
the factories alongside the machines. Also the materials used to produce the
cloth, cotton, was the same. Britain still had to import raw cotton from India.
The automation of production definitely changed from before the Industrial
Revolution but some aspects still stayed the same.
A number of factors contributed to Britain’s
role as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. For one, it had great
deposits of coal and iron ore, which proved essential for industrialization.
Additionally, Britain was a politically stable society, as well as the world’s
leading colonial power, which meant its colonies could serve as a source for
raw materials, as well as a marketplace for manufactured goods.
As
demand for British goods increased, merchants needed more cost-effective
methods of production, which led to the rise of mechanization and the factory
system.
The effects of all this rapid change on
society was enormous. More and more people left the land and went to towns and
cities to work in factories. The growth of the towns couldn't keep up with the
number of people pouring into them, and so housing was hard to get and people
lived in slums in appalling circumstances.
Economic effects :
Some
economic effects included:
1. Rapid
increases in technology which affects production
2. Standardization
of production processes and parts.
3. Substantially
lower transportation costs and development of improved transportation systems
canals; railroads
4. Better
and cheaper intermediate good production
steel
5.Vast increase in global trade.
The
textile industry, in particular, was transformed by industrialization. Before
mechanization and factories, textiles were made mainly in people’s homes
(giving rise to the term cottage industry), with merchants often providing the
raw materials and basic equipment, and then picking up the finished product.
Workers set their own schedules under this system, which proved difficult for
merchants to regulate and resulted in numerous inefficiencies. In the 1700s, a
series of innovations led to ever-increasing productivity, while requiring less
human energy.
Developments in the iron industry also played a central role in the Industrial Revolution. In the early 18th century, Englishman Abraham Darby discovered a cheaper, easier method to produce cast iron, using a coke-fueled furnace. In the 1850s, British engineer Henry Bessemer developed the first inexpensive process for mass-producing steel. Both iron and steel became essential materials, used to make everything from appliances, tools and machines, to ships ,building sand infrastructure.
The steam engine was also integral to industrialization.
The
transportation industry also underwent significant transformation during the
Industrial Revolution. Before the advent of the steam engine, raw materials and
finished goods were hauled and distributed via horse-drawn wagons, and by boats
along canals and rivers. In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the
first commercially successful steamboat, and by the mid-19th century,
steamships were carrying freight across the Atlantic.
As steam-powered ships were making their debut, the steam locomotive was also coming into use. In the early 1800s, British engineer Richard Trevithick constructed the first railway steam locomotive. .
Political effects.
The effects of Industrial Revolution were equally felt in the sphere of
politics. The growth of large populous towns made parliamentary reform
necessary as these new seats of industry were unrepresented in parliament. The distress of the workmen
under the factory system led to the chartist movement and socialistic demands
for reform.
In
fact these countries added so much territory to their empire that one historian
has described it as "the greatest land grab movement in the history of the
world." It is well known that colonialism produced adverse effects on the
local people and resulted in their ruthless exploitation. However, it cannot be
denied that it also paved the way for the industrialization of these
territories because the European colonizers set up certain industries in these
areas.
Secondly,
industrial revolution sharply divided the countries. The industrially advanced
countries which possessed necessary finances and technical know-how, invested
their surplus capital in the backward countries and fully exploited their
resources and crippled their industries. Thus the world came to be divided into
two groups-the developed and the underdeveloped world, which is a cause of
great tension even at present.
.
.Finally,
industrial revolution paved the way for the development of new social and
economic doctrines.