Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

In:

Submitted By martinmondaca
Words 451
Pages 2
During the 1700s and early 1800s, great changes took place in the lives and work of people in several parts of the 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.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain during the 1700s. It started spreading to other parts of Europe and to North America in the early 1800s. By the mid-1800s, industrialization had become widespread in Western Europe and the northeastern United States.

The Industrial Revolution created an enormous increase in the production of many kinds of goods. Some of this increase in production resulted from the introduction of power-driven machinery and the development of factory organization. Before the revolution, manufacturing was done by hand or simple machines. Most people worked at home in rural areas. A few worked in shops in towns as part of associations called guilds. The Industrial Revolution eventually took manufacturing out of the home and workshop. Power-driven machines replaced handwork, and factories developed as the best way of bringing together the machines and the workers to operate them.

As the Industrial Revolution grew, private investors and financial institutions were needed to provide money for the further expansion of industrialization. Financiers and banks thus became as important as industrialists and factories in the growth of the revolution. For the first time in European history, wealthy business leaders called capitalists took over the control and organization of manufacturing.

Historians have disagreed on the significance of the Industrial Revolution. Some have emphasized that the importance of the revolution was in the great increase in the production of goods. They argue that this increase did more during the 1800s to raise peoples

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Industrial Revolution – A step to new era The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes. The Industrial Revolution began over 200 years ago. It changed the way in which many products, including cloth and textiles, were manufactured. It is called a "revolution" beacuse the changes it caused were great and sudden. It greatly affected the way people lived and worked. This revolution helped to bring about the modern world we know today in many ways. The Industrial Revolution was a major change in the nature of production in which machines replaced tools and steam and other energy sources replaced human or animal power. The Industrial Revolution...

Words: 1010 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Industrial Revolution

...The Industrial Revolution started around 1750. It began in Britain and it spread throughout the World. England was known as “the world’s workshop” because at that point in time, England was the major manufacturing center of the World. It took about ten years for the Industrial Revolution to spread to other places. It spread to America. The Industrial Revolution was favorable to the American colonies by bringing the factory system to America, supplying more employment which increased urban growth, and raising the national economy. Americans developed and profited from a variety of inventions that produced goods and materials faster and cheaper. The Industrial Revolution was an ongoing effort over many decades to increase production by using machines rather than the power of humans or animals. Groups of spinners and weavers gradually began working together in buildings known as mills, usually located on a stream or river, using the power of flowing water to run their tools. The British inventions took an immense impact on the American Industrial Revolution. Inventions like the spinning jenny, the water frame, and the power loom helped mechanize the processes of spinning and weaving cloth. An invention that played an important part in the revolution was the steam engine. The creation of the steam engine was credited to James Watt. James Watt developed the first practical steam engine in Britain between 1765 and 1785. The steam engine made it possible to pump water out...

Words: 947 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Assignment 1.1: Industrialization after the Civil War Thesis and Outline Crystal Nix Strayer University May14 , 2015 The Industrial Revolution changed America in a major way. The Revolution affected government and people’s way of life as a whole. After the Civil War was the period of industrialization. It was the period where industrial cities were built, many jobs were created, and certain people gained a great amount of wealth. It was an important time in history where African Americans and women gained equal rights and there were many advancements in technology. Society, economy, and politics were three signifigant aspects that were changed by industrialization after the Civil War. Before this era most Americans worked for themselves on farms or owned businesses. Soon people began leaving farms to move into cities to work in factories. Assembly lines were introduced during this era. They made it possible to mass produce products. These jobs were usually monotonous and dangerous. On an assembly each worker was responsible for specific part of the product. They no longer had the freedom or working for themselves. Employers hired unskilled labor which most of the time were women and children. Americans now were working for someone else and were working long hours for little pay and treated miserably, which led to horrible working conditions. Iron and steel had become big business during this time. The economy had grown due to the new industries that were...

Words: 993 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...201302644 TERM PAPER OUTLINE Thesis The Industrial Revolution introduced technological advancements in manufacturing output, agricultural output, and social growth. These advancements came at a price of public health and safety, paid by the lower and middle class. Progressive economic growth was not achieved until after these issues were resolved. Argument Statement 1 Children as young as 6 years old were forced to work up to 19 hours a day in harsh conditions. The safety of children was often neglected, resulting in injury and death. The treatment of children was often cruel and unusual. Many faced beatings and various forms of punishment to ensure good productivity. * Through closer examination, the text proves that entire families were forced to work long hours, with little or no pay to ensure survival. * In 1833 a factory act was passed allowing a maximum number of hours for certain age groups, allowing for more satisfied and productive employees. Argument Statement 2 By the 1820s, Britain saw their population double in the industrial hubs. The increase in population and decreased standards of living meant civilians were confronted with disease. * As raw sewage and chemical bi-products from factories made its way into drinking water, Cholera began to infest the population killing thousands. Argument Statement 3 Because of the high demands for labor during the revolution, all family members were required to work in order to...

Words: 311 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Jordan Sherlock HIS 102 Kevin Nehil 4/18/12 Industrial Revolution You could ask almost anyone in the world if they have ever heard of the Industrial Revolution and chances are most would agree that they have. Some people may not know when or how it started or perhaps even where it started. One thing all of the people may have is an opinion; these people have an opinion about whether or not they believe that it was a good thing or a bad thing for the world. The Industrial Revolution, much like anything else in the world, had both its perks and flaws. Overall, it was a great thing. It not only modernized the world to better suit the way humans live, but it also made improvements to make technology more competitive to make better products. To better help create your own opinion one must first know some background about the Industrial Revolution and how this life changing era began. The Industrial Revolution began in Western Europe during the early to mid 18th century. With this, came a “new” and more modern world. During this time period farming was the primary livelihood in Western Europe with “at least 75% of the people making their living off from the land” (Goodman 86). During the winter months the people did not have very much to do other than stay inside and carefully ration supplies that they stored from the year before. This down time allowed for the cottage industry to come about. This not only helped pass the farmers time but it allowed the farmers to create textiles...

Words: 1142 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Industrial Revolution

...The Industrial Revolution The term Industrial Revolution refers to the social and economic changes that led to the transition from an agricultural and commercial society to a modern industrial one. This revolution relied on machinery instead of basic tools. This happened in Great Britain in the middle of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution spread to other parts of Europe as well as other parts of the world. The period of explorations from the 14th to the 16th centuries helped in laying the foundations for the Industrial Revolution. Because of the explorations and subsequently colonialism, gold and silver from the New World flooded Europe. Prices of commodities rose, industries bloomed and a money-based economy fully developed. The expansion of trade and the economy based on money led to the creation of financial and lending institutions. Thus, the necessary factors for the emergence of an Industrial Revolution had already been established in the 15thcentury. The term Industrial revolution does not imply that changes happened only in the industry. In fact, the rise in the number of factories, the economic changes and the new inventions in science all had a great impact in the lives of the people in Europe and even the whole world. THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN GREAT BRITAIN From the 18th to the 19th centuries, Great Britain was the leading force in industry. It had large deposits of coal and iron. Because...

Words: 2414 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was an unprecedented period in European history that occured in 18th and 19th century. It represents one of the most significant eras of the modern European history, during which major changes took place in everyday lives of millions across the continent and further beyond. These major changes included improvements in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology, withboth, positive and negative consequences. The main focus of the essay will be the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain (after 1707), an empire (U.K.) that included colonies from all over the world. Practiacally, the Great Britain is the place where it all began. The question is why does the Industrial Revolution occurs in the Great Britain? There are many reasons. The most significant one is that the Britain had an empire which included colonies from Canada to Austalia. It controlled many trade channels and imposed itself as the leading naval superpower. The preconditions were fulfilled and the Britain practically controlled half of the world before, for example, Germany was even unified. The colonies provided many raw materials, with many of them being so rare, that they could be found only in those particular parts of the world. The industrialization, however, had not took place in Britain's colonies. This was not a coincidence, on the contrary. By this, the Great Britain made an access to new markets. Indeed, it does sound absurd that the...

Words: 1267 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...“Industrial Revolution” GKE Task 4 WGU Indiana The Industrial Revolution was the change from hand crafted products and small farming operations to machine manufactured products and large scale farms using more mechanical equipment. While the birthplace of the revolution was in Britain around 1760, one similar took place in America from 1790 to 1870. Britain had tried very hard to keep the monopoly on its industrial technology, however this couldn’t last forever. Some of the British saw the potential of profitable opportunities and took this knowledge abroad (Industrial Revolution, 2013) With any major change in a society has consequences. One social consequence of the Industrial Revolution was the division of social classes. Before, there were the very rich and the very poor. As factories and industry made production of goods more efficient, these goods were cheaper. People could now afford to buy everything they needed and still have money left over. They could now afford to enjoy leisure goods instead of only buying what they needed to survive. Thus, the emergence of the middle class. This class consisted of anyone with a decent job, shop clerks, accountants, managers and so on (Introduction to the Industrial Revolution). While the production of goods at a faster rate and larger quantity made them cheaper and more available had its advantages, the division of society had negative consequences as well. The use of technology on farms meant fewer...

Words: 789 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Essay Industrial Revolution Elena Orlovskaya   Industrial Revolution The economic history of the United States of America starts with the occurrence of industrialization, which, basically, meant switching from home production to plants and factories. The industrial revolution took place at the beginning of the XIXth century in most of the developed countries all over the world. Still it is considered more American phenomenon. This revolution changed the States so critically that I consider it to be the main factor that lead to the modern place of this country in the international environment. In my essay I will discuss some positive and negative aspects of the influence of industrialization on the United States. In my opinion the most constructive and crucial effect of the industrial revolution in America is change in people’s behavior. I believe labor is the only factor that is significant for development of any country. And the industrialization time in the States forced people to invent and implement everything they could imagine and construct in order to simplify the production process. There were very few scientists and specialists at that time in this country. So, every American had no other way to survive and earn money at that time and had to create, construct machines, build factories or work on factories. This changed the people’s psychology a lot. Till now, Americans consider new inventions, new machines and processes to be the only way for development of their...

Words: 564 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Industrial Revolution

...AIUONLINE | UNIT 3 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT | HIST105-1203B-11 U.S.HISTORY | | JESSICA GLESMER | 8/5/2012 | It is the age of the Industrial Revolution. Taking a step back in time, we see how large materials are transported. How roads started out and were made. We see how electricity is controlled to make lights works and cable cars move. We also see the challenges there were faced and are still faced today because of the Industrial Revolution. | The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom in 1750. It continues today, but not to the extent that it did back then. The growth spurt from back then lasted 100 years. This growth impacted almost every single aspect of the American lifestyle as we know it today. While there are many positive aspects of this revolution, two stood out more than all the others. The first one that stood out was how much transportation was expanded. The second was the significance of harnessing electricity, and the impact it has had on America. During the Industrial Revolution, things started to get noticed. One big this was how would materials be transported from point A to point B. Well, there was one of three options on how materials could be moved. There was the choice of water, roads or railroads. Transporting materials was important in the United States and people were starting to head west. At the beginning there were no roads, or railroads. Just streams and rivers, but the people didn’t have an easy way to travel east to...

Words: 969 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...The Industrial Revolution: A Means to an End Capitalism is the result of constant revolutions led by a lower class. Karl Marx states that the “modern bourgeois is itself the product of a long course of development of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange”(Marx, 160). The bourgeoise are the group of people who were able to seize control of the means of production for their community. They control the manufacturing of all the resources the people might need. The bourgeois maintain command of the production while the proletariat are the ones who carry out the actual work. Marx believed the only limiting factors of the proletariat’s status beneath the bourgeois were the current level of technology available and, although that technology is keeping them down, it will advance to the point of giving the proletariat a chance to shrink the gap between themselves and those above them, “but with the development of industry the proletariat not only increases in number, it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows and it feels that strength more”(166). The Industrial Revolution was the gateway to modern economics and ushered in an age of poorer working standards, profit based business models, and the end to artisanship. The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of a new type of economy. The machines and inventions spawned during this time allowed people to perform certain tasks much more efficiently and increased the level of production...

Words: 2181 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...The rise of the industrial revolution One event that left a big impact in history and now at days was the industrial revolution of u.s.a from 1750-1850 the industrial revolution took place during this time many drastic changes occurred such as changes in agriculture manufacturing mining transportation and technology in the following I will tell you what happened before during and after the rise of the industrial revolution Before, the rise in the industrial revolution manufacturing was normally done locally in homes with hands no machines and no mass production. when all that changed was in the 17th century in England when they use the power of rivers and streams to bullied mills and factories for textiles soon a guy named Samuel stole the ideas and got on a ship and brought the ideas to the u.s.a. transportation was limited before the industrial revolution the only transportation people knew of was carriages with horses, or trains. Before the industrial revolution 2 types of mining excised drift mines and bell mines both were small scale coal mines. Technology was not advanced before the rise of the industrial revolution but all that was about to change During the industrial revolution, industrlazation took a big turn and improved a lot when Samuel arrived with the plans of the mills many factories were built on water power many soon people started moving from their farms to the cities to work in the textile, furniture, ETC.factories factories meant pollution and pollution...

Words: 454 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...The Industrial Revolution and its Impact The Industrial Revolution has been viewed as one of the most influential events to occur in the history of modern society.  The invention of new machinery items reduced manual labor. Tasks were performed more efficiently causing increased output of products or work performed in less time. The impact of the Industrial Revolution on the world was that it catapulted the world economy into an almost frenzy like state in which people had access to a much wider variety of goods and services offered to them by businesses.  The impact that this event had on the worker’s life was not necessarily a good or bad thing, however.  With the advent of new, more efficient technology, workers were able to more easily accomplish certain tasks that would have taken them a much longer time to complete before the Industrial Revolution, however there were some serious negative side effects of such a quick influx of technology.  With such new practices and ideas put into the workplace, many workers were expected to be as efficient as the new ways of producing a product or service, and as a result, their health and safety were often overlooked.  The Industrial Revolution has had lasting effects on the entire population in almost every facet of our lives, as both consumers and workers, and will always be remembered as one of the driving forces behind the way in which the modern economies of the world have been achieved by developed nations. Life would be completely...

Words: 741 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Abstract The second U.S. Industrial Revolution had a great impact on American lives. This assignment will discuss two positive and two negative effects of industrialization in the United States. I will also discuss whether industrialization was beneficial or deter mental to the lives of Americans and the history of the United States. Industrialization in America The second Industrial Revolution was also known as the Technological Revolution and followed the first Industrial Revolution. France, Germany, and the United States were the main countries involved in the second revolution. Historians wanted an industrial system. This meant they needed a “set of arraignments or processes – whether of extraction, production, transportation, distribution, or finance – organized to make the whole industrial order function smoothly.” (Davidson, Stoff , DeLay, Heyman, & Lytle, 2011) To gain the industrial system they desired new technology needed to be invented. One of these inventions came in the form of communications. “In the early 1840’s newspapers were the form of communication” however it took too long for newspapers to reach people. From New York to Indiana, it took 10 days to get there and if by ship, it took three months to arrive in San Francisco. This was a great disadvantage for the new industrial order. Transportation had been greatly improved, but without communication, materials or goods needed would have to wait until the next...

Words: 1164 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Industrial Revolution

...Industrial Revolution Name Institution Industrial Revolution |Essay about the Industrial |[pi|[pi|[pi| |Revolution |c] |c] |c] | |The Industrial revolution was a time of drastic change and transformation from hand tools, and hand made items to machine manufactured and | |mass produced goods. This change generally helped life, but also hindered it as well. Pollution, such as co2 levels in the atmosphere rose,| |working conditions declined, and the number of women and children working increased. The government, the arts, literature, music and | |architecture and man's way of looking at life all changed during the period. Two revolutions took place, both resulting in productive but | |also dire consequences. | |Before the first industrial revolution, England's economy was based on its cottage industry.  Workers would buy raw materials from | |merchants, take it back to their cottages, hence the name, and produce the goods at their home. It was usually was owned and managed by one| |or more people, who were generally close to the workers. There was a good worker/boss relationship, which was demolished and destroyed by | |capitalism. This industry was efficient but the workers, productivity was low, making costs higher. The longer it took...

Words: 1236 - Pages: 5