What Made Britain so Different from the Rest of Europe Before 1850?

Changes began in the late of the 1700’s when power-driven machines began to replace the work people did. It took off in Great Britain. It began to influence other countries such as Europe and the United States. The Industrial Revolution could have only meant several things were coming to change human kid. Not only that, but it was going to leave the people in these countries affected in a negative and positive way. Britain enjoyed a significant economic and technological advantages during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. Not to mention, that there were several major modern political traditions untimely emerging out of the Industrial Revolution.

The topic I have chosen to discuss related to the last 400 years in Western Civilization is the industrial revolution in Britain. The industrial revolution was what created the modern capitalist system. Britain was the first to lead the way in this huge transformation. Technology changed, businesses, manufactured goods, and wage laborers skyrocketed. There was not only an economic transformation, but also a social transformation. The industrial revolution is such an interesting subject to further explore, because it truly made a difference in Britain in the late 1700s. The industrial revolution brought an increased quantity and variety of manufactured goods and even improved the standard of living for some individuals, however, it resulted in grim employment and living conditions that were for the poor and working classes. The industrial revolution had a bright and dark side to it. It was dark due to all the horrible working conditions, crowded cities, unsanitary facilities, diseases, and unsafe work environment, but the bright side is that it was a period of enormous social progress.

By 1850, what had previously been a society of small scattered largely agricultural communities had been drastically changed into an industrialised and urbanised society. In national terms, industrialisation came late to the North East but, during the second half of the nineteenth century, it became one of the centre pieces of the Industrial Revolution. During this period, North East England was a ‘key beneficiary’ of a remarkable increase in economic activity on a national and international scale, with a substantial proportion of international trade being taken by the North East (Wadsworth,

However the industrial revolution was not all good. The working class had no other option but to turn up at the factories for work. The factory system resulted in over-crowding and unhygienic conditions and also the development of slum areas. Many factory owners who needed cheap, unskilled labour, profited greatly by using children and women to run the machines and because they were small and could fit in tunnels as well not only that they were more suited for factory life because they could adopt more quickly and easily than men. By the age of 6, many children were already working twelve hours a day in factories. These children had no free time to do anything plus they earned low wages. Hardly any of the children went to school they had to work in factories to earn money. Quite a lot of the people who worked at factories got sick and died because of the toxic fumes in the factories. While others were severely injured because the machines didn't have safety guards so many children got killed by machinery when they fell asleep and got caught up in the machines. Many of the children who were orphans, hired by the employers would

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the late 1700s. It took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. Document 3 displays the look of the environment at the beginning of this shift in society. It is filled with smoky chimneys. Machines and factories led to great productions, such as new systems of transportation, more efficient communication, banking systems, a variety of manufactured goods, and an overall improvement of living. Britain was the perfect place for the Industrial Revolution to begin due to its coal and iron. Factories became a necessity because of the increase in demand for British goods (Staff, 2009). Before the Industrial Revolution, transportation consisted of wagons, led by horses. “In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat” (Staff, 2009). Along

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Industrial Revolution reconstructed Britain, the United States, Russia, and Latin America through changes in means of production, the economy, and social conditions. Although all four areas ended up with similar effects of the Industrial Revolution, Britain and the United States’ means to transform were different than those of Russia and Latin America.

There are many turning points in history that can be examined with none exceeding in importance that which took place during the 18th century. For much of the 17th century, and into the early 18th century the primary economic system was the domestic method, utilizing merchants and skilled craftsmen. However, as the 18th century progressed the world began to undergo a revolution that is now known as the Industrial Revolution. Because of its resources, geography, and beneficial governmental policy, England led the way in this new age where the factory replaced rural work. While this was a time of great technological advancement, not everything was a positive result of the Industrial Revolution. Nonetheless, the Industrial Revolution brought a

The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in every sense of the word, as it altered almost every aspect of live in the nineteenth century including technology, government, communication, environment and eventually society as a whole.1 Although industrialisation created many positives for modern society, for people in Britain up to the end of the nineteenth century it had many significantly negative consequences. With the long term advances made for society came the then current development of overcrowding cities abundant with pollution, health problems and poor living conditions for the working class. These poor conditions continued into the work place with young children exploited as workers as young as the age of four or five.2 There were consequences of the Industrial Revolution for people outside of the core of Britain. India, being the periphery in the model were exploited for their raw materials which were exported to Britain.

The filth could not be contained with many factories producing it, as a result it darkened the city streets, lowering the air quality and making life for the lower class much less healthy (Document 12). The only class that didn’t feel as much of the repercussions was the upper class, since they owned their own land for the most part and had access to medicine and treatments that the lower classes didn’t. Despite all the revolutions, the upper class remained on the top of the social ladder, and were treated much better than the working class. While the wealthy rode in closed cars on steam trains, the lower classes had to make do with what was little more than a wooden box on wheels, exposing them to the elements (Document 11). Despite the negative on the working class, the Industrial Revolution improved Britain’s economy as a

It can be argued that a drifting away from the old artisan putting out system was not helping the economy, and a push for increased industry was a economically healthy path to choose. However the horrible working conditions in the relatively new and supposedly “revolutionary” factories cannot be denied. Yes, the common people were making more money than they ever had with stable jobs and increased production of goods, but at what cost? The first industrial cities in England such as Manchester and Sheffield were transformed into dystopian, dirty slums where the polluting factories loomed overhead. This idea is translated in Document #3 which depicts such an urban slum. One might even classify the image as that of the Middle Ages much less an age marked by invention and progress. The working conditions of the industrial age were not only unsanitary but also extremely dangerous with little safety precautions. Such safety features and skilled training with machinery would cost manufacturers money and money was the only thing separating the boss from the disgruntled employee. Unsafe working environment can be seen in Document #2 depicting a coal mine worker. In most cases, it was the youngest of the workers who were

Over the course of Britain’s centuries of history, events such as the industrialization of the Britain in the 19th century and many others proved to be pivotal events placing Britain as a pre-modern superpower. As described in the encyclopedia The History of World Trade Since 1450, “Britain’s mid-nineteenth century economy is often referred to as ‘the workshop of the world’ ” (Harley 396). Caused by the newly invented technological advancements, Britain began to export two-thirds of the world’s inventory made by advanced machinery. Bringing in the newly created steam engine, industries such as the iron and textile developed into major providers of wealth in the trade network of Britain. With growing industries and a source connection to

During the 18 century, in Britain occurred the most important phenomenon that changed the history, Industrial Revolution. It was a major turning point in their history but in the world’s history as well because the impact of the inventions changed the economical, social and political field forever. The standard of living increased therefore the population had increased.

In England during the industrial revolution there was a lot of poverty and pollution, especially in the main towns where the mass unemployment and people often had to go into the work houses. The conditions that they were made to work in were overcrowded. There was no sanitation or anywhere to clean, and there was a large amount of pollution. These all led to diseases among the workers. Some of the jobs that the children were made to do were chimney sweeping or selling matches. Adults had to do bone crushing for fertilisers, working in kitchens and doing the laundry for rich people.

The widespread effects of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) are favourable to Australia and Britain today. From humble beginnings that transformed Britain from an agrarian to an industrial society, this reformation shaped the world to become what it is today. The Industrial Revolution reformed eras of crippling social structures, the non-existent realm of globalisation and the concept of modernisation in Britain and Australia. These immense refinements of past heritage have allowed the world to progress and modernise. This insightful explanation dealing with the long-term effects of the Industrial Revolution will exhibit the blessings of this transformation.

Before the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain’s economy relied heavily on agriculture, which at that point of time was based a flawed system dating back to the Middle Ages. This system, known as the open field system, showed agricultural inefficiencies, and was disallowing of innovation. These inefficiencies eventually led to the privatization of land for agriculture, in an effort to solve what is now commonly referred to as “the tragedy of the commons”. Great Britain was now moving forward, and as the country (and continent) began enclosing their land, Britain began a period of modernization, with new technologies that would increase productivity in industry to a level never before seen. This is the period commonly referred to as the Industrial Revolution, and was an era of unprecedented growth in industry from the middle of the 18th century until around the middle of the 19th century. In 1760, 53% of the British population worked in agriculture. By 1840, that had dropped to 29%. The evolution from water and wind power to steam engines, as well as the creation of many pieces of machinery for the textile industry (such as the Spinning Jenny, which reduced the production time on yarn) vastly improved British manufacturing of goods, and the reliance on agriculture continued to drop. The development from an agricultural focus