Good Hope School

S2 History
4. The Industrial Revolution

I. Background: What was the Industrial Revolution(工業革命)?

• A period of great technological advancement and innovation

• Mid-18th – late 19th centuries / early 20th century
• Two Stages:
First: c.1760 – c.1840
Second: c.1870 – 1914
• Revolution: brought fundamental changes to the political, economic, and social development
of the West
• Origin: late 18th century Britain
• Spread to Western Europe, America, and Japan in the 19th century

II. Features of the Industrial Revolution

 Mechanization 機械化
 Invention and large-scale use of machines in production
 Replacing human and animal power
 Age of Machines
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  Industrialization 工業化
 Rapid growth of manufacturing industries 製造業
 Replacing agriculture as the main pillar of a nation’s economy
 Industrialization as an indicator of national strength, development, and wealth

 Urbanization 都市化
 Growth and expansion of urban areas
 Migration from the countryside to industrial towns
 Population growth

III. Causes of the Industrial Revolution

 Population growth
 Steady population growth in Europe
esp. England
 Introduction of new crops e.g. potato →
improved nutrition and health
 Growing population → provided labour
force
 Growing population → rising need for
consumer goods

 Development of world trade

 Development of world trade (following the Age of Discovery)
 Increasing global demand for manufactured goods → need for more (and better)
machines, equipment, technology to increase productivity
 Accumulation of wealth by European merchants (through world trade) → investment in
new technologies, factories, industries,

 Scientific and technological developments

 Renaissance and Scientific Revolution of earlier centuries → great scientific and
technological advancement by the 18th century

IV. Why did the Industrial Revolution start in Britain?

 Natural factors
 Rich in natural resources – e.g. coal, iron
 Geographical advantage – An island separated
from continental Europe, long coastline →
development of maritime trade
Coal fields in England
 Growing colonial empire
 Colonies provided cheap and steady supply of raw materials and a large overseas
market for Britain’s industries

 Enclosure movement
 Increased productivity of British agriculture → abundant food supply (oversupply)

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  Eviction of rural farmers by rich landowners → many former farmland turned into
sheep farms (more profitable than food crops)
 Evicted farmers moved into cities for work → provided cheap labour force for factories

 Government support
 Mercantilism: Government actively supported (and funded) the development of
foreign trade by merchants and explorers
 Statute of Monopolies (1623): grant monopolies over particular industries to skilled
individuals (e.g. those who development new techniques, made new inventions)
 Royal Society: Support and funded scientists and intellectuals → encourage
technological development

V. Course of the Industrial Revolution

 First Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840)
 Began: 18th century Britain
 Spread to Europe and America in the 19th century
 Age of Steam

 Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870 – 1914)

 Second wave of industrialization in Germany, Britain, USA, Japan
 Age of Steel and Electricity

Major Developments of the Industrial Revolution

 Textile industry
 Several inventions of new textile machines in the
early – mid 18th century
 Flying Shuttle (Kay 1733)
 Spinning Jenny (Hargreaves 1765)
 Power Loom (Cartwright 1785) Spinning Jenny
 First industry to industrialize with the use of new machines
powered by steam engines
 Rise of the factory system (production in factories),
replacing the domestic system (production at
home/workshops)
 Development of steam engines: steam-powered cotton
mills

 Steam and coal

 Early steam engines developed by Savery (1698) and Power Loom
Newcomen (1712): used exclusively by miners to
pump water out of coal mines
 Watt’s steam engine – an improvement of
Newcomen’s design; first to be used to power
machines in factories such as cotton mills
 Watt’s steam engine became the main driver of the
Industrial Revolution and almost synonymous with the
Industrial Revolution

3 Steam Powered Factory

  Coal mining: produced coal which were burned to generate steam power; coal gas for
lighting and cooking
 Coal (and coke) replaced charcoal in iron-making
 Gas lighting

Newcomen Engine Watt’s Steam Engine

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Coal mines Gas lighting (London,

19th century)

 Iron-making
 Coal (and coke) replaced charcoal as fuel for production of iron
 Lower production costs of wrought iron (and later, steel)
 Construction of large blast furnaces

 Electricity and oil

 Early attempts at storing electricity (battery): by Voltra and Leclanche
 First dry battery by Gassner (German) in 1880
 Thomas Edison: first commercially successful lightbulb in the 1870s
 First electrical supply system
 Gesner (Canadian): distilled kerosene as fuel
 Oil Rush in the US in the mid-19th century: oil replaced steam as the main energy source
by the end of the 19th century

 Transportation
 Macadam:
 Multi-layered with small and medium-sized stones
 Smooth surface
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  Side ditches for drainage

 Railways
 Improvement in coal mining: metal rails
introduced
 Improvement in steam engines: development of
steam locomotives
 Different models of steam locomotives began to
appear by the early 19th century
 The Salamanca locomotive was the first
commercially successful steam locomotive, built
in 1802
 In 1829, the Rocket was built by Stephenson
 An improvised design of earlier models
 Became the standard model for all steam
locomotives of the 19th century

 Automobiles
 Steam engine were applied in early designs
of road vehicles
 In 1885, the first practical automobile was
built by German engineer Carl Benz (Benz
Patent-Motorwagen)

 Sea
 In 1807, Fulton designed the first practical
steamship, the North River Steamboat.
 In 1838, SS Great Western crossed the
Atlantic Ocean in just 14 days
 Steamships made transatlantic crossings faster, safer, and more reliable
 Pre-steam: around six weeks;
Steamships: around 2 weeks

 Communication

 1832: Morse invented the telegraph and

developed the Morse Code (1837)
 Bell invented the first practical telephone
in 1876

 Medicine
 Before the Industrial Revolution:
• Little knowledge in social medicine prior to the industrial revolution
• Poor living conditions in slums led to major public health risks and pandemics
(e.g. cholera 霍亂)
 Breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of diseases
 Prevention: vaccines against smallpox, cholera, rabies: e.g. the first vaccine by Dr
Jenner in 1796 against smallpox contributed to the gradually eradication of the disease
 Louis Pasteur (France): Germ theory of disease – better public hygiene
 Discovery of X-rays: better diagnosis of patients
 Discovery of ‘radium’: treatment of cancer
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  Lister (Britain): Introduction of antiseptic surgery – reduced infections

VI. Impacts of the Industrial Revolution

 Rise of Modern Capitalism

 Rise of a new wealthy class known as capitalists – owners of the means of production
e.g. factories, machines, capital (money), mines
 E.g. Ford, Rockefeller
 Factory System
• Large factories with expensive
and large machines
• Many workers
• Assembly lines and division of
labour:
• Separation of the production
process into many specialized parts
• Each worker assigned to a
particular ‘workstation’ and
responsible for a single part of the production process
• Repetitive, increased efficiency and productivity
 Establishment of joint-stock companies to maximize profit and raise capital for
investment
 Issued stocks or bonds to accumulate capital
 Expand production capacity

 Urbanization
 Demographic shift: most people live in
cities, esp. new industrial towns,
 Rise of industrial towns in Britain,
Germany, and America
 Britain: Manchester, Liverpool,
Glasgow
 USA: Pittsburgh, Detroit,
Philadelphia
 Social classes
 Capitalists: e.g. rich industrialists
(owners and investors of factories and
mines), businessmen.
 Middle class (Bourgeoisie): professionals such as lawyers, engineers, doctors. People
who accumulated wealth with their professional knowledge and expertise.
 Working class (Proletariat): poor factory workers and miners.

 Labour conditions
 Low income
• Factory workers and miners
received low wages
 Child labour
• Limited opportunity for education
• Cheaper labour cost – only 10-
20% of an adult male’s wage

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 • Coal mines, textile factories
 Dangerous working conditions
• Long working hours: 14-15 hours per day
• Frequent accidents: lack of safety measures in factories and mines – serious
injuries or fatalities were commonplace
 Poor living conditions
• Workers lived in extremely crowded slums in industrial towns
• Lack of basic
amenities such as
bathrooms, kitchens,
drinking water,
heating
• Poor sanitary
conditions
• Spread of diseases
• Malnutrition
 Labour Movements
• Formation of trade
unions by workers
hoping to improve
their conditions
• Legalized trade
unions in 1824
• Chartist Movement
(1838 -1848):
• Demand for shorter
working hours
• Higher wages
• Political rights: e.g.
right to vote for adult
male (aged 21 or
above) → elect politicians who represent
and protect the interests of the workers
 Government response (Britain)
• Series of acts to improve the working
and living conditions of the working
class:
• Factory Acts: Banned child labour in
factories (under the age of nine); better
conditions for workers (e.g. lunch
breaks, maximum hours, better
hygiene, installation of windows)
• Factory inspectors were
appointed to inspect factories to
ensure compliance with the
Factory Acts
• Mine Act: Banned child labour in
mines (under the age of 10) and
banned women from working in
mines
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 Rise of socialism
 Many thinkers began to criticize the ills of
the industrial revolution and capitalism –
e.g. exploitation (of the workers),
consumerism, exploitation of the
workers.
 Unequal distribution of wealth was
criticized (the workers who worked hard received
poor wages while the capitalists controlled all means
of production)
 Some intellectuals called for the public ownership
of the means of production and redistribution of
wealth → socialism
 Marx and Engels: Communism

 Further expansion of world trade

 Industrialization → increasing
demand for raw materials →
importation of raw materials from
overseas (esp. colonies)
 Industrialization → constant need for
expanding overseas market → export of
manufactured goods
 Improved transportation and
communication → facilitate international
trade
 Globalization

 New Imperialism
 Industrialization → increasing demand
for raw materials → more colonies to
provide cheap resources
 Industrialization → constant need for expanding overseas market → more colonies to
consume manufactured goods
 Technological development → military supremacy of Western industrialized countries →
colonial expansion in Asia and