JLD The Industrial

Revolution
(1750-1914)

Chapter Outline

1 Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution

in Britain

2 The Rise of Modern lndustr\

3 Effects of Industrialization

4 Responses to the industrial Re\olution

To one British author, Charles Dickens, whose novel

Hard Times was published in 1854, a typical factory town
was "a town of machines and tall chimneys, out of
which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves
for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black
canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling
dye, and vast piles of buildings full of windows where
there was a rattling and trembling all da\ long, and where
the piston of the steam engine worked monotonously up
and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of mel-
ancholy madness."
To Dickens, the people of the town shared the same
Detail from St. Lazare "melancholy madness." They were "equally like one another. ... all went in
Station, bv Claude and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same pavement, to
\1onet.
do the same work and to whom every da\ was the same as yesterday and to-
morrow, and every year the counterpart of last and the next."
The conditions Dickens described were the result of the Industrial Revolu-
tion. The Industrial Revolution was neither sudden nor swift. It was a long, slow
process in which production shifted from hand tools to machines and in which
new sources of power such as steam and electricity replaced human and ani-
mal power.
The Industrial Revolution had two distinct stages. During the first stage,
from about 1750 to 1850, Great Britain took the lead in shifting to new methods
of production. During the second stage, from the mid-1800s to about 1914, the
nations of Western Europe and the United States developed into modern in-
dustrial powers. The Industrial Revolution was to completelv transform the

410 patterns of life in these nations.

 1 Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain

By the mid- 1700s, new methods ol produc- method ol planting seeds that was better
ing goods were being developed in Greal than scattering them randomly. When the
Britain and France. Mam ol these new seeds were scattered, they would grow wher-
methods were outgrowths ol inventions ever they landed, and fields became a tangle
made during the Enlightenment, a time ol ciops and weeds. Tull developed a seed

when people began to apply scientific prin- drill that planted the seeds in straight rows.
ciples to practical problems. (See page 353.) The seed reduced the amount of seed
drill

During the late 1700s. the French Revolution used in It also allowed farmers to
planting.
disrupted the political and economic life ol weed around the straight rows of growing
France. This was one reason that Britain crops. *

emerged as the leader of the Industrial Re\ During the 1700s, iron plows replaced
olution. less-elficient, wooden plows. In the 1800s,
mechanical reapers and threshers began to
replace hand methods of harvesting crops.
The Agricultural Revolution
This further increased farm production.
One key to the beginning of the Industrial Changing patterns of land ownership in
Revolution in Britain was a revolution in ag- Britain also contributed to the Agricultural
riculture that greatly increased the amount Revolution. Since the Middle Ages, farmers
and variety of food produced. During the had worked small strips of land in scattered
1700s, farmers began growing new crops, fields. They grazed their animals and gath-

such as potatoes and corn, that had been in- ered timber on common, or public, lands. In
troduced from the Americas. They also de- the 1500s, wealthy landowners began claim-
veloped new ways of using the land that ing the right to these common lands. The en-
made it more productive. closure movement, fencing off of public
Since the Middle Ages, farmers had lands by individual landowners, spread rap-
planted the same crop in a given field year idl\ in the 1700s.
after year. Every third year, they left the The enclosure movement made agricul-
field fallow to prevent the soil from wearing ture more efficient because wealthy land-
out. In the 1730s, Charles Townshend discov- owners farmed larger amounts of land and
ered that fields did not have to be left fallow experimented with new crops. However, it
if farmers would rotate the crops they forced many small farmers off land they had
planted in a field. He suggested that farmers worked for years. Some became tenant
grow wheat or barley in a field for one or farmers on land owned by others. Others
two years and then plant clover or turnips in drifted to the towns in search of work.
the field for one or two years. The Agricultural Revolution helped set
Townshend's ideas helped revolutionize the stage for the Industrial Revolution. In-
agriculture. Crops such as clover and turnips creased food production improved people's
replenished the with the nutrients that
soil diet and health, which contributed to rapid
wheat and barley used. Moreover, clover and population growth. As the population in-
turnips provided excellent feed for animals. creased, the demand for manufactured
Thus, farmers could raise cattle and sheep goods, such as clothing, grew. Furthermore,
for food. As meat became available at lower more methods of farming meant
efficient
cost, people could add more protein to their that fewer people were needed to work the
diet. land. Unemployed farmers, including those
The invention of machines also in- forced off the land by the enclosure move-
creased food production. Jethro Tull found a ment, formed a large new labor force. 411
Changes in the Textile Industry shuttle used in weaving. This invention
greatly speeded up the weaving process.
While improvements in agriculture released
Weavers were soon using thread faster than
many workers from farming, inventions—es-
spinners could produce it.
peeially in the British textile industry— cre-
In 1764, James Hargreaves, a carpenter,
ated new demands for laborers. During the
developed a way to speed up spinning. He
1500s and 1600s, entrepreneurs developed
attached several spindles to a single spinning
the domestic system for manufacturing wool
wheel. Using this spinning jenny, as it was
cloth. (See page 321.) Entrepreneurs sup-
person could spin several threads at
called, a
plied rural families with raw wool and cot-
once. In 1769, Richard Arkwright devised a
ton. In theirown cottages, family members
machine that could hold up to 100 spindles.
cleaned and spun the wool or cotton into
Arkwright 's invention was too heavy to be
thread. They then used hand looms to weave
operated by hand, so he used water power to
the thread into cloth.
turn it. Thus, the machine was called the wa-
The domestic system could not keep up
ter frame. Ten years later, Samuel Crompton
with a steadily rising demand for cloth, espe-
developed the spinning mule, which used
cially cotton cloth. In the 1700s, practical-
features of Hargreaves' spinning jenny and
minded individuals developed ways to im-
Arkwright's water frame. Once again, the
prove the manufacture of cloth. Each inven-
production of cotton thread was increased.
tion triggered others, revolutionizing the
With more thread now available, the
whole textile industry.
need arose for faster looms. In 1785, Edward
Mechanical inventions. In 1733, the
Cartwright built a loom in which the weaving
clockmaker John Kay invented the Hying
action was powered by water. Using this
shuttle, which replaced the hand-held
power loom, a worker could produce 200
times more cloth in a day than had pre-
viously been possible.
The Industrial Revolution began in the textile
In 1793, the American Eli Whitney gave
industry. By the early 1800s, large spinning mills
the British cotton industry a further boost.
like this one were operating all over England.
Steam-powered looms required constant tending. Before cotton fibers could be spun into
Notice the worker at right who is cleaning debris cloth, workers had to remove sticky seeds,
from under the threads. The air inside the mills was an extremely slow process. Whitney in-
kept hot and humid because threads broke less vented the cotton gin, a machine that tore
often under such conditions. the fibers from the seeds, thus speeding up
the process of cleaning cotton fibers. The in-
vention of the cotton gin helped the British
cotton industry because it increased the pro-
duction of raw cotton and made it cheaper.
By the 1830s, Britain was importing 280 mil-
lion pounds of raw cotton every year and
had become the cotton manufacturing cen-
ter of the world.
The factory system. The new spinning
and weaving machines were expensive. They
also had to be set up near rivers, where run-
ning water was available to power them." In-
ventors such as Arkwright built spinning
mills and started hiring hundreds of workers
to run the new machines.
*Water (lowing down a stream or river turned a water
wheel that produced power to run the machines.
Coal fueled the earl\ Industrial Revolution. In this 1814 print, a coal miner stands in
front of asteam engine that is pulling a load of coal. The print is the first English
picture of a steam-powered vehicle. Despite the use of steam engines, work in the
coal mines remained largely dependent on the backbreaking labor of men, women,
and children.

The were examples of

early textile mills ol improving the engine. Watt's steam en-
the factory system,which gradually replaced gine got four timesmore power than New-
the domestic system of production. The fac- comen's engine from the same amount of
tory system brought workers and machines coal.
together in one place to manufacture goods. The British found many uses for steam
Everyone had to work a set number of hours power. Steam engines were used in the
each day, and workers were paid daily or growing textile industry. They also became
weekly wages. important in coal mining.

Development of the Steam Engine Development of the Iron and Coal

Industries
Many early inventions in the textile industry
were powered by running water, but soon Producing and operating the new machines,
steam became the major source of energy. including the steam engine, required large
The idea of a steam-powered engine had ex- quantities of iron and coal. Fortunately, Brit-
isted for a long time. In 1698, Thomas Savery ain had extensive deposits of both. During
constructed a steam-driven pump to remove the Industrial Revolution, the iron and coal
water from flooded coal mines. Unfortu- industries benefited from improved produc-
nately, Savery's pump often exploded be- tion techniques.
cause of the intense pressure of the steam. Iron was produced by a smelting pro-
Thomas Newcomen
In the early 1700s, cess. Iron ore, which contains only small
developed a safer steam-powered pump. But amounts of iron, was heated to high temper-
Newcomen's engine broke down frequently atures to burn off impurities. Then the mol-
and required a lot of coal to fuel it. Finally, ten iron was poured off. Charcoal, a fuel
in the 1760s, James Watt, who had repaired made by partially burning hard woods, was
several Newcomen engines, developed ways used to heat the ore. But hard woods were 413
 becoming scarce in Britain. Ironworkers ex- of crushed stone. This surface made roads
perimented with using coal instead of char- usable in all weather. By the 1800s, road
coal. However, coal had many gases that travel in England had become almost as fast
mixed with the molten iron, making the iron as had been in Roman times.
it

hard to work. In the early 1700s, Abraham The need for good transportation led to
Darby helped solve this problem. He devel- the development of the railroad industrv.
oped a way to use coke, or coal with the For years, mine carts had been pulled along
gases burned off, in place of charcoal. iron rails by workers or donkeys. In 1829,
Iron making was further improved in George Stephenson, a mining engineer, de-
the 1780s, when Henry Cort developed a veloped the Rocket, the first steam-powered
puddling process in which molten iron was locomotive. The Rocket could barrel along
stirred with a long rod to allow impurities to iron rails at 36 miles (58 kilometers) per
burn off. Iron produced in this manner was hour, an astounding speed at the time.
stronger than iron produced in other ways Between 1840 and 1850, the British built
and less likely to crack under pressure. Cort over 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) of railway
also developed a technique to run molten tracks. As steel rails replaced iron rails,
iron through rollers to produce sheets of trains reached speeds of 60 miles (96 kilome-
iron. ters) an hour. Railroads brought raw mate-
Improved production methods enabled rials, factories, and markets closer together
Britain quadruple iron production be-
to than ever before. They also increased the de-
tween 1788 and 1806. In addition, the de- mand for coal and steel.

mand for coal, both for making iron and for In the 1800s, Britain led the way in rail-
powering steam engines, triggered a boom in road building and shipbuilding. However, it
coal mining. was an American engineer, Robert Fulton,
In the 1850s, the iron industry received who developed a way to use steam power for
another boost when Henry Bessemer devel- ships. In 1807, Fulton successfully tested the
oped a procedure that made the production Clermont, a paddle-wheeled steamship, on
of steel, an alloy of iron and other materials, the Hudson River. Other inventors improved
cheaper and easier. In the Bessemer process, the steamship. By 1850, steamships regularly
blasts of cold air were blown through heated crossed the oceans.
iron to remove impurities. The result was The railroad and the steamship im-
stronger, more workable steel. As steel be- proved communications within nations and
came readily available, it triggered the across the world. Britain introduced an in-
growth of other industries. expensive postal system, which further im-
proved communication. In 1837, Samuel F.B.
Morse, an American, devised the telegraph,
Advances in Transportation
which sent messages by electrical impulses.
and Communication
Messages that once would have taken days
Industry requires a good transportation sys- to arrive now took minutes or seconds. In
tem to bring raw materials to factories and 1851, the first underwater telegraph cable
distribute finished goods. In the 1700s, the was installed under the English Channel. It
need for rapid, inexpensive transportation made rapid communication between Britain
led to a boom in canal building in Britain. In and the continent possible.
1759, theDuke of Bridgewater built a canal
to connect his coal mines and his factories.
Soon, canals were being built all over the
Why Britain Led the Industrial
Revolution
country.
The 1700s were also road
a time of Britain enjoyed many advantages that
building in Britain. The Scottish engineer helped it take an early lead in the Industrial
414 John McAdam invented a road surface made Revolution. As vou have read, with the Agri-
 The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain: v
Reading Thematic Maps

M.ips provide much useful information aboul

how geography ( an influen< e historic <il events
and developments. Many of the maps you The Industrial Revolution
have studied In this texl have shown topo- . in Great Britain About 1830
graphical features, such .is rivers and moun
tains, .is well as political boundaries. Some
have also given information about trade
routes.
100
However, there are other kinds of maps Miles

thai give valuable information about popu-

lation, natural resources, rainfall, and crop
production. Maps that provide this kind of
specialized information are called thematic
maps. Practice reading thematic maps by
studying the map at right. Then follow these
steps.

I. Decide what is shown on the map. On a

thematic map, the legend tells you what
the symbols mean. Answer the following
questions about the map: (a) What is the
topic of the map? (b) What do the areas
shaded orange represent? (c) What do the I
purple squares represent? (d) What other
information is given on the map?
Read the information on the map. Answer
the following questions about the map: (a) ^rnouth
Name two cities on the map with popu-
lations of 300,000 or over, (b) Name two i. N

cities with populations of 100,000 to I

• Cities of 100,000 to 300,000 people
300,000. (c) Which cities with populations
• Cities of over 300,000 people FRANCE
over 300,000 were located near iron and
Iron ore deposits
coal resources? (d) Which large cities were
probably ports? © Coal fields

Draw conclusions about a historical event

or development, (a) What relationship
aeveit

_
does the map show between areas with probably the most industrialized? Explain,
Ldoes
coal and ironresources and those with (c) What areas were probably the least in-
large cities?
cities (b) What areas of Britain were dustrialized? Explain.

cultural Revolution came increased food British merchants had made huge profits
production, freeing many laborers to work in from the international trade in tobacco,
industry. Moreover, Britain had plentiful sugar, tea, and slaves. As a result, British en-
iron and coal resources, anddeveloped an it trepreneurs had the financial resources to in-
excellent transportation system to speed the vest in industries such as textiles, mines, rail-
flow of goods. roads, and shipbuilding. Britain also had a
Britain was also the leading commercial large colonial empire that supplied raw ma-
power in Europe. Since the 1500s and 1600s, terials to its factories. In addition, people in 415
 the colonies bought finished goods produced
by British industry. SECTION REVIEW
The government adopted poli-
British 1. Identify: Charles Townshend, John Kav,
cies that encouraged industrial growth. It James Hargreaves. Richard Arkwright, Ed-
lifted restrictions on trade, giving manufac- ward Cartwright, James Watt, Abraham
turers and merchants opportunities to make Darby, George Stephenson, Samuel Morse.

large profits. It encouraged road- and canal- 2. Define: enclosure movement, factory system,

building schemes and maintained a strong

Bessemer process.
navy to protect British merchant ships all 3. List two factors that led to the Agricultural
Revolution in Britain.
over the world.
The intellectualand social climate in
4. Choose one invention and describe how it af-
fected the production of textiles.
Britain also encouraged industrialization. Al-
though a clear class structure existed in Brit-
5. How did the factory system differ from the
domestic system?
ish society, individuals could improve their
6. Describe how each of the following improve-
social standing. The British accepted the
ments was important to the iron industry: (a)
idea that poor people did not have to stay puddling process; (b) Bessemer process.
poor forever but through talent and hard
work could improve themselves.

2 The Rise of Modern Industry

After the 1850s, the pace of industrialization 1800s, Joseph Marie Jacquard developed the
quickened, and the Industrial Revolution en- firstpower loom that could be used to weave
tered second stage. Between 1850 and
its complex patterns. The Jacquard loom had a
1914, industrygrew rapidly in the nations of punched card system that controlled the
Western Europe, including Belgium, France, intricate pattern." Textiles produced on
and Germany. At the same time, the United Jacquard looms commanded high prices
States began to industrialize and soon ri- among the fashion-conscious upper classes
valed Britain in many fields. Japan also in Europe.
joined the ranks of industrialized nations, as The French government encouraged the
you will read in Chapter 28. textile industry at home by imposing high
tariffs on cloth imported from other nations.
Because imported cloth was thus more ex-
The Spread of Industrialization
pensive, people bought French textiles. The
During the second half of the 1800s, other French government also supported projects
nations began to challenge British leadership to improve transportation, especially the
in the Industrial Revolution. Belgium was building of railroads.
one of the first nations on the continent to Across the Atlantic, the United States
industrialize. Like Britain, Belgium had large had considerable natural resources. Aided
deposits of coal and iron. Belgium also had a by large investments of capital from Europe,
long manufacturing tradition, especially in Americans began to exploit these resources.
textiles. Thus, it had a skilled labor force Railroad building fostered rapid economic
willing to work in industry. Moreover, Bel- growth in the United States. In 1869, the first
gian entrepreneurs had the capital needed to railroad spanned the continent. In the 1870s,
invest in factories and machinery.
France, too, built a strong textile indus- * The punched cards used in early computers were
416 try with a number of inventions. In the earlv based on Jacquard's idea.
 During the second half of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution spread beyond
Britain to otherEuropean countries. Iron and coal were essential to the growth of
industry on the continent, as they had been in Britain. Some of the major iron
deposits and coal fields are shown on this map. Which industrial cities in Germany,
Belgium, and France were located near these resources?

American iron and steel production was well to discover new products to manufacture.
on the way to outstripping that of Britain. In Scientific researchsoon resulted in many in-
the next decade, the United States surpassed ventions as well as extraordinary advances
Britain as the leading industrial nation. in technology. Knowledge of new technology
In the 1850s and 1860s, German industry spread quickly from one nation to another.
suffered from a lack of political unity among The results of scientific research
the German states. After Germany achieved brought sweeping changes to various indus-
national unity, it rivaled the United States tries. For example, the English chemist Wil-

and Britain as a leading industrial power, as liam Perkins discovered a brilliant dye that
you will read in Chapter 26. could be made cheaply from coal. German
The nations of southern and eastern chemists also discovered ways to make dyes
Europe remained largely agricultural during cheaply. The textile industry quickly
the 1800s. In Spain, Italy, Austria, and Rus- adopted the new dyes to replace more costly
sia, governments did little to encourage in- natural dyes such as indigo. Other discov-
dustrial growth. eries led to the development and widespread
use of chemical fertilizers, which radically
increased food production.
Advances in Science and Technology
The work of physicists also stimulated
During the early Industrial Revolution, most new technology. In 1800, Alessandro Volta,
inventors were people looking for ways to re- an used his knowledge of
Italian physicist,
pair tools or improve machinery. After 1850, electricity to build one of the first electric
however, people turned to science not only batteries. The work of Michael Faraday, an
to solve problems of manufacturing but also English scientist, led to the construction of 417
 electric generators, which eventually re- out wire or cable. His invention was called
placed steam engines in many factories. the wireless in England and the radio in
Discoveries in the field of electricity also America.
improved communications. In 1866, the first During this period, Thomas Alva Edison
underwater telegraph cable across the Atlan- produced a stunning array of inventions in
tic Ocean was successfully installed. Ten his New Jersey workshop. Among Edison's
years later, Alexander Graham Bell invented inventions were the phonograph and the in-
the telephone. By the end of the century, candescent light bulb. He also designed an
Guglielmo Marconi had de-
Italian physicist electric generating plant that provided
veloped a way to send electric signals with- power to light the streets of New York City.

The Invention of Photography

On a summer afternoon in 1839, people prints as they wanted. Talbot's method, which
crowded into an auditorium in Paris. They had was announced in 1839, became the
also basis
gathered to learn about a new method of pro- for modern photography.
ducing pictures of great clarity and detail. The In the following decades, inventors discoy-
method had recently been perfected by the ered how to make clearer prints. They also re-
painter Louis Daguerre (duh GEHR), shown duced the amount of time needed for expo-
here. These pictures, soon called daguer- sure and experimented with ways to produce
reotypes, were early photographs. color prints.
The audience listened intently while Da- The use of photography spread rapidly dur-
guerre's process was described. Daguerre had ing the last half of the nineteenth century.
placed a polished silver plate coated with light- During the American Civil War, Mathew
sensitive silver iodide in the camera and ex- Brady photographed battle scenes and devel-
posed it to light for several minutes. When the oped prints in a horse-drawn darkroom.
plate was removed from the camera, it ap- Newspapers and magazines began publishing
peared to be blank. But when it was treated photographs of events, recording them for fu-
with mercury fumes, an image appeared on ture generations.
the surface. The plate was then washed to re-
move the chemicals and coated with every-
day table salt to keep the image from fading.
Many people in the audience were excited
about the new invention. "[I] ran straight off
to buy iodine," reported one listener. "I hated
to see the sun go down, for it forced me to
put off my experiments until the next day. A
few days cameras were focused on
later,
buildings everywhere. Everyone wanted to
take the view from his window, and anyone
who got at the first attempt a silhouette of
rooftops against the sky was in luck the . . .

technique was so novel and seemed so mar-

velous that even the poorest result gave inde-
scribable joy."
News of Daguerre's technique traveled
swiftly. But there was one drawback to this
early form of photography. It was hard to pro-
duce more than one print of a daguerreotype.
A British inventor, William Fox Talbot, discov-
ered a way to produce paper negatives that
allowed photographers to make as many
418
 New Methods of Production

New machines and technology improved

worker productivity, the amount ot goods a
worker could turn out in a specific time.
Earh m the Industrial Revolution, Eli Whit-
ney introduced the idea ot interchangeable
parts, identical component parts that can be
used in place ot one another in manufac-
turing.
Whitney owned a factory in which guns
were made. Before Whitney, parts for guns
were handmade, and each similar part was
slightly different. Whitney manufactured
large numbers of identical parts. When guns
were made of these parts, a broken part
Thomas Edison tailed his research laborators in
could be easily replaced. The use of inter-
Men/o Park. \ew lersey, the "invention factory."
There, he invented (he incandescent light, storage
changeable parts spread to other industries,

nchronized motion pictures,

batters, sound-s\ where it improved efficiency.
mimeograph machine, and ore separator. This Another improvement in production
photograph of Edison was takenafter he had just was the assembly line, introduced by Henry
worked 72 hours straight impro\ing the wax Ford in 1914. On an assembly line, the com-
c\ Under phonograph on the table. plex job of assembling many parts into a fin-

ished product was broken down into a series

of small tasks. Each worker performed only
A Revolution in Transportation one or two tasks. Ford, who owned an au-
tomobile factors in Highland Park, Mich-
Dramatic advances were made in transporta-
igan, used an assembly line to speed up pro-
tion in the late 1800s. Perhaps the most sig-
duction. Workers stood along a conveyor
nificant advance was the development of the
belt. As the auto body moved past, they each
internal combustion engine. The internal
added their part to it.
combustion engine had a number of advan-
The efficiency of the assembly line al-
tages over the steam engine. For example, it
lowed manufacturers to reduce costs and
could be started and stopped more easily.
lower prices. As more people were able to af-
In 1SS6. the German scientist Gottlieb
ford goods such as automobiles, the demand
Daimler devised an internal combustion en-
for these products rose. To meet the de-
gine that was fueled by gasoline and could
mand, manufacturers introduced mass pro-
power a small vehicle. Daimler used his en-
duction, turning out large quantities of iden-
gine to build one of the first automobiles. A
tical goods.
few years later, another German engineer,
Rudolf Diesel, developed an internal com-
bustion engine that could power larger ve- Financing Industrial Growth
hicles such as trucks, ships, and locomotives.
This diesel engine, as it became known, used As machinery grew more complex and more
petroleum oil for fuel. expensive, new wavs of financing industry
The development of the internal com- developed. During the 1800s, the corporation
bustion engine would eventually revolution- slowly became the dominant form of busi-
ize the transportation industry. By the 1920s, ness organization in industry. A corporation
automobiles were a familiar sight in the is a business owned by many investors, each
United States and Europe. The growth of of whom has bought a share in the corpo-
this industry triggered booms in industries ration. Investors have limited liability for the
necessary to the production of automobiles, debts of the corporation. They risk only the
including petroleum, steel, and rubber. amount of their investment. 419
 . . . .

After 1870. giant corporations often final product, is known as vertical integra-
bought up mam small companies. Often, a tion. Inboth Europe and the United States,
corporation would establish a monopoly, or large corporations used vertical integration
total control over the market for a particular as a means of eliminating competition.
product. In the United States, the Standard Banks played
a prominent role in fi-
Oil Company, organized b\ John D. Rock- nancing industry. People deposited money in
efeller, acquired a virtual monopoly in the banks. Banks, in turn, invested this money in
oil industry businesses, which grew as a result. The
To gain this position. Standard Oil House of Rothschild in Paris was one of the
bought into the many industries connected world's leading investment banks. During
with oil production. It owned railroads, bar- the 1840s, it helped finance the building of
relcompanies, pipelines, and refineries. This the French railway system.
form of business, in which a corporation By the late 1800s, industrial growth had
controls the industries that contribute to its resulted in a complex international econ-

The Flight at Kitty Hawk

For as long as people ha\e watched the birds,

they ha\ e dreamed of finding a \\ a\ to fl\ Or- .

ville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle repair-

men from Dayton, Ohio, became interested in
thing experiments the late 1800s. The\ built
in

and flew a glider in 1900, developing a

method for guiding its flight. After testing the
glider successfully on the sand dunes near
Kitty Hawk, North began work
Carolina, thev
on the next step: attaching a motor to the
craft.

The Wrights built a wind tunnel in which to

test wing shapes. Because existing gasoline
engines were too heaw for flight, the\ built
one of their own. It had 4 c\linders and pro- motor a few minutes to
After running the
duced 12 horsepower. The\ attached the en- heat released the wire that held the
it up, I

gine to a pair of 8-foot wooden propellers and machine to the track, and the machine started
mounted it on their craft, which thev chris- forward into the wind. Wilbur ran at the side
tened Fl\ er. The Wright brothers took the of the machine, holding the w ing to balance it
Fl\er to kith Hawk for a test flight. Ten years on the track. Wilbur was able to sta\ with
. . .

later, Orville Wright recalled the event: it till it lifted from the track after a 40-foot
run. . .

Orville Wright The course of the flight up and down was

During the night of December 16, 1903, a exceedingly erratic, parth due to the irregular-
strong cold wind blew from the north. V\hen it\ of the air and parth to lack of experience in

we arose on the morning of the 17th, the pud- handling this machine. ... A sudden dart
dles of water which had been standing about when a little over 100 feet from the end of the
camp since the recent rains were covered track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at
with ice. We thought that by facing the
. . . which it rose into the air, ended the flight. . .

flyer into a strong wind, there ought to be no This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was
trouble in launching it from the level ground nevertheless the first in the history of the
about camp. We realized the difficulties of world in which a machine carrying a man had
flving in so high a wind, but estimated that the raised itself bv its own power into the air in
420 added dangers in flight would be parth com- full flight, had sailed forward without reduc-
pensated for bv the slower speed in land- tion of speed, and had finally landed at a
ing. . . point as high as that from which it started.
 Growth of Railroads omy, Trade expanded to meel the demands
foi niu materials and markets. Goods, ser-
1850-1910
vices, and money flowed across the world.
Regions distant from each other became de-
pendenl on one another as suppliers or con-
^ 70,000
E sumers ol goods. Investors in one country
| 60,000 often organized companies in another. Many
_o corporations and banks in Europe and the
2 50,000
United Stales sought new opportunities in
c
40,000 .
_^j overseas business ventures such as building
yC --
railroads in Asia and Africa. As a result, gov-
30,000 . .

ernments became increasingly involved in

20,000 protecting the international markets and in-

vestments ol their citizens.
C 10,000
0>

O
in
Q
vB
O
r^ 8 8 2 SECTION REVIEW
CO 00 CO 000"> 0"»

1. Identify: Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday,

Year Alexander Graham Bell, Guglielmo Marconi,
Thomas Edison, Gottlieb Daimler.
Britain Germany
Define: interchangeable parts, assembly line,

^
2.
iFrance Italy
mass production, corporation, monopoly, ver-
tical integration.

Source: B.R. Mitchell, European Historical Statistics. 3. (a) Which European nations industrialized
rapidly after 1850? (b) Which European na-
The building of railroads stimulated industrial tions remained largely agricultural?
growth in many countries. Because large amounts 4. Give one example of how scientific research
of iron and coal were needed to build railroads, affected industry.
the iron and coal industries grew. Once 5. Describe one result of the development of the
completed, railroads carried vital resources to assembly line.
factories and finished products to market. c 3

3 Effects of Industrialization

Before 1800, most people in Europe and The Population Explosion

North America farmed the land. They lived
and worked in the country or in small towns. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution
They owned their own tools and were gener- was marked by a population explosion that
ally self-employed. The Industrial Revolu- was to have far-reaching effects. Between
tion radically changed these patterns of life. 1750 and 1914, the population of Europe
By 1900, between one third and one half of more than tripled. It had grown from 140
the people in the industrialized countries of million people to 463 million.
Western Europe and the United States lived The Agricultural Revolution improved
in cities. Most were employed in industry the diets ofmany people, so the people were
rather than agriculture. Furthermore, more healthier. The Industrial Revolution also
workers had become wage earners, and contributed to the population growth. Medi-
fewer were self-employed workers and arti- cal discoveries and public sanitation re-
sans. duced the numbers of deaths caused by 421
 Populations of Six European Nations, 1750-1910
(in thousands)
Si*

1750 1800 1850 1880 1910

Belgium 2,150 2,960 4,426 5,520 7,422

Britain 10,012 14,997 27,201 34,623 44,915
France 24,600 27,800 35,630 37,450 39,528
Germany 12,770 1 7,200 35,310 45,093 64,568
Italy 13,150 16,900 * 28,211 34,377
Russia * 31,000 60,000 85,200 142,500

'Not available

Source: Witt Bowden, el. al. An Economic History of Europe Since 1750.

The population of European nations grew dramaticalh between 1750 and 1910,
as \ou can see from this table. Between which \ears did the population of Germany
increase the most?

disease. Furthermore, in the 1800s, Euro- single dark, airlessroom. The city had an in-
pean nations fought no major wars. Industry adequate water system and almost no sani-
provided jobs as well as goods for the grow- tation system. Overcrowded city slums be-
ing population. came the breeding grounds for disease.
Sewage was simply flung into open trenches
along the streets. In many cities, pigs roam-
Problems of Growing Cities
ing the streets were the only "garbage collec-
Until the 1800s, cities, which were often lo- tors." Manchester was not even chartered as
cated along land or water trade routes, a city so it could not tax citizens to raise
served mainly as marketplaces. But the In- money for improving living conditions. Nor
dustrial Revolution changed the nature of could it pass laws to ensure that housing met
cities. Cities seemed to spring up almost minimum standards of safety or sanitation.
overnight as people flocked to mill and fac- Living conditions in rural areas had of-
tory sites. When
people poured into these ten been difficult, but in the country, people
fast-growing cities in search of jobs, living usually could count on help from their
conditions rapidly grew worse. neighbors. During the early Industrial Revo-
The city of Manchester, England, pro- lution, one writer described the plight of city
vides an example of what often happened people who sat "in their little cells; divided
during the Industrial Revolution. In 1750, by partitions of brick and board, they sit
Manchester was a market town
fairly quiet strangers. They do not work together, but
. . .

with 16,000 residents. Manchester proved to scramble against each other."

be an attractive site for industry because
there were iron and coal deposits nearby.
Textile manufacturers built factories there. Working in a Factory
By 1855, Manchester was the center of the
British cotton industry, and its population Most of the new city residents found them-
had grown to 455,000. selves working in factories, where working
The rapid growth of Manchester conditions were as miserable as living condi-
brought severe problems. Thousands of fac- tions outside the factory. The supply of un-
tory workers crowded into poorly built skilled workers was large, so wages were
houses. A family of six or ten might live in a very low. Often a whole family worked to
survive Women and children some ol A New So< ial Struc lure
whom started to work al were in
.i^«. five

great demand because ihe\ worked foi even rhe Industrial Revolution transformed the
lowei w ages than nun ial sii in Hue ope Before industi ial
ol I in

Wnik days lasted from I- to 16 hours, 01

1
ization, the wealthy, landowning aristocrac)
From sunrise to sunset. Men, women, .mil occupied the highest social position Below
children worked si\ days a week ["here were the aristocrac) was relative!) small middle
,i

no paid holidays, vacations, 01 sick leaves. (.lass, which included merchants, lawyers,
Factories were often unhealthy, dangerous and the clergy. Nexl came skilled workers
places to work Fumes from machines com such as shoemakers, potters, and silver-
bined with pooi ventilation made the air smiths Finally, the \asi majority ol the
Foul. The loud, monotonous noise ol ma people were small I at mers 01Farm workers.
chines assaulted the ear. Lighting was poor, During the lHOOs, the- middle class ex-
and machines were nol equipped with safety panded and challenged the landowning aris-
devices, so accidents occurred Frequentlj \ tOCracy in wealth and power. The wealthiest
worker injured on the job received no com and most powerful members ot the new
pensation. It an injured worker could no middle class were Factor) and mine owners,
longer do the job, he 01 she was thrown out hankers, financiers, and merchants. The
ol work middle class also included managers and the

The French artist Custave Dore made this engraving, ailed Over London By Rail,
( in
1872. The artist conveys the bleak, overpowering sameness 0/ ondon working
,1 /

class neighborhood. In the smoke-iilh'd industrial flies ol Europe, most working

(

class families lived in just one room. Crowded onditions, open sewers, pollutrd
(

rivers, and filthy streets bred crime and disease.

423
 The Industrial Re\olution forced man\ women to seek jobs outside the home.
Emplo\ers often exploited women workers b\ pa\ing them lower wages than men.
In this printing shop, The Victoria Press in London, women work as compositors,

setting type for books and newspapers.

owners of small businesses. They were Some women worked as servants in the
also
joined by professional people such as doc- homes The Agricultural Rev-
of the wealthv.
tors and lawyers. Farther down the scale, ar- olution and new farm machinerv reduced
tisans and business clerks also entered the the need for both men and women on the
ranks of the middle class. farms. As the Industrial Revolution got un-
Wealthy members of the middle class derway, the factory system replaced the do-
tried to adopt the customs of aristocrats. mestic system.
They bought magnificent country estates, To help support their families in the in-
which they decorated luxuriously. They took dustrial economy, many women went to
up aristocratic sports such as horseracing work in the factories or the mines. Often, the
and sailing. Other members of the middle entire family worked in the same place. In
class lived comfortably but on a less lavish mines, for example, men often dug the coal,
scale. Most middle class families were very women dragged coal trucks through low tun-
conscious of their social position. They were nels, and children sorted coal.
constantly striving to live what they consid- Working in a factory added greatly to a
ered to be polite, respectable lives. woman's responsibilities. She worked out-
The Industrial Revolution produced a side her home for 12 to 16 hours a day. Yet,
new social class of industrial workers. she had to cook, clean, and sew for her
still

Largely unskilled, they occupied the lowest family. A woman's role was made even more
rank in society. Industrial workers were very difficult by the squalid living conditions in
much aware that they belonged to a separate the factory towns and cities.
social class.They saw themselves as people By the late 1800s, however, other devel-
with little economic power. By
political or opments affected the role of women in in-
mid-centurv, workers began banding to- dustrialized nations. As you will read in the
gether to change their working and living next section, the standard of living and
conditions, as you will read. wages of workers began to improve. Thus, it
became possible for many working class
families to live on the income of only one
Changing Roles for Women person. As a result, a new pattern of family
most women had either helped
Traditionally, life emerged. Husbands tended to be the sole

farm the land or worked in the home earn- wage earners, and women remained at
424 ing money through the domestic system. home.
 \i the same time, the demand foi d<> such .is "East, west, home's best" demon
mestic servants in the cities was growing strate
Middle class families could afford to hire di> 3
mestic servants to work as cooks, maids, and SECTION REVIEW
nurses 1 < > t children. Man) women, espe< iallj
1 Give iuii reasons whj the population "I Eu
single women, lefl theii homes to take these
rope in< reased in the 1800s.
jobs. In Britain in the late 1800s, aboul one
2 What problems did fa< i<>i y workers face in in
iluul ol .ill women working outside the dustrial cities such as Manchester?
home were employed as domestic servants. * Win were factories often dangerous places in
lew middle class women worked oul m hu li to work?
sitk- their homes because the social attitudes 4 How ilicl the makeup ol the middle class
ol the time encouraged marrj and women to change during the Industrial Revolution '

staj at home to raise then children. Dining 5 \\ In did women take jobs in factories eai l\ in
the 1800s, a comfortable home became the the liulusti ial Rcvoliiln in'

ideal ol main families as populai songs

aboul "Home, sweet home" and mottoes

4 Responses to the Industrial Revolution

During the early Industrial Revolution, main ers,and it applauded the actions ol the sol-
members of the middle class were indiffer- diers. However, worker discontent contin-
ent to the suffering ol workers. Factory own- ued to erupt in violence both in Britain and
ers, for example, had little sympathy lor on the continent."
workers. They had invested their entire capi- Parliament investigates. Eventually, in
tal in risky undertakings, and they wanted to 1831, Parliament began a series of investiga-
ensure survival of their businesses. As indus- tions of factory and mine conditions. Middle
trialization continued, however, some people class liberals opposed reforms that would
began to call for reforms to improve condi- regulate working conditions. They believed
tions for workers. the government should not interfere in busi-
ness.However, conservatives sometimes at-
tacked the conditions in factories and mines.
Demands for Change in Britain
As aristocratic landowners, they despised
Because the Industrial Revolution began in the way industrialization was changing life.

Britain, workers there were the first to feel The findings of investigators confirmed
its effects. They suffered from low wages, workers' complaints and shocked many
dangerous working conditions, and frequent middle class people.
unemployment. They protested against con- One cotton mill worker told investi-
ditions in the new industrial system, some- gators that the workday of his entire family
times violently. lasted "from morning till half-past
six in the
Between and 1816, workers in
1811 eight at night." His children were worn out
many parts of Britain smashed the machines at the end of the long day. He and his wife
that they considered the cause of their suf- "cried often when we have given them the
demonstration in Manches-
fering. In 1819, a little food we had to give them; we had to

ter was attended by about 80,000 workers shake them, [or] they would have fallen
who demanded economic and political re- asleep with the food in their mouths many a
forms. Nervous soldiers fired on the orderly time."
crowd, killing men and women and1 1
" As you read in
Chapter 22, workers in Paris helped
wounding about 400. Initially, the British overthrow the French monarchy in the revolutions of
Parliament had little sympathy for the work- 1830 and 1848. 425
 hours a day. For children aged 14 to 18, the
limit was 12 hours a day.
In 1842, Parliament passed the Mines
Act. This law barred employers from hiring
women to work in mines and made 13 the
minimum age for hiring boys. A few vears
later, the Ten Hours Act limited the work-
day for women and children under 18 vears
of age to 10 hours. Finally in 1874, the 10-
hour day was extended to all workers.

Rise of Labor Unions

Early in the Industrial Revolution, factory
workers began forming associations to gain
better wages, hours, and working conditions.
These early worker associations later devel-
oped into labor unions.
Child labor was one of the worst abuses of the Labor unions developed first in Britain,
early Industrial Re\olution. Man) parents needed and from the start they met with strong op-
w hat little mone\ their children could earn. As a position. The government saw labor unions
put their sons and daughters to work as
result, the\ as dangerous organizations. Moreover, em-
soon as the\ could walk. Here, a voung girl ployers argued that the shorter hours and
changes empt\ bobbins in a textile mill.
higher wages demanded by unions would
add to the cost of goods, reduce profits, and
A 17-year-old girl described her work in hurt business. Parliament passed the Com-
a coal mine. She spent her days on her bination Acts in 1799 and 1800 to outlaw la-
hands and knees hauling carts loaded with bor unions. On the continent, similar laws
coal through narrow mine shafts. She were passed. A French banker summed up
dragged the carts "a mile or more under- the attitude of many employers and govern-
ground and back. I never went to day- ment officials to worker efforts to win better
school," reported the girl. "I go to Sunday- treatment: "The workers must realize that
school, but I cannot read or write; I go to the their only salvation lies in patient resignation
pit at five o'clock in the morning and come to their lot."
out at five in the evening." Yet workers refused to accept "their
While Parliament pursued its official in- lot." In Britain, they struggled to have the
vestigations, the cause of reform received a Combination Laws repealed. They won this
boost from a few reform-minded journalists battle in the 1820s, although workers were
and writers. They described in vivid detail still barred from striking or picketing. In the

the deplorable conditions they saw in the following decades, skilled workers in Britain
factories and mines. Journalists awakened formed trade unions based on a craft or
thousands of middle class readers to the ap- trade such as cabinetmaking and hatmaking.
palling poverty among workers. Novelists Because the workers had skills that were
also helped create a climate for reform. valuable to employers, the trade unions were
Charles Dickens, for example, attacked the able to bargain with employers.
evils of child labor in his novels Oliver Twist Slowly, local trade unions formed larger
and David Copperfield. associations to support both political and
Reforms begin. Prodded by its own economic goals. They struggled for the right
findings and the growing public concern, to vote, the 10-hour workday, and the right
Parliament took action. It passed the Factory to strike. By 1868, over 100,000 workers be-
Act of 1833, which limited the working day longed to trade unions. In the 1870s, British
for children. Between the ages of 9 and 13, unions won the right to strike and picket
426 boys and girls could work no more than 8 peacefully.

f^mmm^m mm
 The success ol the trade unions encoui By workers enjoyed a bettei stan
1914,
aged unskilled workers to form theii own dard ol workers had 100 \c.ii
living than
unions in the 1880s. I lu\ organized on the earlier. They could also look forward to a
li.isis oi ilu'ii industries, Forming unions oi bettei future for theii hildren. By then, free
^

coal miners and dock workers. B\ 889, Ion

1 public schools had been set up in all the in
don dock workers were organized well dustrial nations. Moreover, living conditions
enough to mount a strike in support oi their in cities had improved.

demands foi highei wages. The London

clock strike effectively shut down one <>l the
Improving City Life
world's busiest ports. From this point on, the
sinkc was a Common tool ol labor unions. As you have read, living conditions in earlv
Bj the end of the century, union member- industrial cities were deplorable. As cities
ship was giowing rapidly in Britain, the rest continued to grow, the need loi reform be-
of Western Europe, and the United states. came urgent. In Britain and France, city gov
ernments began programs to provide ade-
quate water and sewage systems. City
Gains for Workers governments also passed building codes that
set up minimum standards lor housing.
Between 1870 and 1914, the lot ol industrial Between 1850 and 1870, the city of Paris
workers improved dramatically. Wages lose was almostcompletely rebuilt. Narrow,
significantly. In Britain and France, wages crooked streets were replaced by straight,
nearh doubled in the last half ol the 1800s, wide boulevards. New and better houses
and workers could buy twice as much as were constructed, and large parks were
they had before. In addition, thanks to mote opened for people to spend their leisure
efficient methods of production, goods such time. In London, a reform-minded member
as clothing were often cheaper than before. of Parliament, Sir Robert Peel, helped estab-
Gradually, employers came to believe lish the first police force in that city. Lon-
that workers would be more productive in a doners referred to members of the new po-
safe, healthy environment. They installed lice force as Bobbies or Peelers.
proper ventilation in factories, equipped ma- Cities became safer with the installation
chines with safety devices, and switched to of gas, and later electric, lights that lit the
new electric lighting. When some employers
refused to make improvements, govern- Fire posed a hazard to city dwellers. Some cities
ments passed laws to ensure better condi- had voluntary bucket brigades. But steam-
tions. Britain, Germany, and France led the powered water pumps introduced in the late 1800s
way in establishing factory codes that set up proved to be far more effective. Fire hydrants were
minimum standards for safety and sanitary set up along city streets. Professional firefighters
conditions. gradually replaced volunteers. This 7866 print
Governments took other steps to satisfy shows a horse-drawn wagon with a steam pump
the demands of workers, fn the new indus- rushing to a New York fire.
trial society,workers frequently faced finan-
cial disaster because of unemployment, acci-
dent, sickness, or old age. To protect workers
from such disasters, governments in many
industrial nations passed laws setting up in-
surance funds. These funds would help
workers who could not earn a living because
of sickness or accident. Some governments
also established old age pension funds as
well as systems of unemployment insurance
for workers who lost their jobs as a result of
business failure or economic slowdown.
 streets at night. Use of electric power also IN PERSPECTIVE
led to improvements in transportation. In
The Industrial Revolution began in Great
the lS90s, many European cities adopted an
Britain in the mid- 1700s. A series of inven-
American invention, the electric streetcar.
tions revolutionized the textile industry by
Electric streetcars were much cheaper and
introducing machines to do work once done
cleaner than horse-drawn streetcars. The
by hand. Machines and workers were soon
new streetcars encouraged growth, enabling brought together in the factory system.
people to live on the outskirts of the city and
As the Industrial Revolution unfolded,
travel to work. Cities such as London, Bos-
new sources of power were found. The
ton, New York. Paris, and Berlin also built
steam engine and later the internal com-
subway systems.
bustion engine were invented. Inventions of-
By the 1900s. cities had become increas-
ten triggered the rise of new industries.
ingly attractive places to live. Pockets of pov-
Between 1850 and 1914. the nations of
ertv and slums still existed, but in general
Western Europe and the United States in-
even the poor had money to spend on the
dustrialized. During this period, scientific re-
products of the new industrial society.
search led to the development of many new
I i technologies. The factory system became
SECTION REVIEW more efficient as new methods of production
1. Identify: Factory Act of 1833 Mines Act. were introduced. Powerful corporations and
2. (a) What was the attitude of the British gov- banks acquired an influential place in indus-
ernment toward labor unions in the early trial economies because they raised the
1500s? (b) How did this attitude change bv the money needed to finance new industries.
1880s?
Industrialization contributed to popula-
3. (a) What type
of labor union developed first? tion growth, the rise of large cities, and the
(b) Why were these unions able to bargain
development of a new social structure. Early
successfully?
in the Industrial Revolution, workers lived
4. ways in which the lives
List three of workers
had improved by the late 1800s. under terrible conditions, working long
hours for low pay. However, the demands
5. How did city governments improve living con-
ditions? for change from reformers and labor unions
' i eventually brought about improvements.

1733 Kav invents

flying
shutde

1 780s Improvements in iron making'

1 785 Cartwright invents power loom

1829 Stephenson tests Rocket, a steam-powered locomotive

183" Wxse invents telegraph

1876 Bell invents telephone

1886 Daimler invents internal combustion engine-

1914 -:-: ;e ~ ::• ajje-c . -e

428 Agricultural Revolution Industrial Revolution