British Industrial Revolution: Causes, Demographic & Agricultural Shifts
Causes of the Revolution
Pre-industrial societies of the former regime or subsistence farming predominated, with a cottage industry facing serious technological barriers. The majority of the population had little purchasing power. Transportation was slow, and commerce was hampered by customs within each country.
Since the mid-eighteenth century, British regions like Lancashire, in England, experienced industrial concentration with the creation of numerous factories.
The development of textile and steel industries, known as the British Industrial Revolution, was a process of change that affected all sectors of the economy and society.
Although these changes began in the UK, their effects soon spread to other countries. This great leap allowed for the creation of a global market.
This first Industrial Revolution took place between approximately 1780 and 1870 and was characterized by the use of coal as an energy source, the steam engine, the factory, and the textile industry as a pioneer of major change.
The Demographic Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was preceded and accompanied by a series of changes in population and agriculture in the United Kingdom.
The English population tripled in eighteen months. Population growth was due to the conjunction of increasing birth rates and declining mortality. The birth rate was aided by the improved diet.
After 1760, we began a reduction of mortality due to two main causes:
- Diet improved, thanks to increased production and new means of transport that made possible the importation of food.
- There were major advances in medicine (vaccination against smallpox by Jenner in 1796) and improved hygienic conditions with the use of underwear and the extension of potable water.
A demographic revolution occurred because the population shifted from a period of stagnation to rapid growth.
Agricultural Revolution
Agriculture decisively contributed to the success of industrialization. The so-called Agricultural Revolution began in the early eighteenth century with the introduction of enclosure laws and new techniques. The emergence of new agricultural entrepreneurs with a capitalist mentality was also decisive.
In England, over half the land was owned by the lower nobility, who displaced the landless. The other half belonged to the nobility and freeholders.
Much of the agricultural land in England was split into open fields, large communal properties. Their collective farm tended to charity, providing wood and other natural products. The laws of enclosures, adopted by parliament, transformed the old communal pastures into large private plots.
This process showed remarkable growth from 1760 until 1860. The result was one of the biggest changes in the landscape of rural England. The effects of enclosures were significant:
- As the commons disappeared, landless peasants found it difficult to survive and went to seek work in cities, where they formed part of the industrial proletariat.
- The system of production was more profitable, introducing new techniques such as row planting, the use of Rotherham cattle, and the first mechanical threshers.
- Preventing nearby cattle grazing in the fields allowed fallow land to be eliminated. The cattle were housed, and their offspring became more profitable. For breeding, forage plants were cultivated on land, which did not harm productivity growth in the field.
Agricultural development enabled the industry to take off: the field supplied food, raw materials for industry, and labor to work in factories. Moreover, the agricultural population increased their income and was able to purchase industrial products.