Industrial Revolution: Transformation and Impacts
Industrial Revolution Characteristics
Demographic Revolution: The English population tripled. Births increased due to earlier marriages and improved diet. From 1760, mortality decreased due to better diet, increased food production, and improved transport for food imports. Advances in medicine and hygiene, including the use of underwear and better drinking water, also contributed.
Agricultural Revolution: The Enclosure Laws transformed communal pastures into large private plots. This led landless peasants to seek work in cities. Agricultural production became more profitable with new techniques and selective cattle breeding.
Other Contributing Factors: The political and institutional context, England’s maritime power, commercial dominance, free trade policies, and the dismantling of commercial and industrial monopolies.
First Phase of the Industrial Revolution
Pioneer Industries
Workshops declined as machines were introduced, primarily in textiles, transport, and steel.
The Cotton Textile Industry
The engine of change. Artisans produced yarn by hand. New weaving machines were developed to absorb increased yarn production. James Watt’s steam engine powered spinning machines and looms. The cotton industry saw high productivity and falling prices.
The Steel Industry
Improvements in iron production included the introduction of coke ovens. Factories concentrated near coal mines. Demand for machinery in the textile industry and railway construction drove the steel sector.
Transport Revolution
Canals linked raw material sources to industrial sites. Roads were improved. The railway, with George Stephenson’s steam locomotive, revolutionized transport, boosting the metallurgical industry, civil engineering, and facilitating the movement of raw materials and people.
Dissemination to France and Germany
France
Slow industrialization prevailed until the Second Empire. Development was based on agriculture and small factories. Land was divided among peasants, and population growth was slow. Agriculture dominated, with many tenant farmers. Investments focused on real estate.
Germany
Lack of a common economic space hindered early industrialization. Economic unification came with the Customs Union. Cotton textiles and steel were dynamic sectors. The Prussian state played a key role. A strong educational system in science and technology was a deciding factor.
Economic Liberalism and Capitalism
The Industrial Revolution shifted from a limited, mercantilist economy to a liberal economy based on private property, free enterprise, free labor, and self-regulation of production without state interference. A free market regulated by profit, also known as free trade.
Economic Liberalism
Adam Smith argued that individual self-interest drove economic activity. The state should be limited to maintaining justice, defense, and essential public works. Wealth came from labor. A more pessimistic liberalism later emerged.
The Capitalist Economic System
Marked the triumph of capitalism. Cottage industries were replaced by mass production. The factory system required significant capital, leading to the development of the banking system. Changes included a shift from an agrarian to an industrial society, from a stratified to a class-based society, and an improvement in general welfare.
Society of Classes
A new social structure emerged based on wealth rather than birth. Social classes were open.
Lower Classes
Included day laborers, landless peasants, the urban poor, and the socially marginalized. The proletariat grew as peasants sought work in industry. Men, women, and children worked in factories, mines, and blast furnaces.
Middle Classes
Skilled workers emerged in industry, trained in specialized schools. The service sector expanded. Wealth increased, and the liberal state saw growth in public administration and officials.
High Class
The Industrial Revolution marked the triumph of the bourgeoisie, including industrialists who needed to sell products, organize production, and acquire materials at the best prices.