Industrial Revolution in Great Britain - Example

Industrial revolution in the Great Britain Name University Affiliation Introduction Industrial revolution was the immense growth of invention and technology that resulted to big high growth rate of new industries bringing about social and economic changes specifically in Europe. This term was first used by A French envoy called Louis-Guillanme Otto in 1799 who announced that France had entered the period of industrial revolution. Industrial revolution started in the Great Britain in late 18th century spread to North America then to the rest of the world. This revolution is said by the historians to have occurred between 1760 and 1830 where there was a high rate of technological advancement a factor which ignited high rate of the growth of the industries (Temin, n. d). History reveals that during this period, the annual growth rate of the industry was 0.7% between the years 1760 to 1800, and then grew at 3% between the years 1800 to 1830. The industrial revolution in Europe greatly changed both the social and economic life in these nations where many factories were established, people moved from rural areas to urban centers to work in these ever growing industries. New technology resulted to higher and quality production hence trade was greatly boosted in this period than any other time in history (Quinault&O’Brien, 1993). Every activity within the farms in rural areas was mechanized and now people moved from domestic production to massive production that aimed at exchanging on the world markets. New industries and factories provided another option other than farming and animal rearing which before then were the only source of employment. This period of industrial revolution truly speaking marked a major turning point in history since every aspect of the daily life was influenced in one way or another. One of the most notable aspects was that the average income and the population began to experience an alarming sustained growth. The living standards of the ordinary people greatly changed much than any other time in history. Industrial revolution came about due to a number of scientific inventions which are believed to have prepared the stage for this great change. The scientific inventions led to mechanization for textile industry, improvement of roads and railways networks and the new developments of iron manufacturing techniques (Mokyr, 1999). There are various factors which are believed to be the main causes of industrial revolution to occur in Britain. This paper discusses about the major forces that ignited this revolution to occur in the Great Britain and the economic impact this revolution had in Europe. Major forces behind the industrial revolution As mentioned earlier, there are numerous factors that are believed to have caused the industrial revolution in Great Britain which later on spread across the rest of the world. One big factor which enabled other factors to have effects later on was the Britain’s favored position which came about during the English revolution of 1600’s which led to the triumph of many wealthy middle class who had both the money and the willingness to invest in new business ventures. This factor was the center stage of the development of other factors. However, there were about five major forces that prepared the stage for revolution coupled with other small factors. One of these major factors was that new developments in steam engines. During this time, new technology of steam power was invented. The steam power was much efficiency in the energy use hence it consumed less fuel as before (More, 2000). There was the adaption of the stationary steam engines to rotary motion that were designed for suitable industrial and factory uses. The steam power went rapid improvement just after 1800 where there was the invention of the high pressure engine which had high power as compared to the weight ratio. This enabled transportation to be easier so as to be used at any place. Before the year1800, the most common pattern of steam engines was the beam engine which was built as an integral part of a stone or brick engine. However, after some time, various designs of portable and removable engines were developed. By the start of 19th century engineers constructed a high pressure none condensing steam engines (More, 2000). This development enabled the combination of both the boiler and the engine becoming one unit hence this technology was easy to be used on mobile roads and rail locomotives and the steam boats. The second factor that led to industrial revolution in Europe was the new technology in the textile industry. Just before this period, there was mechanized cotton spinning powered by the water or steam. This technology tremendously increased the output per worker. The power loom also boosted the output of the workers by a factor of 40 while the cotton gin increased its productivity by a factor of 50. Reports reveal that there were large gains in the productivity in the spinning and weaving of linen and wool, however, that of cotton was big (More, 2000). Just before the revolution period, spinning ad weaving was conducted in household just for domestic consumption. It was referred to as the cottage industry; there were few occasions where this exercise was done in the workshops of the master weaver. With time, the water frame or the spinning frame was developed; this frame used a series of four pairs of rollers, each roller operated at a higher rotating speed when drawing out the fiber. By the year 1779, the spinning jenny and the water frame were combined where the spindles were put on carriage going through an operation that was sequential. More invention was done which greatly increased the efficiency of the individual stages of spinning such as twisting, carding, and rolling this increased the supply of yarn. The improved stages of technology in textile industry actually resulted to high demand of cotton. North America found ready market in Europe where its cotton was highly demanded due to efficiency machines that had high production rate (Mokyr, 1999). Thus, Europe had a great market for the textile products all over the world hence a lot of capital was accumulated for other developments. Therefore, new technologies in the textile industry in Europe were a major factor behind industrial revolution. The third factor behind the industrial revolution in Europe was the high population growth rate. History reveals that the England’s and Wales’ population had just remained steady at about 6 million right from 1700 to 1740. The population actually rose dramatically just after 1740 where by the year 1800 it was about 8.3 million. By 1850, it had doubled to 16 million, as that was not enough by the start of 20th century it was over 30 million people. This shows that as the livings standards improved due to the early revolutions, the population tended to double after 50 years (Mokyr, 1999). In total, European population is said to have increased from 100 million to 400 million between 1700 and 1900 a period of only 200 years. This high population provided human labor in the new industries that were rapidly being developed during the revolution. Industries got cheap labor force where they could afford to pay the laborers and make even higher profits. Moreover, the higher population created market for the manufactured products (Nardo, 2009). For example, since the textile industry could produce in large scale, the population created high demand for these goods hence; there was sustained growth of this industry. Therefore, high population growth rate was among the major forces that were behind the industrial revolution in the Great Britain. Another factor that brought about the industrial revolution in Europe was the new agriculture developments. The invention of machinery during this time was a big boost to the agricultural development. In real sense, Agricultural developments took shape before industrial revolution. As there was progress in the revolution, the succession of the machines became more available to the farmers in rural. Agriculture was mechanized where farmers now moved from farming for subsistence but for commercial purposes (Nardo, 2009). People practiced plantation farming where large tracks of land were tilled and this was done mechanically by the machines other than the traditional methods of hand on. The mechanization of the agricultural process boosted the food production where the population had enough to eat and even export to other parts of the world. All the processes of farming were in large scale, for example cereals such as maize and wheat were planted and harvested using machines. Enough food was available hence people were not malnourished this contributed to a health population in fact, that is why there was a rapid population growth rate during this period. Development of agriculture also was a source of the raw materials for the rapid growing industries during those times (Nardo, 2009). As mentioned earlier, when the there was new technology in textile industry, the efficiency increased which mans that the rate of production went up implying that more raw materials were needed and the raw materials for the textile industry is cotton which is the products from the agricultural sector (Quinault&O’Brien,1993). Moreover, the population provided cheap labor in the farms, hence there would be high production and the farmers would make high profits. There was superior development of the transportation system. Before the industrial revolution, the transport system had not developed much. The inland transport was just by navigable rivers and roads. The railway transport was in its infant stage, but during the revolution period, there were dramatic improvements in the transport system. Due to invention of machinery, good road networks were established for transporting the raw materials from the farms in rural areas connected to factories located in the urban areas (Hudson, 1992). There railways was built to transport heavy commodities such as coal and wood for fuel in different industries. More advanced water vessels were innovated which could carry heavy commodities bat longer distances over deep sea waters. Canals and waterways network were developed to link regions to enhance the exchange of raw materials, products and labor. It was during this period where heavy carriers such as locomotives were invented and they helping in transporting heavy commodities at longer distances. The locomotives were driven by steam engine hence the speed of transportation was also increased. This means that the raw materials reached destinations points in the right time while the products reached the market also in the right time. Generally, the industrial revolution was much ignited by good transport infrastructure which was composed of waterways, canal, road network and rail network (Nardo, 2009). Good transport network also allowed news ideas to spread quickly to other parts of the world hence enhancing knowledge and skills sharing. Therefore, superior transport network development than before paved way for industrial revolution in Europe. Large and surplus capital coupled with willingness to spend on new machines and technology was another major factor that brought about industrial revolution. As technology improved, the production also improved enabling the industries to produce more, hence earning a lot of income due to low labor cost and the efficiency of the machines (Moris, 2010). The investors in these industries had the desires of creating more wealth. They ended up reinvesting their surplus income in the industries; this doubled the production and development of more industries. In addition, the financial system had started developing in Europe where investors felt that it was wise to create a common pool where they would be keeping their surplus money so that they can even give loans to those people who need and in return they get some interests on top. This is the time when the banks started to evolve. The bank of England developed this way, this bank encourage investments in different sectors of the economy. The investors knew that new investments encouraged stability and economic growth (Quinault&O’Brien,1993). When more technology was invented, the opportunities came along thus the British businessmen celebrated because they were in the best position to take the advantage. They made the bank of England to be the first banker of the world. Another factor that engineered industrial revolution was that Europe was blessed with large deposits of minerals such and iron ore and coal. Since it had the machines to exploit these minerals from underneath, it acquired the braw materials to make iron tools that were used in the industries. Iron was very much valued since it was the main component of every machinery (Moris, 2010). The machines wee exported, even the raw materials were exported to other parts of the world and this brought a lot of income in Europe. In addition to this mining was one of the main economic activities during this period. Mining resulted to the production of the raw materials fro many industries. Coal was mined and it was used as a source of energy for example in steam engines and iron smelting industries (Moris, 2010). Mining was also a source of employment for the populous society of Europe during the industrial revolution. Effects of industrial revolution on the economy The industrial revolution altered the British economy in various ways. First, as we have seen, the increased efficiency of the machines increased production. When production of an industry increases it means it can serve a large demand on the market. Indeed when the general production increased due to the revolution, there was a lot of income (Hudson, 1992). This boosted investments where the investors reinvested in new ventures hence widening the scope of the economy. Thus, industrial revolution in Britain enhanced sustained growth of the economy. Secondly, industrial revolution brought about capital intensive economy other that the traditional way of doing business. The revolution caused people to think about large scale production other small or subsistence production. In agricultural sector, farmers did for commercial reasons, industries in urban areas produced in bulky for commercial reasons (Quinault&O’Brien,1993). Generally, the industrial revolution made people to start thinking big in that whatever activity they involved in was meant to serve other people in and outside Europe. Another effect of revolution to the economy was that it brought about urbanization. The revolution actually had a great impact on towns and cities. Most factories that processed the raw were located in towns and cities where there were god transport network. People moved in large numbers from rural to urban areas to go and look for jobs in these industries. The influx of people to urban areas actually brought cheap labor to the industries hence profits were maximized (Hudson, 1992). Moreover, the economy improved since, many people got employment. This means that there was a low unemployment rate during the industrial revolution. Another effect of industrial revolution was that it caused divisive of the society. The revolution saw the development of the classes of people in the European society. There was a class of rich industry owners and the poor the class of the workers. This brought economic imbalances among the people; the wealth was concentrated in he hands of the rich guys who tended to control the whole of the economy. Conclusion Industrial revolution period is one of the periods that stand in the history of Europe and the rest of the world. This is because it marked the end of an old era and was the basis of the modern era. Most of the technologies we have in the current times stemmed from the industrial revolution. The revolution as we have seen took a considerable length of time but a lot of developments were realized during this period than any other time in history. There were numerous factors that led to the revolution that occurred and changed the entire life of the human race. Industrial revolution had its own effects to both the economy and social life of Europe and the rest of the world. References Allen, R. (2009). The British industrial revolution in global perspective. University of Oxford. UK. BBC.co.uk. (2013). Why the industrial revolution happened in Britain. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/20979973 Historydoctor.net. (n. d). The industrial revolution in Britain. Retrieved from http://www.historydoctor.net/Advanced%20Placement%20European%20History/Notes/i ndustrial_revolution_%281%29.htm Hudson, P. (1992). The industrial revolution. Bloomsbury. University of Liverpool. UK Mokyr, J. (1999). The British Industrial revolution. An economic perspective. Westview Press. Northwestern University. UK. More, C. (2000). Understanding the industrial revolution. Routledge. New York. USA. Moris, N. (2010). The industrial revolution. Mc Rae books. Nardo, D. (2009). The industrial revolution in Britain. Lucent books. Temin, P. (n. d). Two views of the British industrial revolution. Retrieved from http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/210a/readings/temin1.pdf Quinault, R &O’Brien. P. (1993). The industrial revolution and British Society. Cambridge University press. 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