Commercial Revolution vs. Industrial Revolution - Assignment Example

Commercial Revolution vs. Industrial Revolution Introduction The history of the Western industry and trade can be categorized into two periods: first, the period that spans backward from 1500 to the earliest times, and, secondly, reaching forward to the present and the future. In the first and earlier period, Europe was a rude, even half-cultivated country that thrived in agriculture. There was an abundance of corn, wool, meat, timber and, of course, trading of rough, although valuable, materials of manufacture. The Europeans in this period were unskilled except for the arts of war, poetry and philosophy. On the whole, the citizenry were learners instead of teachers. The second period, however, is different. The series of developments transformed the European industry dramatically, with the commercial and industrial revolution affecting change in technology, ideologies, religion, politics and other socio-economic variables. This paper will compare the two upheavals that have ushered in the modern period in Europe and the rest of the world: the commercial and industrial revolutions. Commercial Revolution Commercial revolution started between the mid-tenth and the mid-fourteenth centuries marking a great and irreversible turn in the history of western civilization. During this period, the population of Europe began to grow rapidly. The inventions began its development. The timeline marked how the engine was coming into use while the smelting of iron with coal increased the abundance of valuable metal. In addition, the commercial revolution established regular and profitable international trade routes that would prove invaluable to the European overseas conquest. The commercial revolution engendered the rapid scientific development, the Enlightenment, and mercantilism, which eventually led to the Industrial Revolution and industrial capitalism. According to Robert Lopez, it gradually shook the numeric, economic and political predominance of landowners and officials and made the market, instead of the public place or the cathedral squares, the main focus of urban life. It is during this period when European states started expanding territories through colonization. Industrial Revolution The changes between 1750 and 1850 is labeled as the Industrial Revolution. The changes were driven by the marked redeployment of resources from agriculture to manufacturing. Frank Thackeray and John Findling (2002) outlined, for instance the British experience: The percentage of male labor force engaged in agriculture and industry approximately reversed during this period, the former falling from about 50 percent to 25 percent; the latter moving from 25 percent to 50 percent. (p. 7) The most evident consequence of this development is the increase in the British productive output. Because of this, the possibility of long-term improvements in output at a faster rate than the population growth went positively counter to many expectations at the time. This development spilled over to most of Western Europe. There was an increase in economic productivity and that it changed so fundamentally the nature of the European society. Comparison Besides the obvious difference in the timelines, commercial and industrial revolution also differ in terms of its origin. Commercial revolution emerged out of the dramatic surge of economic life in southern Europe while Industrial Revolution came out of the robust technological and economic development in Great Britain. Then, the Commercial Revolution was powered by people as population began to grow rapidly. As the epidemics subsided, sufficient manpower was available to break the lingering vicious circle of low production and low consumption. The European population, grown afresh, has driven four centuries of agricultural growth. This pattern of development in agriculture and the growth that ensued can also be seen in the developmental timeline in other parts of the world particularly in Asia. On the other hand, Industrial Revolution was driven by the use of machineries for production. This enabled Europe to specialize more in manufacture rather than the agricultural path taken elsewhere in the world such as China. Manufacture, certainly, had greater growth potential allowing Europe to develop faster than the rest of the world. Needless to say, agriculture was the dominant industry in commercial revolution while manufacturing became the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution. This is highlighted by the example demonstrated by Thackeray and Findling cited by this paper previously. The Commercial Revolution did to the medieval city what the Industrial Revolution was able to do to the entire European scene. (Lopez, p. 87) In terms of political development, the power during the commercial revolution was relegated from landowners to merchants as previously stated. In Industrial Revolution, power was in the hands of industrialists. The middle class and the businessmen were able to triumph over the nobility as more and more opportunities emerge for the creation of wealth. At the lower end of society, the commercial revolution completed the emancipation of slaves and enfranchised a large proportion of serfs. The emergence of machine during the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, dispensed with the extensive use of manual labor. People migrated to cities and serfs and the feudal system that require them became outmoded. Innovations From the technological and economic point of view, technological advances during the commercial revolution, was mainly focused, besides in agriculture, in shipbuilding and a particularly significant breakthrough in the art of marine navigation. (Pitzl 2004, p. 34) The development in navigation greatly expanded global maritime reach. Commercial Revolution, thus, paved the way for the globalization of trade as international trade routes were established. Because of this phenomenon, more direct links of Europe to the rest of the world was created. Technologies such as iron metallurgy from Africa, for example, found its way to Europe along with its radical effect in tool making. The Industrial Revolution, meanwhile, became a process by which a society acquired control over vast resources of inanimate energy, the use of fuel to drive engines of growth such as the steam engine and the numerous mechanized systems that radically increased production. (Ehret, p. 159) Innovations during the Industrial Revolution were on textile manufacture, metallurgy, mining, steam power, large production of chemicals, machine tools, glassmaking, gas lighting and modern tools for agriculture. Ideologies The nature of the Commercial Revolution is reflected on the ideological paradigms that emerged during the period. Mercantilism as an economic policy was promoted, paving the way for the concept of capitalism, which prevailed as an economic theory towards the end of the period. Mercantilism also gave birth to colonialism, wherein colonized nations are considered to exist for the benefit of the colonizer alone. It is important to underscore here that economic theory as an independent or separate field of study emerged out of this period as the prevailing global order required explanations in regard to how nations accumulate wealth. The political, social, cultural and economic landscape during the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, brought forth three main intellectual paradigms: capitalism, the ideology that criticizes it – Marxism, and Romanticism. The dramatic increase in wealth coupled by the Age on Enlightenment encouraged the practical application of intellectual theories and scientific knowledge. Capitalism emerged out of this landscape. The concept emerged when Adam Smith published his opus, The Wealth of Nations. Marxism, on the other was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution itself. It criticized the means of production of industrialization and the people behind it. Romanticism, meanwhile, became a tool for the intellectuals to criticize the Industrial Revolution. One striking similarity between the Commercial Revolution and the Industrial Revolution besides a rapid economic growth is the performance of the monetary and financial systems. During the Commercial Revolution, the emerging nation states took control over issuance of coins and provided the infrastructure for accelerating pace of interregional and international trade. (IMF 2000, p. 164) Conclusion The Commercial Revolution transformed the European states in terms of its government, society and the fiscal capacity of the state. It created new interests, new possibilities and new ambitions. More importantly, this period and the changes that occurred not only effected economic and political change in Europe but that it was responsible for the start of globalization, migration, urbanization and the population growth that allowed for an expanded labor force needed for the process of industrialization. Besides this, Commercial Revolution was responsible for the financial structure that would become the foundation of the wealth required for the Industrial Revolution. In regard to Industrial Revolution, it had a more profound and wide-ranging effect on European and global affairs. As a result of two forces – the nature of technological advance and the demographic transition – growth became irreversible and inevitable. There were fears that machine could swallow or enslave men, people from across the globe benefitted from the wealth it produced. To this day, the developments during the Industrial Revolution can be felt from the modern economic system and growth including its resounding social effects. Unarguably, both periods have profound impact on both the European and world history. Both periods were also crucial in the emergence of upheavals they preceded. It is clear that by looking at the timeline, the development of the commercial and industrial revolution was a natural course of evolution that came with man’s own development. References Ehret, Robert. The civilizations of Africa: a history to 1800. James Currey Publishers, 2002. International Monetary Fund (IMF). World economic outlook. International Monetary Fund, 2000. Lopez, Robert. The commercial revolution of the Middle Ages, 950-1350. Cambridge University Press, 1976. Pitzl, Gerard. Encyclopedia of human geography. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Thackeray, Frank and Findling, John. Events that Changed Great Britain Since 1689. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Read More