Industrial Revolution

In the 18^th century came the Industrial Revolution. It brought social and economic changes that marked the transition from a stable agricultural and commercial society to a modern industrial society. The Industrial Revolution began in England from about 1750 AD. This was possible because English merchants had accumulated huge wealth through overseas trade and her colonies secured the supply of raw materials. The colonies also acted as potential markets for finished goods.

Moreover, England had huge amount of essential resources such as coal and iron which were necessary for running the industries. Thus, the capitalists invested in the development of new machines to speed up the production with the aim of earning more profits.

Now machines began to take over some of the work of humans and animals for production. Though there was new development and the coming in of new machines to improve production, the society became unequal. It created a division in society with the coming of two groups of people - the capitalist or the bourgeoisie and the worker or the proletariat.

Historically, it refers to the period in British History from 1750 to 1850. Dramatic changes in the social and the economic structure took place as inventions and new technology created the factory system of large-scale machine production and greater economic specialisation. The population which was employed in agriculture now gathered in urban factories.

Earlier the merchants supplied the family with raw materials and collected the finished products. This system did not meet the growing demands of the markets for long. So by the end of the 18^th century, rich merchants set up factories. They installed new machines, brought raw materials and employed workers on fixed wages to make machine made goods. Thus the factory system was born.

The Industrial Revolution started in Britain with the use of steam power. This was made possible with the invention of the Steam Engine by James Watt in 1769. In 1733 John Kay’s invented the Flying Shuttle which simplified the process of weaving cloth and which increased the output four times. James Hargreaves invented a hand powered spinning wheel, the Spinning Jenny, to create multiple spools of thread at once.

After the invention of the Spinning Jenny, cotton textiles became the key industry of this period. The presence of large quantities of coal and iron proved a decisive factor in Britain’s rapid industrial development.

The building of canals and roads, as well as the advent of the railroad and steamship, widened the market for manufactured goods. New periods of development came with electricity and the gasoline engine.

Britain had all the resources that were needed to make her an industrialised power. By 1850, the Revolution had been accomplished with industries becoming a dominant factor in British life. The effect of the Industrial Revolution was felt worldwide. France after 1830, Germany after 1850 and U.S. after the Civil War soon started industrialisation.

Major inventions and reforms gave a boost to agriculture in England. Important innovations took place in farming such as Jethro Tull’s Seed Planting Drill which aided in planting seeds at uniform intervals and depths without any wastage. Between 1760 to 1830, the British Parliament passed nearly 1000 Enclosure Acts by which the lands which had earlier belonged to the community were combined into larger areas.

Though all this helped to increase agricultural production but at the same time rendered a large number of people landless. Now only a few people were needed to work on the farms so a large number of people started migrating to cities for employment. This provided cheap and abundant labour to work in the factories.

The favorable political conditions in England further helped in the growth of the Industrial Revolution. Acts like the removal of trade barriers and a common market aided the merchants. England was able to capture the overseas markets primarily with the development in transportation.

Many European countries had by now started following the Policy of Mercantilism. Under this Policy, governmental control was exercised over industries and trade. It was based on the theory that national strength was indicated by more exports and less imports. This theory also believed that wealth of a nation depends on the possession of gold and silver and the governmental interference in trade should be very limited.

Impact of Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution also encouraged the movement of the masses towards cities which gave birth to an urban society. The workers now lived close to the workshops or the factories where they were provided employment opportunities. But the working conditions in the factories were miserable along with poor housing, hygiene and health conditions.

The factory owners had only one motive and that was to make profit. Hence he forced the workers to work for long hours on low wages - sometimes 12 to 14 hours daily. Women and children were paid very low wages. The factories were poorly ventilated, noisy, dirty, damp and dark.

Gradually the workers began to realize their strength. The pressure came from trade unions. A movement began to save the workers from the injustices of the factory system. Many laws were made to reform the working and living conditions.

There was a tremendous increase in production which resulted in lower cost of goods. Human labour was replaced with the machines and the domestic system of production came to an end. Increase in agriculture production decreased the food prices. A new source of wealth rose from the ownership of factories and machinery. This new group of people was known as the capitalists.

They also organised the banking system to distribute capital from surplus income areas to those areas where it was needed. In early 1700’s the first private banks were opened by goldsmith, merchant and manufacturers.

Very soon Industrial Revolution spread to other countries. The discovery of trade routes encouraged competition among colonial and imperialist powers for expanding their empires to fulfill the need of raw materials, new markets and cheap labour. It started a race for colonies among the European countries, rivalry particularly between England and France.

Later on Italy, Germany and other countries also joined the race. These imperialist expansions led to struggle for supremacy and the two world wars. They exploited the colonies and destroyed their traditional social, economic and political systems. These colonies in turn started opposing the foreign rules and fighting for their independence.