Question

Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain rather than in continental Europe or the United States? What exactly is meant by the Industrial Revolution? What were the economic changes that revolutionized manufacturing in the eighteenth century and led to the factory system? How did the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution change societies in the industrialized countries?

Answer 1

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: The Industrial Revolution, also called as the "Industrial Age", it was a period of immense technological, socio-economic and cultural change. It marks the mass introduction and adoption of power-driven machinery to replace hand tools and concentration of industry into large establishments around the world. In a simple manner, it can be said as the rapid adoption of technology to bring out a sudden change by reducing human power.

Why did the Industrial Revolution Started in Britain?

By the end of the 19th century, the island of Great Britain, controlled the largest empire in the history of the world—an empire that covered one quarter of the world’s land mass. The factors came together in the late 18th century to create the unique conditions in Britain that culminated in the first-ever Industrial Revolution:

The Agricultural Revolution  resulted in increased food production and increased population in England first.

Population Growth, , resulted in more people from the countryside being freed up to work for wages in the new cities,— and eventually increased demand for products such as clothing.

Financial Innovations—such as central banks, stock markets, and joint stock companies—encouraged people, especially in Northern Europe, to take risks with investments, trade, and new technologies.

The Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution encouraged scholars and craftspeople to apply new scientific thinking to mechanical and technological challenges. In the centuries before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans gradually incorporated science and reason into their worldview. Some historians argue that these intellectual shifts made English culture, in particular, highly receptive to new mechanical and financial ideas.

Navigable Rivers and Canals in Great Britain quickened the pace and cheapened the cost of transportation of raw materials and finished products.

Coal and Iron deposits were plentiful in Great Britain and proved essential to the development of all new machines made of iron or steel and powered by coal—such as the steam-powered machinery in textile factories, and the locomotive.

Government Policies in England toward property and commerce encouraged innovation and the spread of global trade. The government created patent laws that allowed inventors to benefit financially from the “intellectual property” of their inventions. The British government also encouraged global trade by expanding the Navy to protect trade and granting monopolies or other financial incentives to companies so they would explore the world to find resources.

World Trade gradually increased in the centuries before the Industrial Revolution and provided European countries access to raw materials and a market for goods. It also increased wealth that could then be loaned by banks to finance more industrial expansion in an upward spiral of economic growth. By 1500, Europe had a technological supremacy over the rest of the world in shipbuilding, navigation, and metallurgy (metal working). In successive years, European countries would use these advantages to dominate world trade with Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The Cottage Industry , served as a transition from a rural to an industrial economy. Like the later industrial factories, the cottage industry relied on wage labor, cloth production, tools and rudimentary machines, and a market to buy and sell raw materials (cotton) and finished products (clothes).

The economic changes which occured in the lives of people during industrial revolution are given below :

• Working Conditions
• Living Conditions
• Urbanization
• Public Health and Life Expectancy
• Child Labor
• Working Class Families and the Role of Women
• The Emerging Middle Class
• Wealth and Income

The Industrial Innovations which brought change in England?

• Textile Inventions
• The Iron Industry
• The Steam Engine
• The Factory
• Railroads
• Capitalism: The Free Market