Question

The English Industrial Revolution was not one, but three interrelated revolutions.

Answer 1

The First Industrial Revolution: The Age of Mechanical Production

As it turns out you are getting steam as you heat up water. And starting about 1760, steam dominated everything from agriculture to textile manufacturing with the invention of the steam engine. Society used to be predominantly agrarian, which is a sophisticated way to suggest that life was once based on agriculture. Even those agrarian societies gave way to urbanisation with steam power. The world began relying on steam power and hand tools, while steamships and railroads were revolutionizing how people were going from A to B. But life at the factory was rough. Unqualified factory laborers were inexpensive and plentiful. They were forced to work long hours, often in precarious circumstances. Also children worked in factories, working alongside adults in 14-hour shifts. These circumstances continued through the twentieth century. The development of industrialisation gradually produced a middle class of professional workers. Cities and companies expanded faster than ever before and along with them, economies developed.

The Second Industrial Revolution: Age of Science and Mass Production

Scientific advances were not limited to laboratory developments. This has taken scientific ideas straight into the factories. Most notably the assembly line which powered mass production effectively. Henry Ford's company was mass manufacturing the revolutionary Ford Model T by the early part of the 20th century, a vehicle with a gasoline engine constructed on an assembly line at its factories.

The Third Industrial Revolution: The Digital Revolution

Beginning in the 1950s, the third industrial revolution brought about the digital revolution of semiconductors, mainframe computers, personal computing and the Internet. Stuff that used to be analog switched to digital technology, including an old television that you used to tune in to replace an antenna (analog) with an internet-connected tablet that allows you to watch (digital) videos. The shift from analog electronic and mechanical devices to ubiquitous digital technology has dramatically disrupted industries, especially globalized communications and energy. Electronics and information technology began to automate development and take global supply chains.