The Industrial Revolution (1740-1914)

The Industrial Revolution
(1740-1914)
World History Honors
The World before World War I.
Be sure to answer all questions
highlighted in gray!!!!
Orzoff-Baranyk
4/27/2010

Changes caused by the industrial revolution
Location: home & work
- movement to cities & factories (away from country and farming)
- Growth of cities & urban population
Family: small family size, nuclear family only – no extended family, less time spent with them
since work is not done with family.
Education: the opening of public schools.
Wars: deadlier due to new technology
Relationships among nations: competition for markets, materials, power (imperialism)
Ways goods are produced, raw materials procure, and markets are located.
What do you think the relationship between these changes and World War I was?
Reasons the Industrial Revolution start in Britain in the 18 th century c. 1740
Political
- The government supported economic development.
- More intense patterns of global trading for buying raw materials & selling products due to
their global empire.
Economic
- Increasing agricultural productivity due to early technological advances in agriculture. Less
workers needed on the farm.
- Evolution of capitalist philosophy.
- Slave labor in plantation economies enriched the country.
- Discovery of large amounts of gold and silver in New World increased capital
Social
- New merchant class
- Social structure that allowed people of different classes to work together (unlike France’s
Estates)
Intellectual/Technological
- Rise of science & technology focused on finding practical solutions for problems.
- Early factory system established for non-technological jobs led the way for management and
labor to move into large scale factory systems with technology.
Britain’s early industrialization
- Until mid-1700s Britain excelled in wool production.
- India’s cotton textiles gained popularity and began to
replace British wool in the markets.
- Britain banned importation of cotton textiles and
created its own industry.
- They still imported raw cotton from India.
What do you think this meant for India’s economy?
The shaded areas are
India’s Cotton growing
regions. Remember – India
was a British colony

New British Inventions
1733 John Kay’s “Flying Shuttle.” A single weaver, instead of the traditional two
weavers, could operate it.
1764 John Hargreaves’ “Spinning Jenny.” It could spin cotton into thread faster – to
keep up with the new demand for it.
Machinery was new but power source was still human labor
Production concentrated in rural homes
New Inventions & New Sources of Power.
1769 Richard Arkwright’s “water frame.” It could spin several strands at the
same time (like the Spinning Jenny), but was powered by running water! This
helped with consistency and soon British cotton textiles were of a better quality
and rivaled India’s.
1712 Thomas Newcomen’s Steam Engine. This used steam to power pumps that
emptied water out of coal mines.
1763 James Watt’s Steam Engine. He created a larger more expensive steam
engine. The 1785 firm of Boulton and Watt began to
manufacture and sell steam engines. They replaced
water power. Manufacturing equipment became
more sophisticated and expensive. Steam powered
cotton textile mills that did not have to be near water!

The Impact of the Textile Industry on Britain
Much less man power and time needed to produce mass quantities of thread.
Quality of product steadily increased.
Cotton textiles became the most important product of the British economy.
By 1820 it was more than ½ of the exports from Britain!
The Impact of the Textile Industry on India & The United
States
India became a supplier of raw cotton instead of a
producer of textiles.
Eli Whitney of the USA invented the “cotton gin” that
cleaned seeds from cotton plans quickly.
o USA becomes a supplier of cotton
� 1790: 3000 bales
� 1860: 4,500,000 bales.
o Slavery grows as cotton production grows
Changes to society due to the Industrial Revolution
Before the Industrial Revolution –
The Cottage Industry
People worked at home or close to home. Cotton thread
was made by hand using spinning wheels in someone’s
home. Maybe two to three people would work together in
a single home.
Workers would receive raw materials from a provider, and
return a finished product. They got paid according to how
much of the product they created.
Workers were skilled. All products were made from start to
finish by an individual. His skills would be prized. (ex: only
cobblers made shoes).
Workers tended to work 8-10 hours, ate meals with their
families, or with the boss’s family. More leisure time was
enjoyed. Wages included meals.
By the 1790s – the Cottage Industry was on its way out.
Try to explain the cartoon to the right of a “Typical Factory owner”
During/After the Industrial Revolution –
The Factory System
Work moved into factories. Cotton thread was
made in a huge room by hundreds of people
watching the frames to make sure the thread did
not become tangled.
Workers were paid by the hour. They were
expected to produce a certain amount per day.
Failure to do so could mean loss of a job.
Many hand weavers were driven out of business
because they could not produce quickly enough.
Workers became increasingly less skilled. They
knew how to finish one part of a product, but
would never be able to make the full product on
their own. Therefore, anyone could learn the jobs
and it was easy to find workers to replace those
who were fired or quit.
Workers worked 12-14 hours. Meals were eaten in
quick breaks between shifts. They usually never
met the person who they worked for. Wages
steadily decreased for a time.

As cities became more crowded the conditions deteriorated
From The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) by Friedrich Engels (son of an English
factory owner)
Heaps of garbage and ashes lie in all directions, and the foul liquids emptied before the doors gather in
stinking pools. Here live the poorest of the poor, the worst paid workers and thieves and the victims of
prostitution indiscriminately huddled together… They who have some kind of shelter are fortunate in
comparison with the utterly homeless. In London fifty thousand human beings get up every morning,
not knowing where they are to lay their heads at night.
From the excerpt above, describe the conditions in which the poor working live, in
your own words:
The following parliamentary reports printed in 1842 describe the working conditions for English
women miners:
In England, exclusive of Wales, it is only in some of the colliery districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire that female Children of
tender age and young and adult women are allowed to descend into the coal mines and regularly to perform the kinds of underground
work, and to work for the same number of hours, as boys and men… In many of the collieries in the [Yorkshire] district, as far as
relates to the underground employment, there is no distinction of sex, but the labor is distributed indifferently among both sexes,
except that it is comparatively rare for the women to hew or get the coals, although there are numerous instances in which they
regularly perform even this work. In great numbers of the coal pits in this district the men work in a state of perfect nakedness and
are in this state assisted in the labor by females of all ages, from girls of six years old to women of twenty-one, these females being
themselves quite naked down to the waist.
“Girls” says the Sub-Commissioner, “regularly perform all the various offices of trapping, hurrying, filling, riddling, tipping,
and occasionally getting, just as they are performed by boys. One of the most disgusting sights I have ever seen was that of young
females, dressed like boys in trousers, crawling on all fours, with belts round their waists and chains passing between their legs…
“When I arrived at the board of working on the pit I found at one of the sideboards down a narrow passage a girl of 14 years
of age in boy‟s clothes, picking down the coal with the regular pick used by the men. She was half sitting half lying at her work, and she
said she found it tired her very much, and „of course she didn‟t like it.‟ The place where she was at work was not 2 feet high. Further
on were men lying on their sides and getting… In two other pits… I have seen the same sight. In one, the chain passing high up
between the legs of two of these girls, had worn large holes in their trousers; and any sight more disgustingly indecent or revolting
can scarcely be imagined than these girls at work – no brothel can beat it.
“On descending Messrs Hopwood‟s pit at Barnsley, I found assembled round a fire a group of men, boys, and girls some of
whom were of the age of puberty; the girls as well as the boys stark naked down to the waist, their hair bound up with a tight cap, and

trousers supported by their hips. Their sex was recognizable only by their breasts, and some little difficulty occasionally arose in
pointing out to me which were girls and which were boys, and which caused a good deal of laughing and joking.
“When it is remembered that these girls hurry chiefly for men who are not their parents; that they go from 15 to 20 times a
day into a dark chamber, which is often 50 yards apart from any one, to a man working naked, or next to naked, it is not to be
supposed but that where opportunity thus prevails sexual vices are of common occurrence. Add to this the free discussion, and
consider the language to which the young ear is habituated, the absence of religious instruction, and the early age at which
contamination begins, and you will have before you, in the coal-pits where females are employed, the picture of a nursery for juvenile
vice which you will go far and wide above ground to equal.”
Two Women Miners:
Betty Harris, age 37: I was married at 23, and went into a colliery when I was married. I used to weave when about 12 years old; can
neither read nor write. I work for Andrew Knowles, of Little Bolton, and make sometimes 7 shillings a week, sometimes not so much. I
am a drawer, and work from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. Stop about an hour at noon to eat my dinner; have bread and butter for
dinner; I get no drink. I have two children, but they are too young to work. I worked at drawing when I was [pregnant]. I know a
woman who has gone home and washed herself, taken to her bed, been delivered of a child, and gone to work again under the week.
I have a belt round my waist, and a chain passing between my legs, and I go on my hands and feet. The road is very steep,
and we have to hold by a rope; and when there is no rope, by anything we can catch hold of. There are six women and about six boys
and girls in the pit I work in; it is very hard work for a woman. The pit is very wet where I work, the water comes over our clog-tops
always, and I have seen it up to my thighs; it rains in at the roof terribly. My clothes are wet through almost all day long. I never was
ill in my life, but when I was lying in.
My cousin looks after my children in the day time. I am very tired when I get home at night; I fall asleep sometimes before I
get washed. I am not so strong as I was, and cannot stand my work so well as I used to. I have drawn till I have had the skin off me;
the belt and chain is worse when we are [pregnant]. My [husband] has beaten men many times for not being ready. I were not used to
it at first and had little patience. I have known many a man beat his drawer. I have known men take liberties with the drawer, and
some of the women have bastards.
Patience Kershaw, age 17, Halifax: I go to pit at 5 o‟clock in the morning and come out at 5 in the evening; I get my breakfast, porridge
and milk, first; I take my dinner with me, a cake, and eat it as I go; I do not stop or rest at any time for the purpose, I get nothing else
until I get home, and then have potatoes and meat, not every day meat.
I hurry in the clothes I have now got on – trousers and a ragged jacket; the bald place upon my head is made by thrusting
the corves; I hurry the corves a mile and more under ground and back; they weight 3 cwt. I hurry eleven a day. I wear a belt and chain
a the workings to get the corves out. The getters that I work for are naked except their caps; they pull off all their clothes; I see them
at work when I go up.
Sometimes they beat me if I am not quick enough, with their hands; they strike me upon my back. The boys take liberties
with me sometimes; they pull me about. I am the only girl in the pit; there are about 20boys and 15 men; all the men are naked. I would
rather work in mill than in coal pit.
Note by Sub-Commissioner Scriven: This girl is an ignorant, filthy, ragged, and deplorable looking object, and such a one as
the uncivilized natives of the prairies would be shocked to look upon.

1. Why would so many women miners prefer to work in the mines without clothing?
Why did the women need the heavy belts around their waists and chains between
their legs?
2. What was the average workday of these female miners? What was their daily
diet?
3. What do you think the social and familial cost was for these miners?
� Female miner hurrying coal.

Reactions to the End of the Cottage Industry
1791: home based workers in N. England burned down a new powerloom
factory.
Machine-wrecking riots followed for decades.
Culminate in the Luddite riots of 1810-1820
o Named for mythical leader Ned Ludd
o Wanted new machines banned.
Soldiers called in to suppress riots.
New Power spurs new inventions & industries!
Coal Mining
o By 1750 coal was mined efficiently
and cheaply around England.
o Young boys & women were hired to
mine.
What would be the pros and cons of hiring
young boys to mine for coal (consider the
pros and cons for the children, their families, the mine operators, etc.)

Changes in Transportation!
17 th -18 th c. Shipping = Canals
arrow)
New Power spurs new inventions & industries! (Continued)
Britain’s Iron Industry
o Established since mid 1500s
o New production methods and increased
demand due to Railroads and building construction.
o 1720: 25,000 tons of iron
o 1750: Increased coal production helped
improve the iron industry.
� The Iron Industry was relocated to
coal & iron fields to further increase
production.
o 1804: 250,000 tons of iron
� 52% of world market.
o 1870: 4,000,000 tons of iron!
Iron Mining in Britain!
What would be some of the Pros and Cons of
using canals to move goods? (answer by the
1829 George Stephenson’s
Rocket. Top speed = 16 mph!!
Why do you think the cartoon on
the right presents the “Rocket”
as a monster?

By 1850: There were 23,500 miles of track in Britain (growth of RR industry also had a major impact on
the United States.)
If you open this packet from our class website, you can see the map below in color. The
lines in GREEN are the tracks laid by 1850. The tracks in RED are the tracks laid by 1880.
The vast majority of what you see below is in RED!
Looking at the map above, and the chart below, explain how you think life will change
because of the Railroad.

1838 1 st transatlantic steamship
Could carry 100 times more cargo in 1876 than in 1838
What do you think the impact of the transatlantic
steamship will be?
1860-1914 began a new phase of the Industrial Revolution, focusing on new products: Steel,
chemicals, and electricity.
The Steel Industry
Steel is an alloy, made of mostly iron infused with oxygen.
It is much stronger than Iron and does not wear down as quickly.
Production
o Britain Bessemer Steel Converter (1856)
o Germany Open Hearth Method (1864)
� Both allowed iron ore to be converted cheaply to steel, but the German method
was cheaper!
� 1871: Germany united as a country.
� 1900: Surpassed Britain in Steel production.
Early creators of the internal combustion engine, the diesel engine,
and the automobile!!
Know any German cars?? List them here!
The Chemical Industry
Grew after 1870
Synthetic substances used for dyes, fertilizer, explosives, soap, glass, drugs, insecticides,
perfume, cosmetics, plastics, etc.
Impact:
o Agricultural productivity increased
o Engineering feats: tunnels through mountains, Suez canal, Panama canal.
o New Products available to all in the late 19 th century
Electricity
Britain 1831: Michael Faraday
o Demonstrated electromagnetic induction (The principle on which electric generators
and motors work, the passage of electric current through a conductor sets up a
magnetic field.)
1850 companies produced simple electric generators.
USA 1880s: Nikola Telsa.
o Developed methods to send power over long
distances.

USA 1879-1882. Thomas Alva Edison
o 1000+ patents for new inventions.
� Incandescent light bulbs, fuses, sockets, switches,
circuit breakers, meters, telegraph, stock ticker,
phonograph, kinetoscope
o Private industrial development lab in Menlo Park, NJ
The second half of the Industrial Revolution was the era of Big Business!
Cartels (collaborative business associations) begin to control most
production.
o In Germany, France, Britain, and USA.
o Mass production completely replaces the artisan with the
introduction of the Assembly Line.
The Industrial Revolution also changed warfare
1862-1863: Machine Gun & Maxim Gun
o Used for colonization of Africa
o Used in USA Civil War.
Artillery
Chemical Warfare
Warfare will become more deadly, longer, and more
devastating.
Remember – World War I is just around the corner!
The Effects of the Industrial Revolution are WORLD WIDE
Profits from new businesses were turned around to create even
more businesses (cycle)
o Neo-colonialism begins
Businessmen begin to look for new regions of the world to make money in.
o Britain invested in other countries industrial development (mostly N. & S. America)
Encouraged Immigration
Growth of North and South America.
By 1914: Britain invested $20 billion, France $8.7 billon, Germany $6 billion.
European
countries who
controlled all of
Africa (except
Ethiopia & Liberia)

Other impacts
of the
Industrial
Revolution?
Explain the
critique in the
cartoon to the
left
Use the cartoon
to the left to
explain the
critique of
Society:

What aspects of the Industrial Revolution do you think workers would object to?
What aspects of the Industrial Revolution would capitalists, or entrepreneurs, like?
Positive aspects of the Industrial Revolution
While the early years in England were terrible for the working class, by the end of the Industrial
Revolution conditions for the working class in Western Europe and the United States had
become more comfortable.
Between 1750 & 1850, the population of Europe doubled.
o The population had increased by another 50% by 1900.
o Death rates were down due to people eating better (new foods from the Columbian
exchange and better trade), public health became more important & sanitation systems
were introduced creating new standards of hygiene. There were also new methods for
fighting epidemics thanks to the revolution.
o Birth rates went down because children were more likely to live into adulthood.
In Britain, the government eventually responded to the plight of the workers
o 1832 - 143 seats in Parliament were moved from rural areas (losing voters) to urban
areas (gaining voters)
� This mostly benefited the middle class.
o 1833 – The Factory Act forbade the employment of children under the age of 9 in textile
mills. It also provided for paid inspectors to enforce the legislation.
o 1833 – Slavery was abolished in the British Empire.
o 1834 – The Poor Law provided assistance just adequate to sustain life. It required that
recipients live in government workhouses and participate in government-created work
projects (but this usually wasn’t enforced).
o 1842 – The employment of women and of children under the age of ten was forbidden
in the coal mines.
o 1846 – The Corn laws (forbidding the importation of foreign grains, which were cheaper)
was repealed making the price of food decrease.

o 1847 – The Ten Hour Act extended this ruling to cover all factories and limited the hours
of work for women. In practice, men’s hours were soon reduced as well.
o 1870 – Universal state supported education offered.
o 1871 – Labor unions were made legal.
o 1876-1880 – several bills regulating public sanitation and conditions of labor in factories
and mines were passed. There were also reforms regulating conditions of housing for
the poor.
Parliament did not respond swiftly to all problems.
o 1838 – There was a call for universal male suffrage by a petition with over one million
signatures, an end to property qualifications for members of parliament, and equal
electoral districts. A wave of violence started by those fighting for universal suffrage
may have caused Parliament to vote against this.
o 1842 – The same petition was resubmitted with 3.3 million signatures, and was rejected
again.
o 1918 – Universal suffrage was finally established for men, and women over 30.
Given what is listed above, explain why Britain did not experience a Worker
Revolution, as many predicted would happen?