The Industrial Revolution

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The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the movement in which machines changed people's way of life as well as their methods of manufacturer. It brought three important changes: inventions of machines that simplify and speed up the work of hand tools, use of steam (and other power) versus human power, adoption of a factory system. Workers were brought together under one roof and were supplied machines. The Industrial Revolution began throughout the world relatively during the same time period, and although it had its beginning in remote times, it is still continuing in some places.

By the eighteenth century all of Western Europe had begun to industrialize rapidly, but in England the process was faster than in other parts of the world. This may be attributed to a number of factors:

 large deposits of coal were still available for industrial fuel.

 abundant labor supply to mine coal and iron, man the factories.

 Fleet remained from old commercial empire

 Ability to furnish raw materials (through colonies)

 capital to invest

 industrial development not interrupted by war

Soon all Western Europe was more or less industrialized, and the coming of electricity and cheap steel after 1850 further speeded the process. (Rempel)

The countryside was transformed between 1760 and 1830 from the open-field system of cultivation to make way for compact farms and enclosed fields (pay flat tax on land, must be surveyed and fenced in). Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the world's population was rural. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were scarcely two dozen cities in Europe with a population of 100,000, but by 1900 there...

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...hip. The steamship was interesting because it was bulky and not efficient, however, after many years of redesigning, it was able to be utilized due to the fact that a steamship would not be lost in a storm and could arrive and depart on its own.

So, how did all of the changes affect the people living during the Industrial Revolution? It caused increases in population and urbanization, as well as the development of new social classes. The Industrial Revolution created a new working class. The new class of industrial workers included all the men, women, and children working in the textile mills, pottery works, and mines. Typically, wages were low, hours were long, and working conditions unpleasant and dangerous. Wages finally reached a point where they were more than the products and people began to have money left over after the necessities were taken care of.

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