The Industrial Revolution And European Society

The “First” Industrial Revolution and European Society

Before the middle of the 18th century, most people lived and worked in the countryside. Women worked on their houses and occasionally helped men work together. Children also worked for their families, but mostly by performing small jobs such as farming and herding animals. The pattern of lives didn’t change a lot. However, during the Industrial Revolution, new resources such as coal and iron made it possible to change people’s lives and build several inventions and products such as railroad, steam engine (used for train and mining) and spinning jenny (cotton spinning) that boosted production in Europe between 18th to 19th centuries.

Most historians assume that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in England first? Great Britain was “a small and secure island nation with a robust empire and control over crucial lanes across the oceans” (Cole and Symes 619). England had an effective agriculture system which is a combination of new techniques and new crops. The food production increased Britain population, people from the countryside went to cities or factories, and in the end the manufacturing industry was developed. England had advantages in the international trade because it was an island surrounded by North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. Well-developed banking and credit institutions encouraged enterprises to make money from international trade, investments, and technologies. England improved specific industries, cotton manufacture, iron, and coal mining.

The textile production was increased in the Industrial Revolution. Britain was used to importing cotton from India. Cotton became the most popular textile since it was...

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...pitalism focused on the economic movements while Socialism and Marxism examined workers. Karl Marx, German philosopher and economist, contended that the capitalism had created the unfairness between middle class and working class. Also, Class Struggle, conflict between bourgeois (middle class) and proletariat (industrial laborer), brought social changes like French Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution brought a lot of changes. The industrial Revolution made it possible to explore new world faster, have more economic power, and have better life. Other countries in Asia and Africa couldn’t have new technologies until Europe came. On the other hands, the industrial Revolution caused many serious problems such as pollution, low wages, and overpopulation in city. We cannot judge that there was only positive effect in the Industrial Revolution, but it shaped modern life.