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London
London
London
Industrial Revolution
Part I – England
Thesis
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During the mid to late 1700s most of the
rest of Europe was directly or indirectly
involved in some type of civil unrest;
however England, which was detached from
the continent proper, had already fought
two types of revolutions, and had the most
political and economic freedom, was primed
for peaceful, societal breakthroughs. These
emerged in the form of the Industrial
Revolution, which, once started, gave
England an overwhelming advantage in
trade and military production and allowed it
to create the most powerful empire since
Rome.
(Industrial) Revolutions
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IR begins in Britain in the mid-1700s
On the continent: French Revolution & Napoleon lead
upheaval all over Continental Europe
• Spain, Russia, Austria, France, etc.

One major exception is Prussia (which will have the IR second)
• Congress of Vienna tries to fix this, poorly
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One country in Europe unscathed: England
• Had earlier Civil War & Glorious Rev.has recovered from
that
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US Revolution really not all that major on growth and economy
(salutary neglect) of Britain
• Strong empire (controlled the sea) and access to natural
resources
• History of strong economic systems (banking, etc.)
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The IR:
• New type of revolution changes the way people live and work
• Mostly refers to how machines helped people do their jobs
faster
• Huge impact on society more so than political revolutions
Still going on today

Historians claim three IRs:
• Britain
• Rest of Europe, US, Canada, Japan
• Rest of the world (still going on today)

Social scientists claim three different
phases:
• Farming, textiles, early factories &
transportation
• New inventions in weapons, sanitation,
mass production and culture
• Technological revolution (still going on
today)
The English
countryside
Starts with agriculture
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England in the early 1700s was covered in small farms
Series of breakthroughs in farming:
• Jethro Tull invents a seed machine that drills small holes in the
ground to make sure seeds can germinate – huge increase in
crop yields
• Crop rotation replaces three field system
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Wealthy landowners start buying up smaller farms and
create large farms
Allowed farmers to work bigger fields = find new ways to
farm and produce
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Example: Experiment with selective animal reproduction average
weight of sheep goes from 18 to 50 pounds
Two results
• Rapid increase in productivity
• Small farmers go to tenant farming or cities
More crops + more meat = healthier people = Longer life=
MORE people
More people means more demand for manufactured goods
• Clothes, household goods, tools, etc
• Second phase occurs in textiles
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Series of breakthroughs: cotton gin, spinning jenny, power loom, etc.
Starts with cottage industries, eventually consolidates to factories
Transportation
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Prior to IR everything moved at the speed
of a horse
Start to move things on water
• US and Britain both become obsessed with
water and build series of canals
• Over 4000 miles of canals in England by 1820
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Technology quickly replaced by key to IR:
STEAM
Steam engine built then put in ships (and
later trains)
• Even more powerful when Isambard Kingdom
Brunel figures out how to build big ships (and
later trains)
Railway age begins
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Road transportation improves radically at this
time as well
Richard Trevithick invents a steam
locomotive in 1804
George Stephenson builds the first railroad
line in 1821 – from coal mines in Yorkshire to
the North Sea
First run was a 13-ton load pulled by a
locomotive at the breakneck speed of…. 21
mph
But England could then ship coal from
northern England to London, or even to other
countries = more production = more jobs =
Industrial Revolution Time
Inventions
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Conditions were right for an explosion of creativity
Series of major, major breakthrough from everything
to waterproof clothes to early computers, to cure for
small pox
• Example: Cotton production in US goes from 1.5 million
pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in just 20 years

Glut of people and resources leads to mass
production and consumerism
• Need place to set up new machines to produce
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Get really big buildings = birth of factory
Turn into productions machines running 18+ hours per day
employing everyone (even kids) for very little
• Also need new place for all these people to live
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Most move to cities which aren’t ready
Live in crummy conditions = slums
Live at mercy of (sometimes cruel) landlords
• All this will eventually be fixed but takes some
time