Chapter 17: Revolutions Of Industrialization, 1750-1914

The Industrial Revolution occurred between 1750 and 1900, beginning in Western Europe, particularly Great Britain. From there it spread rapidly, growing out of ideas from the Scientific and French Revolutions. It began when the world population rapidly grew from 375 million people in 1400 to about 1 billion in the early 1800s. However, the Industrial Revolution had enormous impacts on the environment as humans turned to unsustainable ways of increasing production. The early signs of the Industrial Revolution started with innovations that focused on the cotton textile industry and from there it grew into a global transformation affecting Asia, Africa, and Latin American countries as well. The Industrial Revolution started in Western Europe for a few reason. The first was that Europe was already divided into separate competing states. Another reason was that European countries needed revenue that did not come from effective taxes. This led to the government working closely with the merchant class. Although, Europe was not the only region creating a market-based economy, it did use this move towards capitalism in conjunction with other cultural influences from around the world. Markets around the world increased the competition. Lastly, Europe had an influx of silver from the Americas along with cheap slave-harvested cotton and sugar. There are also specific reasons for why Britain led the way in the Industrial Revolution. The first being that it had imperial possessions in the Caribbean, India, and North America, so it was the "most highly commercialized of Europe's larger countries" (Strayer, 744). Britain also saw a series of agricultural innovations that increased yield and production. The political climate of Britain encouraged commercialization and economic innovation, coupled with its policy of religious toleration which increased the number of skilled workers in the country. The Scientific Revolution in England focused more on technological innovations, such as observation, precise measurements, mechanical devices, and practical application, as opposed to the rest of Europe which focused on logic and mathematical reasoning. Lastly, the geography of Britain meant that there was already a good supply of coal and iron ore and since it was an island it did not experience the same kinds of invasions that continental Europe did. The different British social classes were each affected differently by the Industrial Revolution. The aristocracy didn't suffer in terms of their material wealth, the land they owned. They did suffer in size as urban wealth became more important. The middle class benefited the most, by using the new opportunities of the revolution. However, this only benefitted the men, as the women were increasingly encouraged to stay within the house. The laboring class gained the least and suffered the most. This led to the creation for the Labour Party and social reformists, such as Karl Marx.
The Industrial Revolution also sparked a large migration of Europeans to other parts of the world like the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Not long after the Industrial Revolution spread through Britain it started to spread through continental Western Europe and beyond. The two countries that were affected by the Industrial Revolution most apparently were the United States and Russia. In the United States the industrialization process began in the textile factories in New England in the 1820s and expanded after the Civil War. They pioneered techniques in mass production and with the use of advertising, generated a "culture of consumption" (Strayer, 760). The Industrial Revolution also began to widen the gap between the classes in North America sparking labor protests, but unlike Europe there was not major political party representing the working class. However, in the 1890s the populists went against both major political parties and then the Progressives in the early 1900s were even more successful. Russia on the other hand was still an absolute monarchy, with no national parliament until the early 1900s. There was a stark difference between the nobility and the serfs. The changes seen in Russia was usually initiated by the state, starting with Peter the Great and by the 1890s Russia's Industrial Revolution was underway. As the Industrial Revolution continued Marxist socialism grew with it. World War I led to the Russian Revolution in 1917, brining power to the most radial socialist group, the Bolsheviks, lead by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin).
Although Latin America did not experience their own Industrial Revolution, the impact of the European and the United States Industrial Revolutions were felt. As Latin America fought for its independence it was met with many challenges. This included the dissolving of the four major administrative units, viceroyalties, regional revolts, and international wars. Politics were unstable and conflicts between the conservatives and the liberals were often violent. The social life of many also did not change after the gaining on independence. During the second half of the 1800s there was more stability in Latin America and it become more integrated into the world economy. This increased Latin America's export of products to industrialized countries, while they imported products from those same countries.

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