The Industrial Revolution In Great Britain

The Industrial Revolution and its Immediate Impact.

Great Britain was the homeland of the Industrial Revolution nowhere else in the world had such a revolution taken place. It took place from 1750 to 1830 these are the dates given by historians. Obviously it was urban and modern and those phenomenon are very important. Great Britain was as a result the first country confronted with the first economic impacts of the Industrial Revolution, but also political, ideological and social consequences. Because she was the first country, she had no model to draw upon, she did not know what to do. In order to tackle the problems she had no models. As a result her industrialization process was probably more difficult and costly than anywhere else.

At the same time it was an advantages because she was the first industrialized country in the world; it gave her a head start over the other European countries.

A) General features and consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

1) Is the term “industrial revolution” adequate or overworked? .

Was it a revolution or an evolution? In France it was cataclysmic so it was a revolution. Here it's difficult to say that it was cataclysmic because it was a very very slow process. There was no sudden, rapid transformation of the economy and so it's hard to say Industrial Revolution. Great Britain did not become a modern, industrialized state in one generation:

- It was only in 1851 that the census proved that the number of people living in city was more important than in the countryside.

- Historians consider that 1830 is the end of the Industrial Revolution, but in fact it had only began by that date and only in a few industries and area (from the cotton industry to the iron industry). Even in the cotton industry a major faith in this Industrial Revolution. It took place in the 20s with the mechanization of weaving. It could be argued that Great Britain became a truly industrialized state in the 20s or the 30s only.

It would be better to say that this process was more evolutional than revolutionary, anyway we still say Industrial Revolution.

In a long term perspective only, you can say it is a revolution because of what the Idustrial Revolution gave way to in the future.

2) The main characteristics of the Industrial Revolution.

The other phrase that should be associated with the Industrial Revolution is “technological changes”. That is to say that it was based on it. The Industrial Revolution consisted in the application of science to industry. One of the reasons why Great Britain was the first industrial country in the world is because it is considered that evolution was more readily accept in England than in France.

The Industrial Revolution means that there were inter-related technological innovations in 3 industries: cotton textiles, metallurgy (iron), and the steam engineering industry making the 2 others possible. In the past, until the 18th century the woollen industry had been the most important textile industry, yet the cotton industry was the first to be industrialized. Lancashire became the great centre of production. The reason why is that the town of Liverpool which was a port, and the cotton was imported from America. Cotton was transformed thanks to water power in the new factories (“a mill” was the name given to those industries). In Lancashire you have a lot of streams, it was very adequate for this industry to develop. Thanks to mechanization, it became possible to produce in great quantity and this was something which is to be related to the Industrial Revolution; this is mass production. They transformed cotton into manufactured goods (“hands” in the 19th are workers). Once it had been transformed, she exported them and as a result trade was developed. England imported raw materials and sold manufactured goods. And she was the first country able to do so.

They needed stream power, it was first used in the 1780s, until then they had used water power. Stream power was to supersede water power. The spread of the steam-powered factory took place at the beginning at the 19th century and in particular in the 30s.

To do so they needed coal, it became essential for the Industrial Revolution, it was the main source of power. The industrial areas were where you could find coal. The industrial map of Great Britain was a map of coal mines.

One of the reasons why Great Britain was the first industrialized country in the world was because her coal mines where more accessible than in France for example. And as a result nobody was to outproduced Britain before the first World War (p. 2 coal mines available). Lancashire employed 69% of the cotton workers in England and Wales in 1838, and the figure reached 74 in 1850.

B) The Social Impact of the industrial revolution.

1) Population growth and expansion of the market.

There was an other revolution in Great Britain and it was demographic. The Industrial Revolution was accompanied by this latter (p.4). The population in England grew rapidly after 1730, even more rapidly after 1750 and very rapidly indeed from 1780 to 1820. The population doubled in less than a century. And it continued throughout the 19th century. Why? And was there a link between the Industrial and Demographic Revolution?

It was suggested that the Demographic Revolution was the reason for rising birth rate and lower death rate.

The second question is like the question of the egg and the chicken. Some people consider that the growth of the population was a contribution to the Industrial Revolution. There were more people which means that labour scarcities began to exist. The necessary cheap labour force needed at the time existed because there were too many people. As a result the industrialists had the necessary cheap labour force to develop. Besides there were more people and this people were more concentrated than in the past, markets had to produce more and more efficiently. The growth of the population provided incentives to increase production. And because people needed more things, an improved technology was needed.

The growth of the population forced people to industrialize so they would be able to sell manufactured goods, in order to buy more food in order to feed all this people.

In the growth of the population contributed to the Industrial Revolution, in the other hand the growth of the population may also be the result of the Industrial Revolution.

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