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15 Key Facts About The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution, an epochal shift that transformed the fundamental fabric of human existence, is a massive tribute to humanity’s propensity for creativity and advancement. This revolutionary tsunami swept across continents in the late 18th century, driving society from rural simplicity to a frenzy of automation and scientific brilliance.

With its smoky furnaces and noisy industries, it sparked a ferocious firestorm of transformation, building the modern world. The unrelenting march of technology spawned new businesses, enhanced transportation, and unparalleled riches, but also caused significant social and economic turmoil.

The Industrial Revolution, a breeding ground for creativity, continues to cast a long shadow over the world, signifying both infinite promise and tremendous challenges. Here are 15 key facts about our topic today, the Industrial Revolution.

1. The term ” Industrial Revolution” was first recorded in July 1799

MandK Industrial Revolution 1900.jpg , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The phrase “Industrial Revolution” was first used in July 1799 by French diplomat Louis-Guillaume Otto, who announced that France had entered the race to industrialize. Raymond Williams states in the entry for “Industry” in his 1976 book Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society:

“The idea of a new social order based on major industrial change was clear in Southey and Owen, between 1811 and 1818, and was implicit as early as Blake in the early 1790s and Wordsworth at the turn of the 19th century.”

By the late 1830s, the term “Industrial Revolution” had come to refer to technological advancement, as in Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui’s 1837 description of la révolution.

2. The Industrial Revolution had important technological developments

Several important developments transformed the industrial and production scene throughout the Industrial Revolution. With the introduction of mechanical cotton spinning, driven by either steam or water, the textile industry underwent a spectacular shift, resulting in a 500-fold increase in worker productivity. Furthermore, the power loom increased worker production by more than 40 times, while the cotton gin revolutionized seed removal from cotton, increasing productivity by a factor of fifty.

Another significant advancement was the use of steam power. Steam engines became substantially more efficient, consuming as low as one-tenth of the fuel used previously. Furthermore, the conversion of stationary steam engines to rotational motion enabled a wide range of industrial uses. After 1800, high-pressure engines, noted for their amazing power-to-weight ratio, found employment in transportation, resulting in tremendous expansion.

In the iron industry, the switch from charcoal to coke significantly cut prices, while the use of steam power for blast air permitted significant improvements in output. Cast iron blowing cylinders and the puddling technique revolutionized iron manufacture, making it more cost-effective. The invention of the rolling mill in 1828 increased output and efficiency.

Machine tools such as the screw-cutting lathe, cylinder boring machine, and milling machine were critical in allowing the accurate and cost-effective manufacture of metal parts. These ideas, however time-consuming to perfect, set the groundwork for current production practices. Overall, these advances throughout the Industrial Revolution altered industries, enhanced productivity, and propelled the contemporary world’s fast expansion.

3. There are six factors that facilitated industrialization

Six factors aided industrialization: high agricultural productivity, which provided excess manpower and food; a pool of managerial and entrepreneurial skills; available ports, rivers, canals, and roads to transport raw materials and outputs at a low cost; natural resources such as coal, iron, and waterfalls; political stability and a legal system that supported business; and financial capital available to invest.

Once industrialization began in the United Kingdom, two new variables emerged: British businesses’ drive to export industrial skills and their readiness to import the process. Britain satisfied the conditions and began to industrialize in the 18th century, exporting the process to Western Europe (particularly Belgium, France, and the German nations) in the early 19th century.

4. The development of the stationary steam engine was crucial in the Industrial Revolution

Stationary steam engine – geograph.org.uk – 4933383.jpg, , via Wikimedia Commons

Steam engines were introduced in the 18th century and were widely used throughout the 19th century and much of the first part of the 20th century, only waning as electricity supplies and the internal combustion engine became more common.

The creation of the stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial Revolution; nonetheless, most industrial power was provided by water and wind throughout the early phase of the Industrial Revolution. By 1800, steam was supplying an estimated 10,000 horsepower in the United Kingdom. By 1815, steam power had increased to 210,000 horsepower. Thomas Savery patented the first commercially effective industrial application of steam power in 1698.

5. The large-scale production of chemicals was an important development during the Industrial Revolution

Nicolas Leblanc statue – CNAM.jpg , , via Wikimedia Commons

The earliest of them was the manufacturing of sulphuric acid using the lead chamber technique, which was created by an Englishman named John Roebuck. He was able to considerably increase the volume of production by substituting the previously utilized relatively expensive glass containers with bigger, less expensive chambers built of riveted sheets of lead. Instead of producing a modest quantity each time, he was able to produce around 50 kilos in each of the chambers, a tenfold increase.

The large-scale manufacturing of an alkali became an essential aim as well, and Nicolas Leblanc succeeded in establishing a process for the synthesis of sodium carbonate (soda ash) in 1791. The Leblanc method included combining sulfuric acid and sodium chloride to produce sodium sulfate and hydrochloric acid. Sodium sulfate was combined with calcium carbonate and coal to produce sodium carbonate and calcium sulfide.

The soluble sodium carbonate was isolated from the calcium sulfide by adding water. After 1860, the focus of chemical research shifted to dyestuffs, and Germany assumed global leadership by establishing a powerful chemical industry.

In the 1860s and 1870s, aspiring chemists rushed to German institutions to study the latest methods. British scientists, on the other hand, lacked research universities and did not teach advanced students; instead, German-trained chemists were hired.

6. The British Agricultural Revolution is a major cause of the Industrial Revolution

Jethro Tull (agrónomo).jpg , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Because increased agricultural production freed up labourers to work in other areas of the economy, the British Agricultural Revolution is seen as one of the origins of the Industrial Revolution. In contrast, the per capita food supply in Europe was static or dropping and did not recover until the late 18th century in various regions of Europe.

In 1701 the English barrister Jethro Tull devised an improved seed drill. It was a mechanical seeder that spread seeds equally across a field and planted them at the proper depth. This was significant since the yield of harvested seeds to seeds sowed at the time was around four or five. Tull’s seed drill was both costly and unreliable, and so had little impact.

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7. The Industrial Revolution improved Britain’s transport infrastructure

At the start of the Industrial Revolution, interior transit consisted of navigable rivers and roadways, with coastal vessels used to convey heavy products by sea. Wagonways were used to transport coal to rivers for onward transportation, as canals had not yet been widely built.

On land, animals provided all of the motive power, while sails provided the motive power at sea. The first horse railways appeared at the end of the 18th century, followed by steam locomotives in the early decades of the 19th century. Between 1750 and 1830, improved sailing technology increased average sailing speed by 50%.

Raw resources and completed goods might be transported more rapidly and inexpensively than previously. Improved transportation also facilitated the rapid dissemination of new ideas.

8. Living conditions and mortality and morbidity rates in children decreased

La Revolución Industrial Pasado y Futuro, Robert E. Lucas Jr. screenshot (cropped).jpg , , via Wikimedia Commons

According to some economists, such as Robert Lucas Jr., the true impact of the Industrial Revolution was that “for the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people began to undergo sustained growth.” Children’s life expectancy improved considerably throughout the Industrial Revolution.

The proportion of children born in London who died before reaching the age of five fell from 74.5% in 1730-1749 to 31.8% in 1810-1829. From the 1950s through the 1980s, the consequences of living circumstances were contentious and highly contested by economic and social historians. From 1813 to 1913, there was a huge increase in worker earnings.

9. The start of the Industrial Revolution brought about poor housing conditions

The new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service hubs like Edinburgh and London, saw a tremendous population increase in the nineteenth century. Financing was a major component, which was handled by building societies that interacted directly with huge contracting corporations. Because there was not enough capital to provide proper homes for everyone, low-income arrivals were forced to live in increasingly congested slums.

Clean water, sanitation, and public health facilities were insufficient; infant mortality was high, as was TB among young individuals. Typhoid and cholera from filthy water were endemic. A considerable amount of exposé writing arose denouncing the harmful circumstances.

10. Urbanisation was a hot trend during the Industrial Revolution

Since the late 18th century, the advent of modern industry has resulted in tremendous urbanisation and the creation of new major cities, first in Europe and subsequently in other countries, as new possibilities drew large numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas.

Only 3% of the world’s population lived in cities in 1800, compared to over 50% by the turn of the century. Manchester had a population of 10,000 in 1717, but it had grown to 2.3 million by 1911.

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11. Child labour  was massively witnessed during the Industrial Revolution

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The Industrial Revolution increased population, but the odds of surviving childhood did not improve during the Industrial Revolution, despite significant reductions in newborn death rates.

There was still a scarcity of educational opportunities, and children were expected to work. Employers could pay a kid less than an adult despite equivalent production; there was no requirement for strength to run an industrial machine, and there were no experienced adult labourers because the industrial system was new.

In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, between the 18th and 19th centuries, this made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing. In 1788, two-thirds of the employees at 143 water-powered cotton mills in England and Scotland were classified as youngsters.

12. People lost their jobs to the machines during the Industrial Revolution

Many artisan workers lost their employment as the English economy became industrialized. The movement began with lace and hosiery workers around Nottingham and quickly extended to other sectors of the textile industry. Many weavers also found themselves abruptly unemployed because they could no longer compete with machines that produced more fabric than a single weaver with relatively little (and unskilled) labour.

Many of these jobless employees, weavers, and others became enraged at the machines that had usurped their employment, and they began destroying factories and machinery. These assailants were known as Luddites, ostensibly followers of the mythical figure Ned Ludd. The Luddite movement launched its first attacks in 1811.

Unrest persisted in other industries as they industrialized, such as with agricultural labourers in the 1830s when the Captain Swing riots impacted significant portions of southern Britain. Threshing equipment was particularly vulnerable, and hayrick burning was a favourite pastime. However, the riots resulted in the foundation of the first labour unions and increased demand for reform.

13. High demand for cotton textiles brought about slavery

Cotton gin EWM 2007.jpg , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Cotton textiles at a low cost boosted demand for raw cotton, which was formerly used largely in the subtropical regions where it was farmed, with little raw cotton available for export. As a result, raw cotton prices increased. British output increased from 2 million pounds in 1700 to 5 million pounds in 1781 and 56 million pounds in 1800.

The creation of the cotton gin in 1792 by American Eli Whitney was important. It made green-seeded cotton lucrative, resulting in the widespread expansion of vast slave plantations in the United States, Brazil, and the West Indies. In 1791, the United States produced roughly 2 million pounds of cotton, which increased to 35 million pounds by 1800, half of which was exported.

Cotton plantations in America were very efficient and lucrative, and they were able to meet demand. The Civil War in the United States caused a “cotton famine,” which spurred output in other parts of the world, especially European colonies in Africa.

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14. Belgium was the second country in which the Industrial Revolution took place

Bruxelles à travers les âges (1884) (14761172734).jpg , No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Belgium was the second country to experience the Industrial Revolution, and the first in continental Europe, with Wallonia (French-speaking southern Belgium) leading the way. Beginning in the mid-1820s, and especially after Belgium gained independence in 1830, various industries, including coke blast furnaces, puddling and rolling mills, were established in the coal mining districts surrounding Liège and Charleroi.

John Cockerill, a transplanted Englishman, was the leader. As early as 1825, his factories at Seraing integrated all stages of manufacturing, from engineering to raw material procurement.

The Industrial Revolution transformed a primarily agricultural civilization into an urban one, although with significant differences between northern and southern Belgium. During the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, Flanders was distinguished by the existence of big urban centres.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this region (Flanders) remained one of the most urbanised in the world, with an urbanisation degree of more than 30%. In comparison, this number was just 17 per cent in Wallonia, barely 10% in other West European nations, 16% in France, and 25% in the United Kingdom.

15. The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated and remain a topic for debate

Some historians believe the Industrial Revolution arose from the social and institutional changes brought about by the end of feudalism in Britain following the English Civil War in the 17th century, despite the fact that feudalism began to crumble after the Black Death in the mid-14th century, followed by other epidemics, until the population reached a low in the 14th century.

This resulted in labour shortages, lower food prices, and a peak in real wages of about 1500, after which population expansion began to reduce wages. Inflation induced by coin debasement after 1540, followed by an increase in precious metals supply from the Americas, led land rents to plummet in actual terms.

Until the 1980s, academic historians unanimously thought that technological innovation was at the core of the Industrial Revolution and that the creation and refinement of the steam engine was the fundamental enabling technology. Marketing expert Ronald Fullerton proposed that developments in the manufacturing industry were also affected by creative marketing strategies, business practices, and competition.

Lewis Mumford has claimed that the Industrial Revolution began far earlier than most people believe, in the early Middle Ages. He says that the printing press provided the paradigm for standardised mass manufacturing, and that “the archetypal model for the industrial era was the clock.”

Finally, the Industrial Revolution constituted a watershed moment in human history, shifting from rural self-sufficiency to industrial factory work. While this shift was difficult for many, it resulted in great technical improvements and enhanced productivity.

It changed the dynamics of labour and society, laying the groundwork for contemporary industry and innovation. As we reflect on this epoch, we are reminded that development is frequently accompanied by both victories and tribulations, forming the world we live in today.

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