The Industrial Revolution in Europe

Before the Revolution

Throughout the Middle Ages and for hundreds of years afterward, most Europeans relied on small scale businesses and family labor to meet their economic needs. During this time, ninety percent of Europeans lived in rural areas and grew their own food.Families made many of their own goods at home including clothing, toys, and other simple items.Skilled craftsmen such as blacksmiths, cobblers, and tanners worked in towns to make specialized goods by hand.They exchanged goods for food raised by farmers in the surrounding countryside.The only other manufacturing that existed during this time was found in the home.At times, merchants would give unfinished goods like cloth to families. Families would then take the cloth and produce clothing as a finished product. Merchants would then sell the clothing and pay the families who produced it a small amount, keeping the rest as profit. This type of industry is known as a cottage industry, since the products were assembled in the homes, or cottages, of workers.

Where it All Began

Though the Industrial Revolution would spread through Europe in the 1800s, it first began in England.This happened for several reasons.England was the largest colonial power in the late 1700s.This meant that the nation had a steady supply of raw materials from its colonies.Its colonies also provided a market for finished goods.The government of England was relatively stable, following the monarchy’s acceptance of the English Bill of Rights in 1689. This created peaceful conditions that allowed businesses to grow. As businesses grew, people had more money to spend, and thus wanted more goods.England also had essential natural resources, including coal, iron, and many bodies of water, which provided both power and transportation.

Picking up Steam

The growth of businesses accelerated into the Industrial Revolutionwith the development of several key technologies. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, a significant problem with textile manufacturing was the length of time it took to spin fibers into thread, which then had to be woven into cloth.In 1765, James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny, which allowed one worker to spin up to 24 spools of thread at once simply by turning a crank.At about the same time, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, which could spin several hundred spools of thread at once using water power.Though these two examples of technology were powerful advances, at this point factories in England were still limited to locations near rivers and streams. A new energy source was needed. Invented in the early 1700s, steam engines had the potential to power machines in factories. However, the first steam engines were very inefficient and costly to operate. In 1769, this issue was solved by James Watt, who invented a compressor that prevented steam engines from wasting energy.Suddenly, steam power was reliable, available, and affordable.

Widespread Impact

Business owners throughout Englandbegan to use steam engines to make their industries more powerful.Mine operators used the new engines to run pumps that drainedmines to produce more

coal.Textile factories usedsteam powerto drive machines that produced even more cloth in new locations across the country. In the iron industry, steam engines powered heavy machinery used to make stronger metals for construction. Some inventors even tried to adapt steam engines to transportation. The first attempts at this were not successful.Steam powered vehicles were loud, heavy, and damaged roads.

This changed in 1816, when an inventor named George Stephenson developedan efficient steam powered locomotive that could pull passengers and freight cars. Together with advances in the development of rails strong enough to hold heavy locomotives and cars, the railroad industry was born. Within 20 years, railroads connected most cities in England.With rapid and reliable transportation available, manufactured goods became much less costly to ship.More people could afford to buy new goods from factories. As a result, the demand for new goods and new factories grew.Factories began to recruit workers, which caused towns and cities to grow.Landless farm workers and poor peasants in England’s rural areas were drawn to cities by the promise of steady work.This economic growth led to a population boom – from 9 million in 1780 to 21 million in 1851.

While the increased population provided workers for the growing number of factories, most workers in England did not benefit from industrialization. Most factory workers were paid very low wages, with women and children being paid only half of what men were paid.Children had to work to help support their families, and thus did not attend school. Cities quickly became overcrowded with factory workers. In these conditions, diseases spread rapidly.Eventually, Parliament began to pass laws to regulate conditions in factories and grant workers rights.

In contrast, England’s middle and upper class tended to benefit greatly from industrialization. As members of both groups became increasingly wealthy, they could afford more goods, including luxuries, for themselves and their families. For the middle class, increased wealth also brought increased political power.

Differences in Economic Development

The rest of Europe developed its industries at different rates, depending upon the circumstances of each country.Belgium, for example, had resources and political stability similar to that of England.As a result, the nation rapidly industrialized between 1830 and 1870.France, on the other hand, was plagued by political problems.The French Revolution of 1789-1799 and the Napoleonic Wars of 1799-1814 caused political instability that impeded economic growth and damaged the transportation system.As a result, France did not become widely industrialized until the 20th century.Germany had resources similar to those of England, but lacked a centralized government to coordinate the necessary resources.The central government began to take control of these resources in the early and mid 1800s, and by 1900, Germany was producing more steel than England.

010-2011Unit 4: Europe - 1Grade 7 World Cultures