This is a summary I made for the subject of the industrial revolution for history This course is taught at my school in English hence the English summary
for problems and questions you can always send me a message:)
Great Britain in the 18th century
Great Britain the greatest naval force in the world.
Trading ships sailed across the world to buy and sell raw materials and industrial goods
It was the biggest colonial empire in the world
They traded the raw materials, industrial goods and luxury goods across all corner of the
empire. Even though this was an important source of income, merchants also had a wealth
of economic liberties
This method of trading is called merchant capitalism buying products and selling them for
profit then reinvest these profits without the state imposing in all kinds of trade
restrictions on them
In short there was a large group of wealthy merchants who had enough capital available in
new technologies
Great Britain did not have a violent revolution in the end of the 18th century British
economy has not suffered as greatly as others more ability to invest in the innovations
that were the foundation of industrialization
Things to know: capitalism, supply and demand
Don’t know If this is necessary
The agricultural revolution resulted in a growing population
One of the most important cause of the industrial revolution agriculture revolution
Late 17th and 18th century some agriculture innovations were introduced like crop rotation
and the system of enclosures has to do with the industrial revolution
Enclosures system communal agricultural land was divided into enclosures/fenced-off
land, big landowners could then purchase fenced-off lands to grow specific crops there at a
larger scale.
These two agriculture innovations together caused
- Experimentation with different crops and combinations of crops
- Agricultural yields grew as a result
- More food produced lower food prices people eat more become healthier
population grows
A growing population results in greater demand for textiles
Before industrial revolution goods were produced in the cottage industry
Clothing was made by hand production process takes lots of time
Growing population was also an important cause of the Industrial revolution because all
those people needed clothes
To make sure everyone was able to get clothes new inventions were needed to increase the
speed of the production process.
Mechanization makes the production process faster and cheaper
Mechanization was an important invention textiles could be produced faster
Mechanization happened in all sectors of the economy even in agriculture (machines were
used to sow seeds more quickly) and production of textiles
All this resulted that fewer people had to work in the economic sectors
, Cottage industry one person was responsible for the entire production process
Factory one person would only make one part of the product while the next worker
would make the next part and another worker was responsible for putting the entire chair
together
Shuttle speeded up the weaving process
Spinning jenny speeded up the spinning of fibres, meaning that multiple fibres could be
spun at the same time
Mechanized loom also called power loom, could weave entire batches of textile
From hydropower to steam power
First textile products were operated by hand, quickly people discovered you could also use a
waterwheel to power machines
Waterwheel powered more machines that people could workplaces grew into
factories that could produce more
The waterwheel had to be built close to fast-flowing rivers hydropower
Waterwheel disadvantages in summer rivers don’t flow as quickly, no melted water flows
down from mountains, fewer machines could be powered and the production was lower
The invention of the steam machine
Main sources of energy were muscle power, wind- or hydropower, still everything had to be
done by hand, industrial revolution changed this
Great Britain had large access to coal that had been used as fuel growing population
growing demand for coal mines often flooded
1712, Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine to pump water out of the mines
Steam engine turns combustion energy into kinetic energy (can be used for many
different purposes)
Things to know: Newcomen’s steam machine
I don’t know if this necessary
Coal becomes the most important raw material of the industrial revolution
James Watt made an improvement to the steam engine in 1767 he made the up-down
motion into a turning motion steam engine could power all kinds of other machines
production could continue constantly
Because there was so much coal, coal became the driving force behind the industrialization.
Steam engine the most important and revolutionary inventions in history
The conditions for industrialization
- Britain was a wealthy nation because of its colonies and empire. This meant that
there was a lot of capital to invest in agricultural innovations and later new machines
and factories.
Wealthy individuals and banks invested in new companies in the hope of making a
profit
- The agricultural revolution resulted in bigger agricultural yields which resulted in
better and cheaper food this meant that the population grew
- Because of the growing population there was a growing §demand for food, clothes
and living space increase but there were also more people to do the work
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