Introduction

The Industrial Revolution is the term given to the technical advances that began in the mid-1700s and the social effects that these advances had on society.  It is divided into two general stages: the first took place in Great Britain from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s.   It began with the Agricultural Revolution.  Innovative techniques in the planting and raising of crops slowly enabled many farmers to leave the countryside for the bustling cities that were popping up all over the English landscape.  Water, and later steam, powered machines, most of which were used in the textile industry in such trades as spinning and weaving, allowed one worker to spin as many as 100 threads at a single time, increasing cloth output and demolishing the old domestic system of production.

From Britain, the Industrial Revolution spread to most of western Europe.  Belgium was next to industrialize. Then France's government pushed for innovation in the country's textile industry, resulting in such machines as the Jacquard punch-card loom for weaving complex patterns on cloth.  Germany would not industrialize in earnest until after the formation of the united German Empire in 1871.  Eastern European nations such as Russia would remain in their backward feudalism until the early twentieth century.

The second stage of the Industrial Revolution occured in the United States from around 1850 to about 1940.  This stage brought such inventions as Eli Whitney's cotton gin and Alexander Grahm Bell's telephone.  Henry Ford's internal combustion engine caused a revolution of its own in the automaking industry.  The internal combustion engine and electricity were the two sources of power for the industrialization of the United States that turned it from a largely rural and agricultural society into a mighty industrial giant that surpassed Britain and the rest of the world.

Also driving both revolutions was a monumental population explosion. The almost nonexistent presence of large scale wars in Europe from 1815-1914 and improvements in medical technology, diet, and hygiene increased the life expectancy of infants, causing the population of Europe to boom from almost 120 million in 1700 to 190 million in 1800. The large number of jobs and goods available brought rapid urbanization.

These changes from cottage industry to factory system had profound effects on society.  Whole families were forced to work just so that they could survive.  Workers were crowded into dismal slums and tenement houses where there was no running water and where disease thrived.  These and other things caused the formation of labor unions.  New ways of thinking about economics and money such as Smith's laissez-faire, Ricardo's Iron Law of Wages, and Marx's socialism developed.

All these things are part of what has gone down in history as the Industrial Revolution.  This process continues today, as many third world countries begin to industrialize and even as industrialized nations develop new techniques for production and economy.

Bibliography:

1. "Dawn of the Industrial Age."  World History: The Modern Era.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

2. Outman, James L. and Elisabeth M. Outman.  Industrial Revolution Almanac.  Detroit: Thomas Gale, 2003.