Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is a period of history that is generally considered to cover the latter decades of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The period is imprecise, as is the identification of the Second Industrial Revolution which followed it.

In brief, an industrial revolution (uncapitalised) is the transition from an agrarian economy – where the majority of the population is geared towards subsistence – to an industrial economy with a greater focus on manufacturing. The Industrial Revolution (capitalised) is the name applied to the transition in Great Britain when the combination of mercantile activity with overseas colonies supported by energetic inventors and entrepreneurs harnessed the natural resources of coal, iron and water to create a manufacturing industry that was dominant in the western world. The British Industrial Revolution was closely followed by industrial revolutions in continental Europe, and in the newly fledged United States, with the United States and the newly federated Germany being the major players in the Second Industrial Revolution.

Revolution in context

In the western world, the 18th century saw the revolutionary overthrow of political establishments in America (1775-1783) and France (1789-1799). There were some attempts to foment political revolution in Great Britain following these examples. Thus, with the idea of revolution (both as achievement and threat) hanging in the air, Gareth Stedman Jones traces the origin of 'industrial revolution' to French sources (la révolution industrielle), before Arnold Toynbee's lectures (1881) and subsequent book sealed the phrase in the English language.

Dating of the Industrial Revolution is fraught: the effects were not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s according to Eric Hobsbawm, who felt that it 'broke out' in the 1780s, while T.S. Ashton places it roughly between 1760 and 1830. The case has also been made that the 1769 patent of James Watt's condensing steam engine marks the start, with the patent for the Richard Arkwright water frame falling in the same year.

Precursor events

The establishment of the British Empire, and enclosure and the flowering of the Agricultural Revolution, provided conditions that allowed Britain to support first the establishment of a cotton manufacturing industry and subsequently a workforce to operate the machines that filled the factories.

British establishment of overseas colonies provided both a source of raw materials and a ready market for manufactured goods. The East India Company had established trading bases in India, and the Company's power grew until it effectively provided the government. To generate trade between India and Britain, the Company suppressed manufacturing in India such that goods were transported to Britain for processing and the finished goods were re-exported to the colonies.

During the 18th century the population of Great Britain rose, with a figure of 5.7 million given for England for 1750. Farming practices had been becoming more efficient, with the advent of enclosures, but to support the population at this level – and subsequent growth – improved crops; the four-field crop rotation system using crops like turnips and clover; and the exploitation of land that had previously been pasture (with turnip/clover forming alternative fodder crops) or low-intensity (through drainage and land reclamation) increased productivity. From the middle of the 18th century, selective breeding improved the livestock, and during the 19th century there was increasing mechanisation.

Principal components

The measures of productivity over the period show major transitions in the manufacture of textiles; the consumption of coal; and the production of iron goods. Coupled with these are the movement of the population from rural to urban environments; and the 'manias' for turnpikes, canals and railways.