The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication of animals and plants.

There were several reasons responsible for onset of Industrial Revolution in England. This phase of industrial development in England was strongly associated with new machinery and technologies. These made it possible to produce goods on a massive scale compared to handicraft and handloom industries. There were changes in the cotton and iron industries. Steam, a new source of power, began to be used on a wide scale in British industries. Its use led to faster forms of transportation by ships and railways.

Causes for the Industrial Revolution in England:

• Through her overseas trade (including trade in slaves), England had acquired vast profits to provide necessary capital for Industrial Revolution.
• England had colonies which ensured a regular supply of raw materials and could also provide market for its goods.
• The abolition of serfdom and enclosure movement[1] both led to rise in number of landless people who provided cheap labour to the industries.
• A stable government had been established which was no longer under the domination of Feudal classes and represented the interests of the Industrialists.
• England had plenty of Iron and Coal, essential for industries.
• England had developed a large shipping industry to ensure efficient transportation of its raw materials and finished goods. Also it had a strong Navy to safeguard its shipping.
• Finally, all these factors were supplemented by technological inventions by English scientists like Hargreaves, James Watts, Arkright, Crompton etc.

Notably, no other country enjoyed all these advantages simultaneously. For example, Germany had natural resources but it was politically not united, Russia had natural resources and political stability but lacked capital and labour. Similarly, Spain and Portugal had access to global resources and markets and had capital too. Yet due to Feudal political structure and agrarian economy they could not develop industries.

Merits of Industrial Revolution

• Urbanisation

The factory system introduced by the Industrial Revolution created cities and urban centres. In England, cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield arose. People left their rural homes and gathered around these cities by the hundreds and thousands in quest of work and wages. The population of Manchester increased six fold within a half century.

• Machinery

The introduction of power machinery rapidly increased production of goods.

• Intellectual Movement

The intellectual encouragement had also been great. Schools, colleges, newspapers, libraries, and the radio had been dependent on the capitalistic system for their rapid development. Many intellectuals like Marx, St. Simon emerged as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

• Large Employment

The starting of new industries provided employment to many men and women.

Demerits of Industrial Revolution

• New Social Problems

The rapid growth of industrial cities created problems that were difficult to solve. Accommodation, sanitation, and health were not provided adequately. Sickness and crime prevailed. Women and children were employed for cheap labour. They worked for 12 to 14 hours per day.

• Capitalism

The establishment of the factory system increased the amount of money in circulation. However, money concentrated in the hands of a few people.

• Class Division

The Industrial Revolution divided society into two distinct groups: the rich middle class (bourgeoisie), composed of manufacturers, merchants, mine owners, bankers, and professional men, on the one hand, and the wage-earning class (proletariat), composed of mill workers and factory workers, on the other.

• Growth of Colonialism[2] and Imperialism[3]

The Industrial Revolution had strengthened colonialism because the colonies were useful to obtain raw materials and sell the finished products. So, larger territories were captured thus paving way for imperialism.

Social effects

Standards of living: During the early stages of industrial revolution, the workers suffered from low wages, long working hours, unsafe workplaces and poor residential facilities. The life in cities was marked by poverty, misery, diseases and constant threat of injury. it was only towards the 19th century that workers got organised and got themselves higher wages and better living standards.

Food and nutrition: Prior to the Industrial Revolution, advances in agriculture or technology soon led to an increase in population, which again strained food and other resources, limiting increases in per capita income. This condition is called the Malthusian trap, and it was finally overcome by industrialization.

Clothing and consumer goods: Consumers benefited from falling prices for clothing and household articles such as cast iron cooking utensils, and in the following decades, stoves for cooking and space heating.

Social structure and working conditions: In terms of social structure, the Industrial Revolution witnessed the triumph of a middle class of industrialists and businessmen over a landed class of nobility and gentry. Ordinary working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, but these were often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour dominated by a pace set by machines. 

Factories and urbanization: Industrialization led to the creation of the factory. Arguably the first was John Lombe's water-powered silk mill at Derby, operational by 1721. However, the rise of the factory came somewhat later when cotton spinning was mechanized. The factory system was largely responsible for the rise of the modern city, as large numbers of workers migrated into the cities in search of employment in the factories. Nowhere was this better illustrated than the mills and associated industries of Manchester, nicknamed "Cottonopolis", and the world's first industrial city

Organization of labour: The Industrial Revolution concentrated labour into mills, factories and mines, thus facilitating the organization of combinations or trade unions to help advance the interests of working people.

The First Industrial Revolution evolved into the Second Industrial Revolution in the transition years between 1840 and 1870, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the increasing adoption of steam-powered boats, ships and railways, the large scale manufacture of machine tools and the increasing use of steam powered factories.

Second industrial revolution

Steel is often cited as the first of several new areas for industrial mass-production, which are said to characterize a "Second Industrial Revolution", beginning around 1850, although a method for mass manufacture of steel was not invented until the 1860s, when Sir Henry Bessemer invented a new furnace which could convert wrought iron into steel in large quantities. However, it only became widely available in the 1870s after the process was modified to produce more uniform quality.

This second Industrial Revolution gradually grew to include the chemical industries, petroleum refining and distribution, electrical industries, and, in the 20th century, the automotive industries, and was marked by a transition of technological leadership from Britain to the United States and Germany.

The introduction of hydroelectric power generation in the Alps enabled the rapid industrialisation of coal-deprived northern Italy, beginning in the 1890s. The increasing availability of economical petroleum products also reduced the importance of coal and further widened the potential for industrialisation.

By the 1890s, industrialisation in these areas had created the first giant industrial corporations with burgeoning global interests, as companies like U.S. Steel, General Electric, Standard Oil and Bayer AG joined the railroad companies on the world's stock markets.

Explain the Factory System, a feature of Industrial Revolution and its implications.

The guild system had given way to the ‘domestic’ or the `putting-out’ system. In the 18th century, the domestic system had become obsolete. It started giving way to a new system called the ‘factory system’. In place of simple tools and the use of animal and manual power, new machines and steam power came to be increasingly used. Many new cities sprang up and artisans and dispossessed peasants went there to work.

Factory System

Production was now carried out in a factory (in place of workshops in homes), with the help of machines (in place of simple tools). Facilities for production were owned and managed by capitalists, the people with money to invest in further production.

Everything required for production was provided by the capitalists for the workers who were brought together under one roof. Everything belonged to the owner of the factory, including the finished product, and workers worked for wages.

Some of the implications of Factory system:

The bulk of factory workers were unskilled. This resulted in reduction of wages of workers.

Children were frequently employed in factories because of lower labor cost, they were much easier to replace and were paid little in case of accidents in factories.

Factory system concentrated workers in cities and towns, because the new factories had to be located near waterpower and transportation (alongside waterways, roads, or railways). The movement toward industrialization often led to crowded, substandard housing and poor sanitary conditions for the workers.

Factories tended to be poorly lit, cluttered, and unsafe places where workers put in long hours for low pay. These harsh conditions gave rise in the second half of the 19th century to the trade-union movement.

Industrial Revolution in Other Countries

In Europe, the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum after 1815. This was after the defeat of Napoleon and the end of 23 years of war. Machines started making inroads in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. However, unstable governments and unrest among the people in some of these countries slowed the growth of industries for some time.

France was developing the iron industry by 1850 though she had to import both iron ore and coal.

Germany had, by 1865, occupied second place as a producer of steel. After a late start, Germany’s industrial development took an amazing leap after 1870 when the German states were finally welded into one nation. Soon Germany was to become England’s rival.

Russia was the last of the big European powers to have an industrial revolution. She was rich in mineral resources but lacked capital and free labour. After she freed the serfs in 1861, she obtained capital from foreign countries and Russian industry moved ahead. However, it was only after Russia’s 1917 Revolution that rapid industrial development started.

The United States had introduced machines and started factories before 1800— after gaining independence from England. By 1860 she had well established textile, steel, and shoe industries. The American industries grew very rapidly after 1870.

Japan was the first country in Asia to industrialize. Traditionally, Japan produced mainly such articles as silk, porcelain and toys. By the end of the 19th century, Japanese production included steel, machinery, metal goods and chemicals— and in quantities large enough for export.