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Industrial Revolution

World Encyclopedia | Date: 2005

Industrial Revolution Social and economic transformation of agricultural societies into industrial societies. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century. By 1870, France, Germany, and the USA were rapidly developing an industrial base. The Russian Revolution (1917) led to the rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union. In the UK, a rapid increase in population, which was both a cause and result of the Agricultural Revolution, preceded the Industrial Revolution. The inventions of Richard Arkwright, Edmund Cartwright, Samuel Crompton, and James Hargreaves revolutionized the production of textiles. The new machines necessitated the building of factories. The steam engine, invented (1769) by James Watt, was the main driving force of the Industrial Revolution and led to the placing of factories near coalfields, which in turn led to the growth of large cities, especially in Scotland, the North, the Midlands, and South Wales. Mass production required an expansion of the network of canals and roads. The construction of railways began in c.1830. Work in the factories was based on the division of labour. At first, the economic doctrine of laissez-faire allowed the growth of industrialization without restrictions on working conditions, but the Factory Acts (1802 onwards) brought regulations in employment of children and length of the working day. The Industrial Revolution produced major social changes, in particular the creation of a working class.


© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005.