The Causes Of The Industrial Revolution History Essay

The Industrial Revolution can be defined as a period in time whereby major industrialization took place as of during the late 1700s and the early 1800s. It began in Great Britain and quickly spread throughout the world, during that time the implementation of mechanization of agriculture and textile manufacturing and the production of power ( such as steam ships, railways, automobiles etc) had a great effect on the economy, as well as social and cultural lifestyle of the people.

Most people believe that the systems developed during the Industrial Revolution are responsible for the modern cities that we see today, during the time of the Industrial Revolution some workers came to these major cities we see today in search of employment, although most of these workers were inexperienced mainly because the Industrial system was quite new to them, to an extent it was a great advantage as most workers were employed, and as time passed the world grew more advanced in technology hereby making less job opportunities for man ( i.e the workers ).

It is believed that the main cause of the Industrial Revolution was the shift from a small scale production to a higher and more advance large scale factory production. Also the method of ” Capitalism ” by Adam Smith was another reason why the Industrial Revolution worked smoothly mainly in Great Britain as it was said to be the most resourceful and most secure as it was rarely interrupted by war. And with the combination of the necessary elements to proceed with the Industrial Revolution the system prevailed.

Another major cause of the Industrial Revolution was the rapid growth of the population in the world, and because of that more jobs need to be provided for people, a mere small scale businesses are not going to be able to aid the growth of the economy as well as help handle the demand for certain goods and services. Great Britain facilitated the Industrialization by creating a legal and cultural foundation which enabled business men/ entrepreneurs from different places to be a part of the Industrial Revolution. Trade expansions were made because of the change from an agricultural form economy to a machine based economy for the mass production of goods and services which resulted from the rapid growth of the population.

The first Industrial Revolution which began in the 18th Century was actually the timeline when the economic and technological aspect gained some momentum and made some prominent progress through the development of certain sophisticated means of transport such as railway lines, trains, automobiles, steam ships, electricity, etc. In a matter of time it then merged into the Second Industrial Revolution which occurred around the time of 1850.

During the Industrial Revolution metal Industries replaced organic fuels based on wood with fossil based materials such as coal, the production of machine tools, chemicals, steam powered engines, roads, railways and etc were also part of the big changes and processes of the Industrial Revolution. Industrialisation led to the creation of factories as well as other industries to increase the production of goods and services as well as creating more job opportunities for the workers.

Some believe that the one of the causes of the Industrial Revolution was the outgrowth of the social and also the institutional changes which brought about the end of feudalism in Britain after the civil war. On the other hand the enclosure and the improvement of the Agricultural Revolution made the production of Agricultural products more efficient and less labour-intensive, this forced workers who were unable to find jobs in the agricultural sector to a sector known as the cottage industry, an example of the work in that industry is weaving. The main change that occurred during the Industrial Revolution was the improvement/ and implementation of technology and it was believed that the reason for this was because of the modern form of Government, work attitude, etc.

According to Wikipedia online encyclopaedia ” There were two main values that drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain, they were: Self Interest and an entrepreneurial spirit and because of these interests, many industrial advances were made that resulted in a huge increase in personal wealth, these advancements also greatly benefitted the British society as a whole. Countries around the world started to recognise the changes and advancements in Britain and use them as an example to begin their own industrial revolutions. The debate about the start of the industrial revolution also concerns the massive lead that Great Britain had over other countries ” .The Industrial Revolution improved the standard of living of the people in the middle class and upper class lifestyle as the Industrial Revolution brought about an increase in the production of different varieties of goods in factories. However, this did not aid the lower class workers in anyway whatsoever as they worked manually and their jobs were a lot tougher than those of the middle class and higher class, they had little or no job security and could be replaced easily as labour was easy to come across, but this also didn’t last for long as labour was then taken over by machines although in some other urban areas manual labour was still being used, it was difficult to acquire help as some areas became over populated, mainly by workers who came from the country side in search of work in the industrialized cities, this was a potential threat as because of the over population, diseases became rampant and it also increased the crime rate, there was also the pollution of the environment. However, as the industrialization became more advanced so did the people and in due time the government gave Labour forces the right to create Trade Unions.

During the Industrial Revolution Transportation and Communication also became more advanced, as before the invention of the steam powered engines, products and raw materials had to be distributed and moved by the use of animals such as horses, camels, donkeys, bulls, etc, and also the use of canoes, and small boats along river canals and small rivers. During the timeline of 1715 – 1815 and American inventor named Robert Fulton, built the first commercial steamboat, and as a result of his achievement, his idea was then used to build more steamboats that were larger and were used to transport products across the Atlantic. Also during the time when Robert Fulton was building his steamboat, another inventor named Richard Trevithick who was an engineer built the first railway steam locomotive between 1771 – 1833. The industrial revolution then made communication easier with inventions such as the telegraph which was invented by two British men, William Cooke (1806 – 1879) and Charles Wheatstone (1802 – 1875) they invented and patented the first electrical telegraph that was used commercially, and after a while a telegraph cable was then laid across the Atlantic.

The Industrial Revolution also aided the rise of banks and other financial institutions also factories that were dependent on their owners and their managers, after a while stock exchange was established in England – London during the 1770during which the New York Stock Exchange was founded in the early 1790s.

In conclusion, the factors that caused the Industrial Revolution, were mainly as a result of mans hunger to develop, although it wasn’t steady at first, it grew to be one of mans best decisions towards the improvement of mans lifestyle, as well as the economy of the world. Also because of the Industrial Revolution, more jobs were provided for the people, production was made easier as well as the transportation of goods and raw materials from place to place, communication was made easier and work was made easier. So basically the industrial revolution did more good than harm, and has aided the world today by making work faster and easier, as well as more productive. It also provided more job opportunities for workers, allowed the building of factories, invention of machines such as the telegraph, steam engines, the ” Jenny ” and implementation of machinery to enhance the speed and quality of production of materials of different varieties that are used by man for different purposes. So in all effort, the Industrial Revolution has been of very good aid to man and the society today.