English Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society

Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society

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The Industrial Revolution is one of the most frequently asked themes in UPSC History Optional and World History, testing an aspirant’s grasp of how a series of technological, economic, and social changes in 18th-century England transformed human civilisation. Understanding the causes of the Industrial Revolution and its impact on society is essential not just for History Optional papers but also for GS-I questions on industrialisation and its socio-economic consequences. This article examines the background, the debate over whether it was truly a “revolution,” its pre-requisites, and its far-reaching effects on British society.

Background

People of the ancient and medieval periods had to spend long, tedious hours on hand labour, even for simple objects, because the energy or power they employed in work came almost entirely from their own and their animals’ muscles.
The Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the 18th century, changed people’s way of life as well as their methods of manufacturing, as machines replaced hand labour.
- Most products came to be turned out swiftly through the process of mass production, using power-driven machines instead of manual effort.
The Industrial Revolution was essentially a transition to new manufacturing processes. This transition included:
- the shift from hand-production methods to machines,
- new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes,
- improved efficiency of water power,
- the increasing use of steam power,
- the change from wood and other bio-fuels to coal, and
- the development of machine tools.
Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output, and capital invested; the textile industry was also the first to adopt modern production methods.
- The people of England began using machines to make cloth and steam engines to power the machines, and a little later invented locomotives, causing productivity to climb spectacularly.
By 1850, most Englishmen were working in industrial towns, and Great Britain had become the “workshop of the world.”
- From Britain, the Industrial Revolution spread gradually throughout Europe and to the United States.
The First Industrial Revolution evolved into the Second Industrial Revolution in the transition years between 1840 and 1870, marked by the increasing adoption of:
- transport steam (steam-powered railways, boats, and ships),
- large-scale manufacture of machine tools, and
- increasing use of machinery in steam-powered factories.

Was the ‘Industrial Revolution’ a Revolution or an Evolution?

It should NOT be called a Revolution

A “Revolution” is generally understood to be immediate, while an “Evolution” is seen as taking place over an extensive period of time.
Some historians argue that the economic and social changes of this period occurred gradually, making the term “revolution” a misnomer.
- They point out that the Industrial Revolution covers a period far too long to be called a revolution — roughly 1740 to 1850 in Britain, and 1815 to the end of the 19th century in Europe.
Despite the significant economic and social changes of this period, many scholars have questioned the popular notion that these developments were rapid and “revolutionary,” suggesting instead that industrial developments in the 18th century were the culmination of gradual changes.
The term “Revolution” is considered misleading for describing a complex series of forces, processes, and discoveries that worked slowly but steadily to create a new economic organisation.
- It has therefore been suggested that it would be more accurate to call it an “evolution” or “The Transition of Industrialism.”

It should be called a Revolution

In the short span between 1740 and 1850, the face of England changed dramatically.
- Roads, railways, rivers, and canals sprang up across the land; country hamlets became populous towns; factories replaced farms; and chimney stacks came to dwarf church spires, as technological innovation drove rapid economic growth.
- The structure of British society was changed forever, with mass migration from the countryside to towns and cities.
Though the Industrial Revolution unfolded gradually, it happened within a relatively short span of time when measured against the centuries during which people had worked entirely by hand.
- Until John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733, and James Hargreaves the spinning jenny 31 years later, the making of yarn and weaving of cloth had remained largely unchanged for thousands of years.
- By 1800, a host of new and faster processes were in use in both manufacturing and transportation.
This relatively sudden change in the way people lived deserves to be called a revolution.
- It differs from a political revolution in having a greater and more lasting effect on people’s lives — rather than coming to an end, the Industrial Revolution grew more powerful with each passing year, as new inventions and manufacturing processes continually added to the efficiency of machines and increased productivity.

Conclusion

The Industrial Revolution can be described as Revolutionary in the sense that, when it began, it radically changed the lives of those immediately affected by it — especially in England.
Over time, it became Evolutionary, as new methods of production and treatment of workers gradually emerged, while newer and larger markets kept opening up over a lengthy period.

Pre-requisites and Precursors of the Industrial Revolution

Before the great transformation in the techniques of production could occur in 18th and 19th century England, certain important developments had to take place. Without these pre-conditions, the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible.

Desire for Material Advancement

Progress is not possible without a desire for material advancement, and this desire had grown in Europe largely under the influence of the Renaissance.
The early part of the modern period, also known as the Age of Reason, saw philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke formulate certain basic laws of mankind:
- that man should lead a happy life;
- that man possessed certain natural rights, of which the rights to life, liberty, and property were the most fundamental; and
- that in order to enjoy a good life, man had to possess and accumulate wealth.
This desire for material improvement stemmed not only from such philosophical reasoning but also from the fact that, in a society dominated by nobility, acquiring wealth was the only way a commoner could rise in social standing.
At the time, raising loans for productive purposes was considered acceptable, and under Protestant ethics, lending money and charging interest on it was no longer regarded as wrong.
- This overall attitudinal shift towards bettering one’s own life was the major pre-requisite for the Industrial Revolution.

Supply of Raw Material

Europe held a distinct advantage: as a result of the Geographical Discoveries and the resultant Commercial Revolution, it could source raw materials such as cotton, sugarcane, and indigo from both the Orient and the New World.

Markets

The availability of markets for distributing finished goods was another pre-requisite for the Industrial Revolution.
Under the impact of the Geographical Discoveries and the ensuing Commercial Revolution, European markets grew both internally and externally.
- This growth widened the chance of realising adequate profit and encouraged greater production for the market, making market expansion an essential condition for industrial progress.

The Need for a Labour Force

Besides raw materials and markets, the Industrial Revolution required a labour force willing to work for wages — one that was both mobile and skilled.
The growth of population in Europe greatly facilitated this labour supply, while advancements in agricultural production released additional labour from rural areas.
- Thus, the overall supply of labour for industrial work rose steadily across Europe.

Transportation Facilities

The mere availability of labour, raw materials, and growing markets would have been of little use without proper transportation facilities.
The Hollanders developed a new kind of ocean-going vessel known as the FLUTE, applying the principle of streamlining to its design.
- This innovation brought down the cost of shipbuilding by roughly one-third.
On the domestic front, England witnessed a veritable mania of canal and road building.

Development in the Agriculture Sector

Another major area of the economy that saw considerable progress before the Industrial Revolution was agriculture.
- While many agricultural achievements occurred alongside industrial changes, some agricultural advances actually preceded the Industrial Revolution.
The resulting growth in agricultural productivity generated enough surplus to support both the Industrial Revolution and the rising urban population.

Expanding Commerce and Its Effect on Industry

Commerce and industry have always been closely related. Beginning around 1400, world commerce grew and changed so significantly that the term “Commercial Revolution” is used to describe the economic progress of the following three-and-a-half centuries. Several factors contributed to this transformation in trade:
- the Crusades opened up the riches of the East to Western Europe;
- the discovery of America allowed European nations to acquire rich colonies there and elsewhere;
- new trade routes were opened;
- strong central governments, which replaced the feudal system, began to protect and support their merchants;
- trading firms such as the British East India Company were chartered by governments; and
- larger ships were built, and flourishing port cities grew up.
As trade expanded, more money was needed, since large-scale commerce could no longer be carried on through barter.
- Gold and silver from the New World helped meet this need, and banks and credit systems developed accordingly.
- By the end of the 17th century, Europe had accumulated substantial capital — a necessary condition, since machinery and steam engines were costly to manufacture and install.
By 1750, large quantities of goods were being exchanged among European nations, and demand for goods outpaced production.
- England, as the leading commercial nation, saw the manufacture of cloth emerge as its leading industry.

Organising Production: From Cottage Industry to the Factory System

In medieval times, families produced most of the food, clothing, and other articles they used, much as they had for centuries.
- In the cities, merchandise was made in shops resembling those of medieval craftsmen, with manufacturing strictly regulated by the guilds and the government — resulting in goods that were both limited in quantity and costly.
As merchants required cheaper items in larger quantities for their growing trade, they began, as early as the 15th century, to move production outside the cities, beyond the reach of restrictive regulations, establishing an alternative system of production.
- Cloth merchants, for instance, would buy raw wool from sheep owners, have it spun into yarn by farmers’ wives, and send it to country weavers to be made into textiles.
- These country weavers could produce cloth more cheaply than city craftsmen, since they derived part of their income from farming.
- The merchants would then collect the finished cloth and pass it on to finishers and dyers, thereby controlling the entire cloth-making process from start to finish.
Similar methods of organising and controlling manufacture came to prevail in other industries, giving rise to what is termed the cottage industry system — named after the cotters (farm labourers) who carried out this work in their own cottages.
This system offered several advantages over older methods:
- it provided merchants with a large supply of manufactured goods at low prices;
- it allowed merchants to order the specific kinds of items needed for their markets; and
- it provided employment for every member of a craft worker’s family, including skilled workers who lacked the capital to start businesses of their own.
A few merchants with sufficient capital went a step further, bringing workers together under one roof and supplying them with spinning wheels, looms, or other implements of trade — the beginnings of the Factory System.
- These establishments were the factories that became the precursor to the Industrial Revolution.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society

Widening Social Gap Between Rich and Poor

One of the most influential social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution was the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Through the new market enterprise, those in charge continuously took advantage of the less fortunate, accumulating wealth without fail, while the poor grew only poorer.

Working Conditions

The working class, though it made up the majority of society, had little or no bargaining power with its new employers.
- As population grew in Great Britain at the same time that landowners were enclosing common village lands, people flocked from the countryside to towns and factories in search of work, resulting in very high unemployment in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution.
- This surplus of unskilled labour allowed factory owners to dictate the terms of work, since far more workers sought jobs than there were positions available.
Because the textile industries were still new at the end of the 18th century, there were initially no laws regulating them.
- Desperate for work, migrants to the new industrial towns had no bargaining power to demand higher wages, fairer hours, or better working conditions.
- Worse still, since only wealthy people in Great Britain were eligible to vote, workers could not use the democratic political system to fight for reforms — and in 1799 and 1800, Parliament passed the Combination Acts, making it illegal for workers to unionise or combine to demand better conditions.
Many of the unemployed or underemployed were skilled workers, such as hand weavers, whose talents became redundant as they could no longer compete with the efficiency of the new textile machines.
For the first generation of workers (1790s–1840s), conditions were tough and often tragic: most laboured 10 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, with no paid vacation or holidays.
- Each industry carried its own safety hazards; for example, workers purifying iron toiled in temperatures as high as 130 degrees in the coolest part of the ironworks, making workplace accidents frequent.
- Workers could no longer chat with neighbours or family during working hours, nor return to their villages during harvest time, unless they were willing to risk their jobs — foremen and overseers now supervised a new working culture designed to keep them focused and efficient.
A few workers managed to improve their circumstances by starting their own businesses or becoming supervisors, but the vast majority saw very little social mobility.

Workers’ Income

Life did not improve for the working class during the first phase of the Industrial Revolution (1790–1840), and real wages remained largely stagnant through this period.
However, after 1840–1850, as England entered the second phase of the Industrial Revolution, real wages began to rise and working conditions improved somewhat.

Living Conditions

Working in the new industrial cities transformed life beyond the factory walls as well; as workers migrated from countryside to city, their lives and those of their families changed permanently.
- The quality of life for workers declined considerably, as they spent all daylight hours at work and returned home with little energy, space, or light for recreation.
- The new industrial pace and factory system clashed with the traditional festivals that had once dotted the village calendar, and local governments actively sought to ban such festivals in the cities.
Living conditions were worst for the poorest of the poor. Many, in desperation, turned to the “poorhouses” established by the government.
- The Poor Law of 1834 created workhouses for the destitute, deliberately designed to be harsh in order to discourage people from remaining on “relief” (government food aid).
- Families, including husbands and wives, were separated upon entry and confined daily much like inmates in a prison.

Urban Overcrowding and Diseases

Despite the growth in wealth and industry, urbanisation brought significant negative effects, as working-class neighbourhoods were typically bleak, crowded, dirty, and polluted.
In the first half of the 19th century, urban overcrowding, poor diets, inadequate sanitation, and largely medieval medical remedies combined to produce very poor public health outcomes for most of the English population.
- Densely packed, poorly constructed neighbourhoods accelerated the spread of disease; homes lacking toilets and sewage systems left drinking-water sources such as wells frequently contaminated.
- Diseases including cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, and influenza ravaged the new industrial towns, and the combined effect of poor nutrition, disease, and inadequate medical care severely reduced the average life expectancy of the British population in this period.

Women in the Workforce

Before the Industrial Revolution, farm women and girls contributed to their families’ livelihood by spinning yarn and weaving cloth. With new manufacturing technology, these women were displaced by factories capable of producing the same goods faster and in greater quantities — though factories also offered them a new, if difficult, source of employment.
Factory girls typically worked gruelling 13-hour days, six days a week, for wages far below those of male workers, performing dangerous work in which a single mistake around machinery could cause serious or even fatal injury.
- They were often required to live in small boarding houses owned by their employers, closely watched and held to a strict schedule that left them almost no free time.
A further problem was the rearing of the next generation: long hours in the factories, year after year, led to physical and emotional breakdown among these women, many of whom had to continue working or fell ill under the added stress of childbirth.

Child Labour

Industrial working-class families, though not labouring together, served a common economic purpose — raising money to support the household — with children and women often working to supplement family income.
Child labour was, unfortunately, integral to the earliest factories, mines, and mills in England.
- As new power looms and spinning mules displaced skilled workers, factory owners turned to cheap, unskilled labour to cut production costs, and child labour was the cheapest of all.
- Many machines were simple enough for a small child to operate, but the tedious and dangerous nature of factory work had severe negative effects on children’s health.

The Emerging Middle Class

A middle class gradually emerged in industrial cities, mostly toward the end of the 19th century.
- Until then, society had comprised only two major classes — aristocrats born into wealth and privilege, and low-income commoners born into the working class.
New urban industries increasingly required “white collar” workers — businesspeople, shopkeepers, bank clerks, insurance agents, merchants, accountants, managers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers.
- Most middle-class women were discouraged from working outside the home, and could afford to send their children to school.
- As children came to be seen more as an economic burden, and improved healthcare reduced infant mortality, middle-class women began having fewer children.

Other Effects of Industrialisation

Capitalism and a two-class society — the Proletariat (wage earners) and the Bourgeoisie (capitalists) — emerged as by-products of the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution gave rise to a new colonialism, driven by the search for markets and sources of raw material.
Socialism emerged as a critique of capitalism, with Marxism developing essentially as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
Trade unionism among workers developed as a direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution.
Reform movements and Chartism in Britain were likewise products of this period.

Romanticism

During the Industrial Revolution, an intellectual and artistic hostility towards industrialisation emerged, associated with the Romantic movement.
- This movement emphasised the importance of “nature” in art and language, in contrast to the “monstrous” machines and factories of the industrial age.
Several new philosophic doctrines — including Socialism and Romanticism — developed in response to the ill effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Ecological Effect

The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in Earth’s ecology and in humanity’s relationship with the environment.
- It was the fossil fuel coal that powered the Industrial Revolution, permanently transforming how people would live and utilise energy.
- While this propelled human progress to extraordinary levels, it came at an equally extraordinary cost to the environment and, ultimately, to the health of all living things.

Reforms for Change in Britain

During the Industrial Revolution, factories were widely criticised for their long working hours, deplorable conditions, and low wages.
- Children as young as 5 and 6 could be forced to work 12–16 hours a day, earning as little as 4 shillings a week.
Recognising the problem, the British Parliament passed a series of acts. The first, the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, 1802, attempted to make factory owners more responsible for workers’ housing and clothing, though with little practical success.
In 1832, the British Parliament set up a commission to investigate child labour in factories. Based on its findings, Parliament passed the Factory Act of 1833 to regulate excessive child labour.

The Factory Act of 1833

Set limits on how many hours per day children could work.
- Children 8 and younger could not work in factories.
- A limit was placed on the working hours of children above the age of 8.
- Children were prohibited from working at night.
This was the first-ever government regulation of the industrial workplace.
- It established inspectors to enforce child labour regulations in factories.
- It required that children spend part of their time in school.
It was, however, a modest step: even after the reform, a nine-year-old child could still work nine hours a day, six days a week.

Mines and Collieries Act, 1842

Set a minimum age of 10 for children to work in mines.
Prohibited any woman or girl from working in the mines.

Factories Act, 1844

Limited working hours to 12 per day for women and children.
Made mill owners more accountable for the protection of workers.

Ten Hours Bill, 1847

Limited working hours to 10 per day for women and children.
Set a maximum of 63 hours per week for women and children.

Reform in the Education Sector

As the British government increasingly regulated child labour in factories, it also gradually instituted a public school system.
- The 1870 Education Act established school districts, giving local boards the right to compel children to attend school and to charge a nominal fee.
- The 1880 Education Act made schooling compulsory for children up to age 10.
- By 1944 — some 150 years after the start of the Industrial Revolution — the government funded and mandated secondary education for all citizens up to age 18.

Reform in the Health Sector

The British government addressed public health by passing regulatory laws to curb the ills of working-class urban living.
- The Public Health Act of 1848 established local health boards and investigated sanitary conditions nationwide, with local boards made responsible for ensuring safe water supplies.
- The 1875 Public Health Act expanded government responsibility for public health to include housing, sewage, drainage, and contagious diseases.

Other Reforms

The Artisans’ Dwelling Act (1875) allowed for large-scale clearance of slums in England, and local government was introduced across England in 1888.
In 1906, a Liberal government was elected with a massive majority and introduced a large number of social reforms, including:
- medical tests for pupils at schools, with free treatment provided (1907);
- compensation for workers injured at work (1906);
- the introduction of old age pensions for those over 70 (1908), a reform of great significance as it freed pensioners from the fear of the workhouse;
- the National Insurance Act (1911), which provided insurance for workers in times of sickness; and
- unemployment benefit, introduced into certain industries such as shipbuilding.
These measures together created a basic social welfare service that greatly improved conditions for poorer people in British society — funded, in part, by higher taxes on the rich under the Liberal government.

Practice Questions

Why did the Industrial Revolution start in England?
“Whoever says Industrial Revolution, says cotton.” Comment.
What do you mean by Mercantilism? Discuss its main features and the causes of its rise.
Favourable Eurasia compared to America: A biologist’s view.

By the end of the 19th century, the island of Great Britain controlled the largest empire in the history of the world (one quarter of the world’s land mass).
- How did this little island come to rule an empire?
- How did Great Britain acquire so much military and economic power in the world?
- The answer, of course, is that it had an enormous commercial and technological head start over the rest of the world because the Industrial Revolution started in England.
But why did the Industrial Revolution occur first in England and not somewhere else in the world?
- What qualities – political, economic, cultural, geographical, or ecological – did Britain possess that predisposed it towards early industrialisation?
- Or what was missing in other countries so that their industrialisation was either delayed until the second half of the nineteenth century, or indeed had failed to occur by the century’s end at all?
Following are the major factors responsible:
The Agricultural Revolution:
- Agriculture occupied a prominent position in the English way of life.
  - Not only was its importance rooted in the subsistence of the population, but agriculture was an indispensable source of raw materials for the textile industry.
  - Wool and cotton production for the manufacture of cloth increased in each successive year, as did the yield of food crops.
- Enclosure Movement:
  - The Enclosure Movement was a push in the 18th to take land that had formerly been owned in common by all members of a village and change it to privately owned land, usually with walls, fences or hedges around it.
  - The enclosure of common village fields into individual landholdings, or the division of unproductive land into private property concentrated the ownership of the land into the hands of a few, and made it possible to institute improved farming techniques on a wider scale.
- A common practice in early agriculture was to allow the land to lie fallow after it had been exhausted through cultivation.
  - Later it was discovered that the cultivation of clover and other legumes would help to restore the fertility of the soil without leaving it fallow.
- The improved yields also increased the amount of food available to sustain livestock through the winter.
  - This increased the size of herds for meat and allowed farmers to begin with larger herds than they had previously.
- Other advances in agriculture included the use of sturdier farm implements fashioned from metal, control of insects, improved irrigation and farming methods, developing new crops and the use of horsepower in the fields to replace oxen as a source of power.
- These changes which have occurred in agriculture made it possible to feed all of the people that were attracted to the industrial centrers as factory workers.
- By providing enough food to sustain an adequate work force, England was preparing the way for expansion of the economy and industry.
Population Growth and British Empire:
- The upshot of Britain’s success in the global economy was the expansion of rural manufacturing industries and rapid urbanisation.
  - East Anglia was the centre of the woollen cloth industry, and its products were exported through London where a quarter of the jobs depended on the port.
  - As a result, the population of London exploded from 50,000 in 1500 to 200,000 in 1600 and half a million in 1700.
- In the eighteenth century, the expansion of trade with the American colonies and India doubled London’s population again and led to even more rapid growth in provincial cities.
- Growing population resulted in more people from the countryside being freed up to work for wages in the new cities,— and eventually increased demand for products such as clothing.
- This expansion depended on:
  - vigorous imperialism, which expanded British possessions abroad,
  - the Royal Navy, which defeated competing naval and mercantile powers, and
  - the Navigation Acts, which excluded foreigners from the colonial trades.
- The British Empire was designed to stimulate the British economy–and it did. Colonies worked as a source of raw material as well as market for finished goods.
Government Policies:
- Government policies in England toward property and commerce encouraged innovation and the spread of global trade.
- The government created patent laws that allowed inventors to benefit financially from the “intellectual property” of their inventions.
- The British government also encouraged global trade by expanding the Navy to protect trade and granting monopolies or other financial incentives to companies so they would explore the world to find resources.
Financial Innovations, risk taking private sector and presence of enterprising people:
- Financial institutions such as central banks, stock markets, and joint stock companies encouraged people to take risks with investments, trade, and new technologies.
- Businessmen were willing to take a chance on new things and they were also supported by the government.
- Enterprising people can invest, manage large enterprises and labour force.
- Agriculture surplus and surplus wealth was not in the possession of feudal lords who would spend it in conspicuous consumption but in hand of those who were interested in investing it for further productive exercises.
The Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution:
- It encouraged scholars and craftspeople to apply new scientific thinking to mechanical and technological challenges.
- In the centuries before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans gradually incorporated science and reason into their world view. These intellectual shifts made English culture, in particular, highly receptive to new mechanical and financial ideas.
Practical bent of mind of the English Researchers:
- They made inventions keeping in view the needs of the time.
- This was in complete contrast to the continental scientists who concentrated on research in chemicals etc. which were not of immediate applies relevance. France made luxurious items which had limited demand.
Better means of transport:
- Government spent a considerable amount on the improvement of roads, canals etc.
- New method of road making:
  - creating a firm foundation by dumping large stones in road bed and then covering with smaller stones and then with gravel and clay.
  - Such road can withstand heavy loads and much traffic.
- Navigable Rivers and Canal in Great Britain quickened the pace and cheapened the cost of transportation of raw materials and finished products.
- Adam Smith, the first modern economist, believed this was a key reason for England’s early success. In 1776, in his famous book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, he wrote that:
  - “Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements”.
Availability of Coal and Iron mines:
- Coal and Iron deposits were plentiful in Great Britain and proved essential to the development of all new machines made of iron or steel and powered by coal—such as the steam-powered machinery in textile factories, and the locomotive.
- The need for coal for smelting iron ores, transportation etc. necessitated improvement in the techniques of coal mining. Metal cages and tubes & wire ropes were used to lift coal.
- Engines were invented to pump out the water from the mines.
- As London grew after 1500, the price of wood fuels rose and by the end of the sixteenth century, charcoal and firewood were twice the price of coal per unit of energy.
  - With that premium, consumers began to substitute coal for wood.
  - On the coal fields, Britain had the cheapest energy in the world.
- The availability of cheap coal and iron ores in large quantities helped growth of numerous industries.
World Trade:
- World trade gradually increased in the centuries before the Industrial Revolution and provided European countries access to raw materials and a market for goods.
- It also increased wealth that could then be loaned by banks to finance more industrial expansion in an upward spiral of economic growth.
- By 1500, Europe had a technological supremacy over the rest of the world in shipbuilding, navigation, and metallurgy (metal working).
- In successive years, European countries would use these advantages to dominate world trade with Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Britain led other European countries.
- The greater liberalization of trade from a large merchant base allowed Britain to produce and utilize emerging scientific and technological developments more effectively than European countries with stronger monarchies.
- Success in international trade created Britain’s high wage, cheap energy economy, and it was the spring board for the Industrial Revolution.
  - High wages and cheap energy created a demand for technology that substituted capital and energy for labour. These incentives operated in many industries.
Impact of “High Wage Economy and Cheap Energy”:
- The success of R&D programs in “eighteenth century Britain” depended on the high wage economy.
- In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the growth of a manufacturing, commercial economy increased the demand for literacy, numeracy and trade skills.
  - These were acquired through privately purchased education and apprenticeships.
  - The high wage economy not only created a demand for these skills, but also gave parents the income to purchase them.
  - As a result, the British population was highly skilled, and those skills were necessary for the high tech revolution to unfold.
- High wages and cheap energy of the British economy caused many famous invention of the Industrial Revolution.
  - These inventions substituted capital and energy for labour.
  - The steam engine increased the use of capital and coal to raise output per worker.
  - The cotton mill used machines to raise labour productivity in spinning and weaving.
  - New technologies of iron making substituted cheap coal for expensive charcoal and mechanised production to increase output per worker.
Availability of capital:
- England accumulated capital from trade and agricultural surplus which enabled her to make large outlays on machinery and building.
- England also possessed a large loanable capital obtained by Bank of England from rich trade with other countries and National Debt at a nominal rate of interest.
The Cottage Industry
- It served as a transition from a rural to an industrial economy.
- Like the later industrial factories, the cottage industry relied on wage labor, cloth production, tools and rudimentary machines, and a market to buy and sell raw materials (cotton) and finished products (clothes).
- The damp, mild weather conditions of the North West of England provided ideal conditions for the spinning of cotton, providing a natural starting point for the birth of the textiles industry.
Political and societal factors:
- The stable political situation in Britain from around 1688 (after Glorious Revolution), and British society’s greater receptiveness to change (when compared with other European countries) can also be said to be factors favouring the Industrial Revolution.
- In large part due to the Enclosure movement, the peasantry was destroyed as significant source of resistance to industrialization, and the landed upper classes developed commercial interests that made them pioneers in removing obstacles to the growth of capitalism.
- England had relatively secure property rights
- Unlike Germany or Italy, England was not politically fragmented.
- England did not look down upon NEW RICH. Rising middle class were absorbed in higher social classes. Thus special recognition was given to material advancement.
- Also England was one of the earliest in abolishing slavery which had positive social and economic impact.
Geographical factor:
- The island geography (an island separated from the rest of mainland Europe) provided favourable protection from predation on a national scale.
- Since it was away from European continent, it did not indulge in useless war of the European continent which gave it relative political and economic stability.
- Any conflict resulted in most British warfare being conducted overseas, reducing the devastating effects of territorial conquest that affected much of Europe.
Napoleonic Wars:
- Blockade by Napoleon against British trade and any British import pushed Britain for further innovation to be self-reliance.
- Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the only European nation not ravaged by financial plunder and economic collapse, and possessing the only merchant fleet of any useful size (European merchant fleets having been destroyed during the war by the Royal Navy).
- It is said that: “Napoleon career enabled Industrial Revolution to go forward in England and Industrial Revolution enabled England to overthrow Napoleon.”
English church got itself separated from Roman catholic church:
- In England, church land was confiscated and 1/4th of national resources were brought into productive use.
Protestant Work Ethics:
- British advance was also due to the presence of an entrepreneurial class which believed in progress, technology and hard work.
- The existence of this class is often linked to the Protestant work ethic and the particular status of dissenting Protestant sects.
- Reinforcement of confidence in the rule of law, which followed establishment of the constitutional monarchy in Britain and the emergence of a stable financial market there based on the management of the national debt by the Bank of England, contributed to the capacity for, and interest in, private financial investment in industrial ventures.
- Dissenters found themselves barred or discouraged from almost all public offices, as well as education at England’s Universities (Oxford and Cambridge). When the membership in the official Anglican church became mandatory, they thereupon became active in banking, manufacturing and education.
- The Unitarians (Unitarianism is the Christian doctrine that stresses individual freedom of belief), in particular, were very involved in education, by running Dissenting Academies, where, in contrast to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, much attention was given to mathematics and the sciences—areas of scholarship vital to the development of manufacturing technologies.

British historian Eric Hobsbawm characterized English industrial history: “Whoever says Industrial Revolution says cotton.”
Rapid industrialization transformed the lives of English men and women after 1750, and changes in cotton textiles were at the heart of this process and Industrial Revolution started chiefly from the textile industry.
Textile Industry had following advantages
- Already semi-mechanised:
  - Textile techniques were already at such point of development that only a few minor alterations had to be effected to render both spinning and weaving semi-mechanised and semi-automatic.
- Free from guild regulation:
  - It was relatively free to use techniques to reduce the cost of production, for the cotton textile trade was not subject to guild regulation. The monopolistic guilds never existed in cotton because it was a new industry.
- More focus on textile manufacturing:
  - There was more focus on textile manufacturing because the manufacture and export of various cloths were vital to the English economy in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Textile production before Industrial Revolution
- Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were produced under the putting-out system, in which merchant clothiers had their work done in the homes of artisans or farming families.
- Production was limited by reliance on the spinning wheel and the hand loom; increases in output required more hand workers at each stage.
Changes in textile production due to innovation
- Invention dramatically changed the nature of textile work.
- In Weaving Field:
  - The flying shuttle, patented by John Kay in 1733, increased the output of each weaver and led to increased demand for yarn.
  - This prompted effort by others to mechanize the spinning of yarn.
- In Spinning Field:
  - The first advance came in 1767, when James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, allowing one spinner to produce several yarns at a time.
- In Mechanical Power:
  - Textile industry was first to exploit the potential of power driven machinery.
  - In 1769, Richard Arkwright patented the water frame, a spinning machine that produced a coarse, twisted yarn and could be powered by water.
  - Coupled with the carding machine, the Arkwright spinning frame ushered in the modern factory. (It could not work in small places and so it was parent of the factory system)
  - The first textile mills, needing waterpower to drive their machinery, were built on fast-moving streams in rural England.
  - After the 1780s, with the application of steam power, mills also grew up in urban centers.
- Initially, English mills relied on pauper labor, and for a considerable period mill owners had difficulty recruiting workers.
- Once in the mills, though, workers felt threatened by the introduction of new machinery, and periodically resisted such moves by destroying power looms and setting fire to new factories.
- Nevertheless, the textile industry expanded rapidly, increasing production fifty-fold between 1780 and 1840.
- There was corresponding rise in its export.
Important centres of industrialisation were also important centres of textile production. For e.g. Manchester, Lancashire.
The English Industrial Revolution had important consequences for Americans.
- It spurred cultivation of cotton in the South to meet expanding English demand for the fiber.
- The growth and profits of English textiles also caught the imagination of American merchants, the more far sighted of whom sought to manufacture cloth and not simply market English imports.
- Hence, cotton gave impetus to the Industrialisation in the other parts of the world also.

The ‘Commercial Revolution’ which took place between 1450 and 1750 brought a revolutionary change in the economy of Europe. Many countries of Europe encouraged the intervention of state in commercial activities for the increase of national wealth and power. This gave birth to ‘Mercantilism’ which played a vital role for the economic prosperity of a country.
Mercantilism was an economic theory and practice, dominant in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, that promoted governmental regulation of a nation’s economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. It was the economic counterpart of political absolutism or absolute monarchies. Mercantilism includes a national economic policy aimed at accumulating monetary reserves through a positive balance of trade, especially of finished goods. Mercantilism means-“Governmental regulation of economic affairs, especially, trade and industry”.
Adam Smith, the ‘Father of Economics’ had first used the word ‘Mercantilism’ in his famous book ‘Wealth of Nations’. The exponents of Mercantilism opined that Commerce is the key to progress of every country and it can be achieved at the cost of the interest of other country.
High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods, are an almost universal feature of mercantilist policy. Other policies have included
- forbidding colonies to trade with other nations;
- monopolizing markets with staple ports;
- banning the export of gold and silver, even for payments;
- forbidding trade to be carried in foreign ships;
- subsidies on exports;
- promoting manufacturing through research or direct subsidies;
- limiting wages;
- maximizing the use of domestic resources; and
- restricting domestic consumption through non-tariff barriers to trade.

Causes of the Rise of Mercantilism:

Mercantilism grew due to several reasons. At first, the Renaissance did not accept the religious doctrine of Medieval Europe. It explained ‘Materialism’ as one of the mediums of human happiness. So, everybody dreamt to lead a happy and prosperous life. This gave birth to Mercantilism.
Secondly, the Fall of Feudalism was another cause for the rise of Mercantilism. With the fall of feudalism, the fate of agriculture was doomed. This encouraged the small-scale industries. The towns and guilds wanted the increase of these industries. They wanted to export the surplus of these productions. This led to the rise of Mercantilism.
Thirdly, the Reformation Movement encouraged the merchants. The results of the Reformation Movement carried on by Martin Luther in Germany and Henry VIII in England were far reaching. They condemned the unnecessary intervention of Pope in Political and Economic affairs except religion. Martin Luther opposed the Pope so much so that he was issued ‘Bull of excommunication’ by the Pope. However, Luther did not bend before it. In a similar vein Henry VIII of England did not obey Pope and brought reformation in the Church of England. All these activities encouraged the merchants to take up their business independently. This encouraged Mercantilism.
Fourthly, the Guilds and Banking System gave great impetus for the growth of Mercantilism. The guilds acted as distribution centres and exported the surplus to outside countries. This encouraged the international trade which was well-regulated by the banking system.
Fifthly, the Geographical Discoveries encouraged Mercantilism. The sea voyage of Columbus, Vascodagama, Magellan and others encouraged Mercantilism.
Sixthly, Political Patronage established Mercantilism on sound footing. The kings wanted to reduce the power of the feudal Lords and Barons. So, they encouraged the merchants for trade. Henry, ‘the Navigator’ of Portugal and Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth of England patronised sailors. Their patronage established Mercantilism on sound footing.
At last, Scientific Invention and Discoveries helped a lot in the growth of Mercantilism. The telescope invented by Galileo helped the merchants in their journey. The Mariner’s Compass also helped the merchants a lot to determine direction inside the deep sea. These inventions made merchants confident for maritime trade which galvanised Merchantilism.

The characteristics of Mercantilism:

Foreign Trade

At first, the merchants put emphasis on foreign trade. They knew that gold and silver are not plentily available in many countries. They wanted to procure gold and silver from other countries by sailing their own products to them. This was infact, one of the great characteristics of Mercantilism.

Emphasis on Money

Money was another feature of Mercantilism. The merchants had understood that for the development of trade, money is needed. So, they discarded ‘barter’. So money economy galavanised Mercantilism.

Profit and Interest

Moon, a notable economist had advised to charge interest on principal when money was lent. It increased the amount of money inside a country. On the other hand, it also inspired a trader to work hard for the repayment of money what he had borrowed and also encouraged him to be rich. Thus, profit and benefit became two sides of Mercantilism.

Population

Mercantilism put emphasis on population. Devenant had opined that the real power of a country is its population. The presence of more population helps in the growth of industry which leads to more production.

Medium of Production

The exponents of Mercantilism put emphasis on ‘land’ and ‘labour’. So, Mercantilism delivered a message that a country should be economically prosperous. By this, a country should be self-sufficient in production.

Regulation of Trade and Commerce

The merchants of Europe had devised means to regulate trade and commerce of a country. Every European Country framed laws to regulate its trade and commerce. By these laws, it was not possible to import goods from outside countries. This helped in exporting the surplus of the country.

Encouragement to Capitalism

Mercantilism was meant to encourage capitalism. The capitalists invested their capital and made mercantilism more mobile. It was difficult on the part of Mercantilism to thrive without capital. This helped in the growth of trade and commerce.

The Golden Principles

The ‘Golden Principles’ of Mercantilism contained its chief characteristics. Those principles were self-dependency, industry, mine, commerce, naval power, colony, unity etc.

Criticism of Mercantilism:

The first school to completely reject mercantilism was the physiocrats, who developed their theories in France. Their theories also had several important problems, and the replacement of mercantilism did not come until Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776. This book outlines the basics of what is today known as classical economics. Smith spent a considerable portion of the book rebutting the arguments of the mercantilists. Adam Smith and David Hume were the founding fathers of anti-mercantilist thought. Hume famously noted the impossibility of the mercantilists’ goal of a constant positive balance of trade.
The importance placed on bullion was also a central target, even if many mercantilists had themselves begun to de-emphasize the importance of gold and silver. Adam Smith noted that at the core of the mercantile system was the “popular folly of confusing wealth with money”, that bullion was just the same as any other commodity, and that there was no reason to give it special treatment.
Mercantilist regulations were steadily removed over the course of the 18th century in Britain, and during the 19th century the British government fully embraced free trade and Smith’s laissez-faire economics. On the continent, the process was somewhat different. In France, economic control remained in the hands of the royal family, and mercantilism continued until the French Revolution. In Germany mercantilism remained an important ideology in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In modern economic theory, trade is not a zero-sum game of cutthroat competition, because both sides can benefit.

Evolutionary Biologist Jared Diamond explained why the entire continent of Eurasia evolved to be so technologically advanced. Diamond argues that the largest of continents, Eurasia was also blessed with the largest domesticated animals in the world—such as horses, donkeys, pigs, and cows. These animals served as beasts of burden in agriculture and also as a much-needed food source. And so the health of Eurasian populations improved. These animals also brought epidemic diseases that killed millions of Eurasians over thousands of years. But, after the plague ran its course through the population, surviving Eurasians then had antibodies to these illnesses, which made them and their ancestors resistant to them. So these plagues became a horrifying stroke of good luck for invading Eurasians later on.
People from the Americas had no medium to large domesticated animals. As a result, they did not experience devastating animal-based plagues and diseases. So, unlike Europeans, the Americans did not then have the anti-bodies to resist the European illnesses. So, when Europeans invaded the Americas after 1492, people from the Americas were highly susceptible to Eurasian deadly viruses and diseases. But no plagues went the other direction from the Americas to Europe. The depopulation of the Americas made it easy for Europeans to conquer.
In short, Diamond, contrary to many historians, sees the Industrial Revolution as an inevitable result of geography and evolutionary biology that played out not only in a burst of activity, but over many thousands of years.