Lecture Notes: The Industrial Revolution

Introduction

• Industrial Revolution: Named to parallel the French Revolution.
• Chief components: Industrialization (machine power) and Urbanization (rise of cities).
• Originated in England in the 1770s-1780s, starting with textile manufacturing.

Spread of Industrialization

• 1830s-1840s: Acceleration with railroad construction and mechanization.
• Early industrialization led to social concerns about loss of traditional relationships.

Key Innovations

• James Watt: Efficient steam engine in 1776.
• Edmund Cartwright: Mechanized loom in the 1780s, increased output significantly.

Why England?

• Population growth over 50% in late 18th century.
• Incentives for cheaper cotton, private investment, resources like coal and iron.

European Expansion

• Domestic System: Materials supplied to homes for manufacturing.
• Luddites: Resistance to factories and mechanization in early 1800s.

Railroads

• George Stevenson: Steam-powered locomotive in 1820s.
• Railroads expanded industrial development, with significant growth in Europe and USA.

Social and Economic Changes

• Creation of a new socio-economic class, the working class.
• Emergence of extreme wealth and poverty.
• Urbanization led to overcrowding and poor living conditions.

Urbanization and Consequences

• Rapid influx into cities caused sanitation issues and overcrowding.
• Growth of cities like London and Paris with poor living conditions.

Art, Literature, and Cultural Response

• Romanticism in art and literature, resisting industrialization.
• Authors like Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte highlight social issues.

Social Reforms

• Religious and educational reforms to uplift the poor.
• Sunday schools and secular education movements.

Women and Social Order

• Women engaged in charity viewed as extensions of domestic duties.
• Legal and social limitations on women's roles.

Global Impacts and Colonialism

• Shift from colonialism to imperialism, focusing on economic exploitation.
• Abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.
• British and French colonial activities in Asia and Africa.

Conclusion

• Industrial Revolution led to major technological, social, and economic changes.
• Ongoing need for systematic solutions to social problems.
• End of lecture with good luck wishes for the midterm.