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Industrial Revolution

Three factors influence the Industrial revolution, these factors include :a population boom: a canal boom: and policies of the government of parliament. The revolution first occurred in Britain and later spread throughout the world. Cotton also had a prevalent influence on the revolution, these influences are demonstrated in the Cottage Industries. The Industrial revolution created a major energy crisis which was solved by James Watt.

During the revolution the first locomotive (the Rocket) was invented by George Stephenson, this invention greatly impacted the transportation of goods, which in turn had a large impact on the market and economy in Britain. The Industrial revolution, therefore, directly impacted the main transportation system of goods in Britain, which then, influenced the stimulation of the economy, which in turn created the middle class. However, the Industrial revolution also increase poverty in Britain. The Industrial revolution first came about in Britain.

Three factors that stimulated the revolution include; a major population boom, a canal boom, and the policies of the government members of parliament. The first factor that influenced the revolution was the population boom which happened after the discovery of the potato. After the discovery of the potato people were able to re-introduce nitrogen back in the depleted soil which created better food and with better food comes more child. The end result of the discovery left Britain with more mouths to feed. The next factor of the Revolution was the canal boom.

The canal boom was influenced by the geography of Britain, because Britain is an island it needs boats to be able to ship goods. The geography of Britain leads to an expand of commerce. This expansion of commerce then influences the members of parliament to create new and improved policies. Policies in the British parliament soon changed because of the influence of the canal boom. The members of parliament at this time were only temporary employees, their other job consisted of being businessmen. Because the men of parliament were also businessmen they passed laws which bettered not only their own business, but all of Britain’s businesses.

The increase in Britain’s commerce influenced the Cottage Industry, The Cottage Industry influenced the production of cotton. Before cotton was “ the fabric of our lives”, wool was the textile of choice. Wool was collected from sheep by shepherds who then sold the wool to weavers, and the weavers made the wool into cloth where it was then sold to the market. The process in which the wool was collected was a tedious process ( it took over a year for the sheep’s’ coat to come fully back in). Because the process was so long another textile was needed this is when cotton made its appearance.

Cotton is an agricultural product, which means that it must be planted not just simply collected from sheep. However, the weaving process of cotton is lengthy and the weavers were not able to keep up with the increasing demand for cotton. The Spinning Jenny is then invented to keep up with the demand for cotton (James Hargreaves is the inventor of the Jenny). The creation of the Spinning Jenny then influenced the creation of the Water Frame, which after time replaced the Spinning Jenny because it was a faster and more efficient machine.

The issues with the Water Frame include the size, the machine was as big, if not bigger than the average cottage of this time; the factories which contained these machines also had to be placed next to rivers which resulted in expensive costs. There was also the complication of getting people to power the factories, the solution to this dilemma was to use convicted felons, orphaned children, horses, and oxen as an energy source for the factories. Wind, coal, and steam power were all used, eventually Britain ran out of wood and the steam engine was inefficient, until James Watt came around.

James Watt perfected the steam engine which soon became the most reliable source of energy. Factories were now beginning to appear all over the countryside (mainly in the North). The steam engines only required coke unlike before when coal was necessary for power. Now, iron was simpler to produced which influenced the construction of bridges. Before this time, bridges had been made of either wood or stone (which were both very expensive materials of the time), now bridges could be constructed from cheap iron (which is stronger and safer than the previous materials).

The sudden and rapid appearance of bridges influenced George Stephenson to create the locomotive (train). The Locomotive was created by George Stephenson which drastically changed Britain. The first locomotive, the Rocket, moved at a pace of 16 miles per hour (mph) and was the first machine to run itself. The entire island of Britain was then connected by uniform train tracks. Trains made it easy for people to trade and sell their goods and products with people outside of their towns, which was unable to happen previously.

Shipping was now made regular and certain which had a drastic impact on the economy of Britain. Before the railroad system it could take upwards of six weeks for an item to be delivered. Now items could be tracked down to the hour. This allowed businessmen to trade with people outside of their time, which was previously unavailable. The increase of the economy was then enough to stimulate a middle class. The middle class was created from the influence that the train had on the economy. Before the middle class was invented there was only a lower and higher class.

The lower class consisted of the poor people while the upper class consisted of Aristocrats (people who were banker, lawyers, and merchants). Now, people were able to take vacations (the middle class was also known as the class that takes vacations). The middle class people took vacations primarily on the coastlines of Britain, this influenced the coastal residence to begin to start selling goods to the middle class vacationers). Britain was then consumed in a competition of wealth (the middle class was then compelled to compete with one another financially).

However, poverty and greed were made worse by the Industrial revolution. Poverty and greed soon spiked during the revolution. People left the countryside to live in the cramped inner city in small apartments with their entire family. The entire family (even children) were then forced to work to be able to afford to live in the city. Waste and pollution then became a major issue. The increase of pollution induced a heavy fog to roll over Britain, this was also known as smog. With more people living in the city and an increase in pollution there was an increase in crime because no one could see the criminal.

Disease was also popular at this time because there was no indoor plumbing. People instead people disposed of their waste by throwing it out of their windows into the street and into town wells. The waste then contaminated the water which resulted in an epidemic of cholera (also known as the White Plague). The solution to the epidemic was to institute a sewer system. This was the final part of the Industrial revolution. The Industrial revolution was influenced by three specific factors, the British population boom, canal boom, and parliament policies.

The population boom resulted in the canal boom, which was followed by the new policies of parliament. The new policies of parliament influenced the Cottage Industry, which resulted in the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame, which was followed by the perfection of the steam engine, which caused an increase infrastructure, the increase infrastructure resulted in the invention of the locomotive, which in turn positively affected the economic state of Britain, this increase of the economy created a middle class, and the downside of the revolution was that it increased poverty and greed throughout all of Britain.

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