IR - England Begins to Industrialize (Lesson)
England Begins to Industrialize.
Learn why England was the first nation to industrialize by reviewing the activity below.
England had also developed a social structure supportive of industrialization, so that all it needed was a take off industry, or an industry that would begin a pattern of industrialization all the others would follow. In England's case, this industry was cotton manufacturing. Due to the slave labor in the plantations, there was a very large supply of raw cotton. There was also a very high demand for the durable, cheap cotton goods. However, the putting-out system had reached its limits in productions, so merchants were ready to take the next step towards industrialization.
- Richard Arkwright - inventor of the water frame, which was able to twist fibers into thread using waterpower. Before him, though weavers could make cloth quickly from yarn, production was slowed down because the yarn couldn't be made quickly enough. Arkwright shifted the balance in the other direction. The water frame was large and required a location near a source of power, thus the first factories are created in order to accommodate it as well as to utilize it to its best advantage by housing multiple workers in one central location.
- James Watt - perfector of the steam engine. Arkwright asked Watt to use steam engines to drive his spinning machines.
- Edmund Cartwright - inventor of a power-driven loom. Though the opposition of handloom weavers and technical flaws made the loom not readily available until the 19th century, once it became available, both spinning and weaving could go incredibly fast.
After industrialization, the price of cotton fell tremendously, and it became available to virtually everyone in the nation.
Changes in Agriculture.
In England, because of new agricultural techniques that caused an increase in efficiency and productivity, many peasants were able to leave the country and go to the city, where they found work as factory laborers.
Convertible Husbandry - instead of letting land lie unused every second or third year (to prevent it from become infertile) agricultural innovators planted fields with turnips (which could also provide feed for livestock, which could make fertilizer) to help it regain fertility. If they encountered other problems, they would experiment with other crops that would hopefully fix the problems. In addition to convertible husbandry, innovators experimented with selective breeding of animals.
Enclosure Movement - throughout Europe, all towns shared communal lands, which were divided into small plots. This made it very difficult to change agricultural techniques, since the village as a whole had to agree to a certain technique. But, in England, Parliament was able to (in response to the petitioning of large landowners) enclose all the land in a village, even against the will of the village itself. Though enclosure was difficult and expensive, it was worth it, for it ended up generating high profits. In the end, the communal field system was practically eradicated in England leading to the domination of rural society by great landlords and their tenant farmers. Enclosure also forced many peasants to leave for the cities, where they could then find work.
On the continent, however, things were very different. In Eastern Europe, nobles completely controlled the lives of their serfs, who spent their time in unpaid labor for their noble lord. In Western Europe, though there was no serfdom, most peasants lived under the seigneurialism system (system in which the peasants lived under a local lord and owed him certain obligations). Since, throughout the continent, peasants were barely surviving, they had little time to worry about efficiency (change was too risky to afford). So change came very slowly, especially in Eastern Europe.
Learn More.
Watch John Green's Crash Course European History video over the Industrial Revolution. There is a wealth of information that will assist you in your notes. You can access the video from the link below; you will need access to Youtube to view.
RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.