Age of Indusrtialism

The time period that we are calling the Age of Industrialization occurred in the 1700s and 1800s. During this time period, innovations and changes occurred in agriculture, technology, and communication. The first advancements began in Great Britain and soon they spread throughout the world. The rural areas of Great Britain transformed between 1760 and 1830.

The farmers were accustomed to a daily routine. Their activities revolved around farming. The farmers used traditional methods that were created by their ancestors. Many of the traditions of small villages were abandoned and they were introduced to new things. This helped the villages to become more advanced. Abandoning traditions allowed the small villages also become familiar to new technology. New features were introduced to Britain, such as the cultivation of turnips and potatoes. Two of the contributors to agriculture were Jethro Tull and Lord Towenshend. Those men made the importance of root crops important to agriculture. In addition to the innovations helping villages, they could also hurt them. These changes were very complex for the farmers. Learning new techniques could be confusing and could also destroy their crops, which would definitely hurt the farmers.

A major factor that advantaged the early growth was free enterprise. This system allowed individuals and private firms to own the means of production including land, machinery, and the work place. The people were able to decide how they can make a profit and determine business practices consequently. Other factors included the migration from the country into the city and railroad construction in India, Latin America, and North America.

Major Inventions that contributed to the Industrial Revolution were the cotton gin, Model-T automobiles, and a telegraph. In the early 1800s, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds. In addition to the cotton gin, Whitney contributed the concept of inter-changeable parts. This increased factory production. In 1913, Henry Ford used assembly line methods to create Model-T automobiles. Millions of people were able to afford his cars because of the decline in the cost of producing each car. Samuel Morse assembled a working model of a telegraph in the 1830s. The telegraph carried information at high speeds using a system of dots and dashes. The telegraph lines linked European cities and North American cities. In 1895, Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraph. The year after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. The telephone was comprised of tiny electrical wires carrying sound. This allowed people to speak to each other over long distances.

Great Britain earned the name "the workshop of the world" from the British industrialists setting up factories, supplying capital, equipment, and technical staff. The French developed a large pool of scientist. However, when comparing the French to other countries, France's industrialization developed at a slower pace. The Germans bought machinery from Britain and set up factories. In 1839 they built a rail way using British capital. In the years to come, coal, iron, and textile industries emerged.

With industrial advance taking place and a rapid pace, society also began to change along with it. The lives of these workers were constantly changing for the better and the worst. Before the revolution, a person's position in life was created at birth. As time progressed, new innovations and opportunities were made to make the social structure flexible. In the middle class, men were working in factories and women maintained the house. These families could afford servants to help around the house. Women had leisure time to do things such as, educating their children, embroidering, and preparing meals.

Even though the working class did not make as much money as the higher classes, they could still afford new luxuries that the middle and upper classes enjoyed. Education was not as important to the working class. The children would work instead of going