An Introduction to the Industrial Revolution
'It was The best of times and it was the worst of times' Charles Dickens.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great prosperity bringing the lives of many people together to cities away from the poverty and harshness of the countryside and villages. It gave the people of the time the technology they needed to create a flourishing society of wealth, growth and freedom to people who became slaves and rights to those who worked more than they were due. But is also wrought sadness and sorrow and underage labor and many died under atrocious working conditions that in places are still seen today.
The Industrial Revolution is the simple name for a period of time that started between the 18th and 19th centuries and still continues today. The original spark that set it all off was the need for better and more efficient manufacturing and the energy to power it. This set off many a chain reaction with the production of efficient knitting frames that were almost completely mechanised and vastly superior methods of producing iron form ore and coal fuelled steam engines. The changes of mechanisation and production never stopped and as it steadily grew with the help of so many brilliant minds set free. Population of the world and the average homes income grew as well. These increases were thanks to betterment of living conditions where whole families moved to cities so that they could earn a workers wage in a factory instead of a farmers trickling income. Almost all of the family including the children and mothers went to work simply so that they could survive. Times were tough at the start when working days were long and many lifespans short. But the rights beliefs and lively hoods of these commonfolk only got better and better as the world moved on from its past and accepted the future.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great prosperity bringing the lives of many people together to cities away from the poverty and harshness of the countryside and villages. It gave the people of the time the technology they needed to create a flourishing society of wealth, growth and freedom to people who became slaves and rights to those who worked more than they were due. But is also wrought sadness and sorrow and underage labor and many died under atrocious working conditions that in places are still seen today.
The Industrial Revolution is the simple name for a period of time that started between the 18th and 19th centuries and still continues today. The original spark that set it all off was the need for better and more efficient manufacturing and the energy to power it. This set off many a chain reaction with the production of efficient knitting frames that were almost completely mechanised and vastly superior methods of producing iron form ore and coal fuelled steam engines. The changes of mechanisation and production never stopped and as it steadily grew with the help of so many brilliant minds set free. Population of the world and the average homes income grew as well. These increases were thanks to betterment of living conditions where whole families moved to cities so that they could earn a workers wage in a factory instead of a farmers trickling income. Almost all of the family including the children and mothers went to work simply so that they could survive. Times were tough at the start when working days were long and many lifespans short. But the rights beliefs and lively hoods of these commonfolk only got better and better as the world moved on from its past and accepted the future.
The First Industrial Revolution
Historians have never really been able to pinpoint the exact time from start to finish of the first Industrial Revolution but the best estimation is from approximately 1800 to 1860. However it is definite that it all started in England with their unchained society of scientists and thinkers not held back by religion or politics. The term Industrial Revolution basically means a society or in this case whole countries moving from very agriculture and manor house labour to towns and free cities with factories and personal homes all cramped together to save every dollar. Almost every county has had its first Industrial Revolution but the first needed a spark, or several, several small things that added up to make a super society all linked together with new roads, cities, factories and efficient ways around every problem. No longer did society rely on its old manual labour and draft cattle based workforce now it had machines great hulking masses of steel and steam to power their weavers and spinners and trains and boats. Society moved from agriculture to industry in the space of a few decades. The old was out. The new, was in. but not everyone was happy with the new. These disposable people didn’t all agree with these inventions and they weren’t a minority they came in their hundreds, newly fired and furious with weapons and fire to fight the future and win back the past, they were called luddites.
Many small events and inventions fuelled different industries to their own move to mechanisation and efficiency (see time line, below). The invention of the crucible steel technique made steel no longer the premium metal only used for important expensive uses but a simple cheap and strong metal for all needs. With steel now a viable option for almost all uses, inventors and entrepreneurs jumped at the chance the first major one being James Watt with his major improvements to the steam engine setting the age of steam into full swing. With this new efficient steam engine nibbling at their fingertips employers and factory owners couldn’t wait to do away with staff they were to replace with highly cost, time and money efficient steam-powered machines that needed only small cheap children to maintain and run. These all started with the Cotton Gin and the Spinning Jenny for the refining and spinning of cotton which eradicated nearly half of the human jobs in the textile industries. It seems perfectly cruel that these workers and commons folk who gave up everything to the cities for a happier and richer life have almost everything taken away from them by employers and factory owners who simply didn’t care.
There have been up to 3 different Industrial Revolutions not counting the one we are going through today and even more if basic advancements in technology like those of medieval and prehistory periods but on this site I will only reference to the first listed Industrial Revolution in Britain and its profound affects that this had on the developing world and Australia.
Many small events and inventions fuelled different industries to their own move to mechanisation and efficiency (see time line, below). The invention of the crucible steel technique made steel no longer the premium metal only used for important expensive uses but a simple cheap and strong metal for all needs. With steel now a viable option for almost all uses, inventors and entrepreneurs jumped at the chance the first major one being James Watt with his major improvements to the steam engine setting the age of steam into full swing. With this new efficient steam engine nibbling at their fingertips employers and factory owners couldn’t wait to do away with staff they were to replace with highly cost, time and money efficient steam-powered machines that needed only small cheap children to maintain and run. These all started with the Cotton Gin and the Spinning Jenny for the refining and spinning of cotton which eradicated nearly half of the human jobs in the textile industries. It seems perfectly cruel that these workers and commons folk who gave up everything to the cities for a happier and richer life have almost everything taken away from them by employers and factory owners who simply didn’t care.
There have been up to 3 different Industrial Revolutions not counting the one we are going through today and even more if basic advancements in technology like those of medieval and prehistory periods but on this site I will only reference to the first listed Industrial Revolution in Britain and its profound affects that this had on the developing world and Australia.
The Effects of the Industrial Revolution
Australia
During the very early parts of the Industrial Revolution, Australia was being settled as a country, and even now Australia has not gone through it's own full Industrial Revolution. As the first colonists from Britain landed in Australia the country before them was only intended as a penal colony because the prisons of Britain were already overflowing. And as a fun fact some of the first prisoners brought over from England were in fact Luddites, men convicted of Frame Breaking a crime punishable by death but these cases were changed to punishment by Transportation as it was called.
The only real industrialisation that occurred in Australia was when it was given Independence as a country from the Monarchy. This happened in the year 1901 when Australia's first government was elected; the Liberal National Defence Party. The reason they chose that name was because they fancied themselves the protectors of Australia and it's welfare simply because they set up massive tariffs that prevented almost all trade into Australia giving the country's Manufacturing sector a chance to create more expensive lower quality goods then those that were being offered by other countries. So in turn many joked that some of the Luddites brought over as prisoners had leaked into the parliament, and were now closing off the country from the world, and the future.
But once these legislations were repealed Australia's mainly manufacturing economy to the majority service economy that it is today (see below diagrams).
The only real industrialisation that occurred in Australia was when it was given Independence as a country from the Monarchy. This happened in the year 1901 when Australia's first government was elected; the Liberal National Defence Party. The reason they chose that name was because they fancied themselves the protectors of Australia and it's welfare simply because they set up massive tariffs that prevented almost all trade into Australia giving the country's Manufacturing sector a chance to create more expensive lower quality goods then those that were being offered by other countries. So in turn many joked that some of the Luddites brought over as prisoners had leaked into the parliament, and were now closing off the country from the world, and the future.
But once these legislations were repealed Australia's mainly manufacturing economy to the majority service economy that it is today (see below diagrams).
Above tables sourced form: the Australian Government Productivity Commissionhttp://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/8447/tiam.pdf
The Developing World
The developing world is only now feeling the majority of the Industrial Revolutions effects such as profound human rights to all walks of life. But even so the good does not come close to out weighing the bad. Wars, slavery, homelessness, poverty, prejudice, inhumanity, child labour, terrible working conditions and lack of basic hygiene just to name a few. the sad thing is that these are the exact same conditions faced by the working class and the commons folk of the Industrial Revolution. This is because countries like Lebanon, Nepal, Bhutan and Iraq have not taken their entire country with them when they moved on from the life of agriculture and slavery that the entire world once new. and these poor people have been left to literally in some cases pick up the scraps and rubbish left behind by countries and governments that naively think they are moving on.