Industrial Revolution
What was it?
The Industrial Revolution brought Britain into an era of manufacturing and productivity. This was to eventually spread to other regions of the world. It created wealth and fortune for some, but for others, problems throughout society grew, there was turbulence and poverty. Rapid progression of the industry occurred in Britain in the late 18th - 19th century and led the introduction of technology and machinery. Agricultural societies became more industrialised with the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and a large amount of production and manufactured goods.
Why is it so important for the industry to improve, grow, and learn?
The industrial revolution established new ideas and initiatives that continue to impact on us today. In the 18th and 19th century it also brought poverty to many lives, however, where would we be without the factories, machinery and inventions of this time? If we were to stop or ignore the developments or ideas of this time society would no doubt have gone backwards.
How and where did it begin?
In the 18th century there was a mass discovery of coal in Britain. They had tons of it! Without coal they had no fuel to run new industrial inventions. They had no way of progression, until again we learned further, and people invented different types of fuel, such as oil, it was discovered and used. Another material often used at the time was steel. Following the discovery of steel it was used extensively, impacting on transportation and communication. The inventions throughout this time were to have a significant impact on society.
How has the industrial revolution affected society today?
Without these events and inventions in life, we would not be where we are today, we would not be able to create clothes at a fast pace, thus we would not have an ever changing and progressing fashion industry. If you open your pantry you're bound to find canned goods. This concept was also developed during the industrial revolution, allowing food to be more easily preserved and readily available.
Why was the Industrial Revolution significant?
The Industrial revolution has done great wonders for us today in the present, but life was not so easy during this era. Some became rich from this, but majority of people suffered greatly. Whether it was adults, children, employers or workers, all people suffered. Adults struggled with finding work in safe environments and keeping their family healthy. Children from the age of 5 could be subjected to childhood labour in dangerous conditions. Employers found benefits to employing children and thought they were ideal since with the rise in industry they needed more workers, kids did not get paid as much, they were also smaller so more of them could fit in a room, thus more would get the job done.
Most workers were not paid a reasonable wages and were required to work extremely long days. However, most critically the majority of the population was impacted upon by poor health. Common diseases included, cholera, typhoid, and typhus. With a chronic lack of knowledge about maintaining good hygiene and observing and sanitary practices the results of these diseases could and often were devastating. In later years scientists realised that the reason the fatal disease cholera spread so quickly was because their main drinking water source at the time was a river of which had sewage come into contact with it and thus contaminating it. As many people used river water, the disease spread with ease.
The industrial revolution was the industrialisation that moved society away from agricultural practices to machinery and technology. Throughout this, industrialising has been proven as important since we need to further evolve it to move forward as a global society. It has affected both the past and present in positive and negative ways. But it has always helped us and made living easier and more developed.