How and Why the Industrial Revolution Occurred in Britain before Spreading Elsewhere - Essay Example

Name Professor Name Course Date Introduction The Industrial Revolution refers to the economic and social changes that occurred as a result of transition of the European society from a stable commercial and agricultural one to an industrial society that was dependent on complex machines in place of tools. The era is mainly associated with the time in British history dating from the mid eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century1. By 1900, although a rather small country, it managed to control a big empire which covered about 25% of the world, all due to its technological and economic advantages over the others that arose from the Industrial Revolution.2 The Industrial Revolution began in Britain as a result of social, economic and political strategic advantages. This paper discusses how and why the Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain before spreading elsewhere. The Industrial Revolution’s foundation was created during the 15th and 16th centuries. This was the time when voyages of discovery took place from Western Europe and led to the importation of precious metals that were accessed in the New World. This led to a general rise in prices, stimulation of industry and enforcement of the money economy. The rapid growth of the money economy and trade facilitated the creation of new credit and finance institutions.3 During the 17th century, the Dutch had a financial upper hand but when the Bank of England was set up in 1694, things changed. There was the rise of large scale capitalism and commercial entrepreneurship changed from the old type that was characterized by merchant adventurers. There was instead the use of machines in production. As the 18th century progressed, the population in Britain grew and became wealthier, leading to more demand for goods. The demand for quality also increased and coal became the main source of fuel, replacing wood. There was the introduction of steam engines for draining water and raising coal from mines.4 Britain dominated the global economy through urbanization and expanding its rural manufacturing. For instance East Anglia became a major centre for wool cloth production and its output was exported via export. In London where export took place, about 25% of jobs were depended on the port. Due to this, London’s population grew from 50,000 in 1500 to about 200,000 in 1600 and further to 500,000 in 1700.5 During the 18th century, there was an increase in trade with India and the American colonies, thereby doubling the figure and creating more growth of Scottish and provincial cities. Britain raised its degree of imperialism abroad with the help of its powerful Royal Navy which managed to keep off other mercantilist powers from its markets. There was also the creation of Navigation Acts that ensured the exclusion of foreigners from trade with certain colonies. British imperialism was designed to help expand the economy, and it managed to do so.6 The expansion of Britain’s foreign trade had a considerable impact. First, the fact that London expanded rapidly had the effect of shortages of wood. This situation was only sorted when the exploitation of coal took place. With even further expansion firewood and charcoal had become twice the price of coal as a fuel. Because of this, coal took the place of wood and coal-burning houses were built. Coal was mined from places such as Northumberland and taken to London. In places such as Newcastle, Britain could comfortably say that it had the cheapest form of fuel. With the expansion of manufacturing and growth of cities, the demand for labour also went up as a result of which the level of both living standards and wages became the highest worldwide. Workers usually got earnings that were four or three times their subsistence. Afterwards, population growth on the continent caused a decline in real wages and during the 18th century, it became a struggle to have enough for subsistence. Only Britain among a few other countries was unaffected. Its population grew faster but the repercussions were pre-empted by an economic boom arising from foreign trade.7 With development of cities and a rise in wages, agriculture was boosted due to more demand. Fodder crop production to cater for the increased demand for meat and dairy products also led to more soil fertility and therefore harvests of barley and wheat. As labour moved to towns, small farms were enjoined to become larger ones, and these employed fewer workers per unit of land, making it more efficient. Expansion of the cities with the Industrial Revolution therefore improved agriculture in Britain. As foreign trade increased, the foundation of the Industrial Revolution was strengthened. Cheap energy and good wages led to more demand for technology.8 Inventions managed to substitute energy and capital for labour. For instance, the steam engine raised capital and oil usage so as to raise average worker output. New technologies brought in cheap coal as a fuel while mechanization raised output per unit of labour. The technologies managed to change the world. At the beginning, they were not highly profitable within Britain but this changed with time. Their usefulness relied on the ability to increase the supply of inputs, which were luckily cheaper in Britain. Other countries found it difficult to use the technologies due to cost of energy and need for jobs.9 The industrialization process was however not without its challenges. There was a lot of misery among the workers, unlike in agricultural areas where it was not highly visible. Many young people had however moved from the agricultural areas to seek better living in the industrial centres such as Manchester.10 The demand for labour brought in even women as workers, an aspect that was previously unheard of. For instance, in most of England, women were willing to get into coal mines but it was only in some parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire that young and adult women, together with young children were permitted to get into the mines and do the same underground work that men did, for the same durations of time.11 Long hours of working were the norm, with women as young as 17 getting into the pits at 5am and only leaving at 5pm, even though it was difficult to even afford decent meals.12 The growth of research and development promoted the development of skills. During the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was a lot of growth in manufacturing industries. The subsequent commercial economy raised the overall demand for numeracy, literacy and business skills. Such skills tended to be derived from apprenticeships and education. Because of a high-wage economy, the skills became increasingly on demand. Parents meanwhile had adequate incomes and were ready to invest in education for their young ones, leading to the general population being highly skilled. When applied in industrial development, Britain remained the best place for the Industrial Revolution to thrive. Technological innovations that came up during the revolution were tailored for Britain. They were not profitably applicable in other parts of the world. Engineers in Britain sought to raise efficiency levels and cut down the amounts of inputs.13 The new kinds of thinking occasioned by the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution also had a part in ensuring the advantage of Britain. Through studying the new approaches to thought, craftsmen and scholars were inspired to use new scientific approaches in dealing with issues and apply it especially to technological and mechanical problems. Much longer before that, there had been the incorporation of reason and science into philosophy, and with such intellectual progress, English culture which was quite receptive ended up accepting the financial and mechanical ideas that were raised.14 In addition, transportation in Britain was made easier by canals and rivers. The presence of such physical features helped to make the cost of transport for both raw materials and manufactured goods much lower. It also made movement easier hence Britain’s early industrial advancement. The canals, good roads and passable rivers cut down expenses which would have been incurred elsewhere while opening up remote parts of the nation for trade.15 The government had good policies that encouraged industrialization. There were good policy frameworks relating to business and property ownership, including the promotion of foreign trade and innovation. There were for instance laws relating to patents which enabled inventors to get financial benefits from the work of their hands and minds. There was also the active participation of the government in the promotion of trade through expansion of the navy so that it would help in protection of trade and giving of financial incentives and monopoly rights to business entities so as to facilitate their exploration of new markets.16 The application of coal as a source of energy had a great effect on the industrialization process as from the early 1700’s, coal mines’ importance grew and the coal economy grew in England while Yorkshire and Lancashire were gaining a new reputation as the most important textile centres worldwide. There was the rapid growth of more industrial towns and factories, in addition to the building of roads and canals. The development of steamship and railroad transport also came up, further causing an expansion of markets for the goods that were manufactured in British industries through delivering them faster across distances. There was a great extension of steam power’s use and the application of steel technology, and these were the two main industrial features during the mid 19th century.17 The main industry at the time was the manufacture of cotton textiles, and this had a great impact on the revolution. Inventions such as the flying shuttle by John Kayin 1733, the Spinning Jenny by James Hargreaves's in 1770, the water frame by Richard Arkwright's in 1769, the mule by Samuel Crompton in 1779, made up of a combination of the frame and the Jenny, and the power loom by Edmund Cartwright in 1783 enabled a great increase in industrial output. Because of large amounts of iron and coal near Britain, this combination of factors ensured a rapid growth for the country.18 There are various reasons why the revolution had to start in Britain. These included the massive international trade which was taking place in British colonies, a relatively wealthy population that led to a high demand for industrial products and production skills and the availability of cheap energy in the country. Great technological inventions of the time were as a result of the cheap energy and high wages that were present within Britain. The main industry at the time was the manufacture of cotton textiles, and this had a great impact on the revolution.19 Inventions such as the flying shuttle by John Kayin 1733, the Spinning Jenny by James Hargreaves's in 1770, the water frame by Richard Arkwright's in 1769, the mule by Samuel Crompton in 1779, made up of a combination of the frame and the Jenny, and the power loom by Edmund Cartwright in 1783 enabled a great increase in industrial output. Because of large amounts of iron and coal near Britain, this combination of factors ensured a rapid growth for the country.20 The inventions were able to substitute energy and capital for labour. For instance, the steam engine led to more need for coal and capital in order to raise the average productivity of a worker. Cotton mills on their part used machinery to increase the productivity of labor, leading to greater overall industrial productivity. Technology managed to revolutionize the day to day factory operations, although initially not very profitable to Britain. The success of their application was dependent on the ability of businesses to raise the amount of inputs used, and these were generally cheap in the country. Unlike in Britain, energy costs were generally higher in other countries and wages were lower. The application of technology in such countries was not attractive as it would lead to reduction in employment levels while raising fuel consumption. Britain had a comparative advantage in this perspective.21 In France, the government tried to encourage the use of British technology during the eighteenth century. However, it was not successful because the techniques applied were not economical. For instance, when the ‘Spinning Jenny’, a cotton spinning machine was invented by James Hargreaves during the late 1760’s, John Holker sought to introduce it in France. However, it was only taken up in large and state-funded workshops. By the later years of the 1780s, there were more than 20,000 Jennies in England, against France’s 900. Because the Industrial Revolution’s technologies’ profitability was greatest only in Britain, its government was the only one that was willing to pay for them. The main challenge to the ideas raised by the inventions was the engineering one, involving how to make them work. A response to the challenge needed investment in research and development, which in Britain became an important business practice. There were afterwards venture capitalists who were willing to purely finance the developments, and with introduction of patents, further growth was inevitable. The revolution therefore started in Britain simply because it was where people were justifiably willing to pay for inventions during the eighteenth century.22 Conclusion In conclusion, the industrial revolution was the product of Britain’s reaction to the opportunities and threats occasioned by the global economic developments in the 16th century. As from the late sixteenth century, there was the rise of a continental, European-wide market. Britain was able to gain a leading position in the new arrangement because it had a more competitive textile industry that could not be challenged by others. The competitive strength grew further during the late 17th and 18th centuries, leading to development of an intercontinental market that included India and the Americas. Such expansion was guided by the promotion of mercantilism, acquisition of colonies and strengthening of naval power by Britain. The availability of coal and iron, a large population and therefore internal market for goods, a good supply of labour, transportation networks, financial facilities and investment in technology ensured that the country would be the starting point of the revolution. Bibliography Primary Sources Great Britain, “Women Miners in the English Coal Pits” Parliamentary Papers, Vol XVI, pp. 24, 196, 1842 Napier,W, Life of General Sir Charles James Napier (1857, II, 111–133), 19 January 1840 Secondary Sources Hudson, P, Regions and Industries: A Perspective on the Industrial Revolution in Britain, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993 King, S and Timmins, G, Making Sense of the Industrial Revolution: English Economy and Society 1700-1850, Greenwood Publishing, Westwood, 2001 Mathias, P, The First Industrial Nation: The Economic History of Britain 1700–1914, Routlege, London, 2013 O'Brien, P and Quinault, R, The Industrial Revolution and British Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993 Pierce, A, The Industrial Revolution, Abdo Publishers, Edina, 2005 Read More