US-Britain industrial power - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION The Britain remained evidently predominant in the nineteenth century among the world powers as consequence of tremendous economic and industrial expansion in the eighteenth century. The British firms had expanded and export trade boomed vigorously in the industrial revolution. The British dominance flourished pre-eminently because of its industrial firms and rapidly growing export trade. However the hegemonic scenario changed after the mid nineteenth century, when the Britain dominance started to tumble and the United States emerged as the new global industrial power at the end of the nineteenth century. This paper investigates into the reasons that enabled the United States to replace the Britain as the world's leading industrial power after the time when Britain used to dominate the world with its industrial strength. Evidently, there happened to be several causes underlying the sharp decline in the British dominance among all the powerful countries in the world. In the same manner, there were various reasons that served to be the supporting elements for the economy and industry of United States to supersede the position of Britain. THE CAUSES OF BRITISH DOWNFALL Apparently there happened to be abounding reasons behind the deterioration of British industrial and economic power in the late nineteenth century. Britain's economic diminution was in fact a consequence of the decline in the country's industrial potency that happened to be the backbone of the country's growth in the eighteenth century. However, this industrial failure did not erupt out of nothing, rather it too was an aftermath of several factors and events responsible for undermining the British industrial ascendance in the world. One of the pre-eminent causes of the failure of British industrial power was also the country's technical training and education system. The country, due to its highly advanced technical training system, produced and accumulated a large number of trained and high calibre workers for some industries. This turned out to be negative for various industrial sectors in the long run, as the country immensely began to lose unskilled workers that could perform duties on machines in the factory. This problem was faced by most of the industries in Britain, causing them to run high on costs and consequently low on profits. The British industry also lacked the most substantial ingredient i.e., machine tools required for technological excogitation in the manufacturing sector of the industry. Britain remained far behind on this ground that could have otherwise backed the deteriorating industrial strength of the country. The machine tool industry had been flourishing in the early period of British industrial development but the growth in this industry came to a gradual halt in the early twentieth century. This backwardness marked the inability of British industry to cope with the technological prerequisites of that era and the country seriously lacked behind on the technological edge. Another significant factors underlying the fall of British dominance was also that it seriously lagged on the ground of export in the late nineteenth century as compared to United States. The growth in export witnessed in the earlier decades started to tumble down and imports, on the contrary, took on a rising trend. At this time, most prominently, the United States was advancing in export trade through technological advancement and thus started to captivate even the portions of markets in Britain. This had a severe impact on the British economy and thus it started to lose dominance over other countries. This happened primarily because the Britain failed to advance in terms of new technology and as a result, the country's export trade started to decline. Free trade policies inflicted serious harms to the British industrial expansion. The country perpetually adopted the free trade policy enhancing the free flow of imported goods into the market without any restriction. This resulted in an outbreak of international competition in the local market causing the British industries to weaken even further. The British industries, on the other hand, were restricted to export their products to other countries due to imposition of tariffs and import trade restrictions. The Britain depended on staple industries that required heavy imports and thus the flow of imports continued to rise in the country causing severe recoils to its economic growth. The growth in the size of British home market posed another issue for the precipitation of British industrial potency. The size of home market was small compared to other countries that failed to arouse manufacturing capacity within the local industries in Britain. Hence, the country remained far in manufacturing sector of the industry. The country's home market remained flooded with imported products, and thus the industry failed to expand because of free trade policies, lack of technological innovation and the local manufacturing capacity. Research and development is an important aspect of innovation and excogitation, the significance of which the British industry severely overlooked. Lack of research and development backed up the failure of British industry as compared to that of other countries in the world. Orthodox management measures and techniques also proved to be detrimental for the industrial growth of the country. The British entrepreneurs and managers failed to synchronise man and machine efforts to ameliorate the industrial position of the country. For this reason only, the decline of British industrial dominance is also referred to be a consequence of management and entrepreneurial failure in the country. UNITED STATES' EMERGENCE AS THE LEADING INDUSTRIAL POWER Having understood the forces that played their roles in the decline of British industry in the late nineteenth century, it is also important to dig into those specific traits present in American industry that led the United States to replace Britain as the world's leading industrial power in the late nineteenth century. The size of the American market is one of the most important factors that nurtured its industrial growth. The home market of United States was large and significant paving ways for production of various goods at a local scale. This further enhanced the industrial potency of United States handing it a double-edged sword; on one side, the home market enabled the industries to produce on their own and refrain from imports, and on the other side, the American local industries strengthened enough to promote exports into other parts of the world, specifically Britain. The United States further fostered its local industries with the help of tariff and import trade restrictions so as to enhance mass production in the country. Tariff and trade policies played a great role in the development of the industrial potency in the United States, as it brought down imports and heightened local production capacity. As a result of the effective tariff policies, the demand for restricted commodities had to be fulfilled by the local industries in America. Thus the local industries spotted the market to flourish without any fears of competition and performed to the hilt to satisfy the local demand, which had a very positive impact on the enhancement of US industrial potential. In this way, the industrial production of United States swiftly rose to a level entirely unmatched by any other industrial nations of the world, viz. Britain, France and Germany, even if they all were assembled. The American technological advancement can be referred to as the significant aspect of its industrial potency. The country through effective policies allowed full potential to the industries to flourish and advance in technological grounds so as to serve a huge market with all possible means. The production on such a mass level required technology that could replace the human efforts or minimize the necessity of skilled labour, and thus the American industries made it possible through technological progression. This rapid technological expedition undertaken by the American industry paved way for introduction and development of new industries altogether, such as, typewriters, sewing machines and finally the automobiles. The American goods made way to British home market through exports that boosted the manufacturing capacity of American industry, while aggravating the situation in the British local industry. The industrial products of United States were more enhanced and ameliorated in terms of technology and expertise. The Britain had adopted a policy of free trade and thus no import of goods whatsoever was ever restricted in the country. It further weakened the backbone of the British local industries, while the US local industries continued to become formidable in the world through increased manufacturing capability and enhanced exports. The industries in United States had another advantage over other countries with regard to size. Even though the imports were banned by the government's policies, yet the industry had the potential to serve a significantly large market, almost half a continent. The American industry therefore remained secured and took full advantage of the Britain's free trade policy. United States was bestowed with abundant natural resources that also played their role in the industrial expansion of the country. The American industries had enormous natural resources (such as coal, oil and metal ores) at their disposal free of cost. They did not have to pay huge amounts on the import of natural resources to meet the industrial demand. The firms had to meet the vast and ever increasing demand from local market as well as the international markets through exports, which was sufficed by the squandered utilisation of those naturally gifted resources. The economy of United States was growing at a rapid rate at the end of nineteenth century, which led the incomes of the Americans to rise more than that of the British. This further had its impact on the ever-increasing demand of consumers for more goods. This rising demand due to economic growth further strengthened the industrial potency of United States. Machine tools industry, being a considerable facet of industrial growth was much advanced in United States than the Britain. American machine tools industry had beaten the country that was considered an undisputed leader in same field and that had remained in that position for several decades. The machine tools industry supported and enriched other industries in United States, and as a consequence the volume and production of manufacturing industries further increased in the country. The American industries also benefited from improved research techniques and management proficiencies. The research and development was strengthened and utilised to enhance the industrial products and introduce new industries. The implementation of effective research techniques was reflected in the rapid development of technology in industrial sector of the country's economy, as technological innovation and invention is entirely impossible without sophisticated research in the field. The business and industrial entrepreneurs employed effective management techniques and integrated them to achieve best performance results. CONCLUSION The Great Britain remained potent over all the countries in world as an unquestioned industrial power during the eighteenth century up until the mid of nineteenth century when the country's economic and industrial mightiness started to tumble against its other rival nations. The country neglected attention in some of the very important areas of industrial growth and expansion that are discussed above and that led to a rapid decline of the country's industrial dominance in the world. There happened to be several factors that served as the roots for this decline. While many of them appeared as a consequence of Britain's negligence, others resulted due to natural circumstances. When the Britain's industrial strength was on the way to severe decline and downfall, the United States was gradually emerging as the most powerful industrial nation of the world during the nineteenth century and ultimately replaced the Britain as the world's leading industrial nation by the end of the century. The country's rapid industrial expansion and remarkable growth was an outcome of numerous events and elements. In the similar vein as British decline, many of the factors underlying the success of the United States emerged as the calibre of nation, while others took place naturally. Hence, there was no single reason for the emergence of United States as the dominant industrial country in the world. The Britain lost its position because it was not able to match the advancement set about by the United States. Read More