The Great Industrial Revolution: achievements and problems (table)

The great industrial revolution, the achievements and problems of which will be considered in the article, began in England (mid-18th century) and gradually embraced the entire world civilization. It led to the mechanization of production, the growth of the economy and the creation of a modern industrial society. The topic is considered in the course of the history of the eighth class and will be useful to both students and parents.

The basic concept

The detailed definition of the concept can be seen in the picture above. For the first time it was applied by the economist from France Adolf Blanki in 1830. The theory was developed by the Marxists and Arnold Toynbee (English historian). The industrial revolution is not an evolutionary process associated with the emergence of new machines on the basis of scientific and technological discoveries (some existed already at the beginning of the eighteenth century), but a massive shift to a new organization of labor-machine production in large factories, which replaced manual labor of manufactories.

In books there are other definitions of this phenomenon, including an industrial revolution. It applies to the initial stage of the revolution, during which they are singled out by three:

• Industrial revolution: the emergence of a new industry - mechanical engineering and the creation of a steam engine (from the middle of the XVIII century - until the first half of the XIX century).
• The organization of on-line production through the use of chemicals and electricity (from the second half of the XIX century - until the beginning of the XX century). For the first time the stage was singled out by David Landis.
• Use in the production of information and communication technologies (from the end of the XX century - to the present). In science about the third stage there is no common opinion.

Industrial revolution (industrial revolution): the basic premises

For the organization of factory production a number of conditions are necessary, the main of which are:

• Availability of labor - people deprived of property.
• The possibility of selling goods (markets).
• The existence of rich people who have monetary savings.

Previously, these conditions were formed in England, where, after the revolution of the 17th century, the bourgeoisie came to power. The acquisition of land from the peasants and the ruin of artisans in acute competition with the manufactories created a huge army of the destitute, in need of earnings. The resettlement of former farmers into cities led to a weakening of subsistence farming. If the villagers themselves made clothes and utensils for themselves, the townspeople had to buy them. The goods were exported also abroad, since sheep breeding was well developed in the country. The profits of the slave trade, the robbery of the colonies and the export of wealth from India accumulated in the hands of the bourgeoisie. The industrial revolution (the transition from manual labor to machine) has become a reality due to a number of serious inventions.

Spinning manufacture

Industrial revolution first touched the cotton industry, the most developed in the country. The stages of its mechanization can be seen in the presented table.

Edmund Cartwright perfected the loom (1785), for weavers could no longer process as much yarn as they produced in factories in England. A 40 times increase in productivity is the best confirmation of the fact that the industrial revolution has come. Achievements and problems (table) will be presented in the article. They are connected with the arisen necessity of the invention of a special motor force, which does not depend on the proximity of water.

Steam engine

The search for a new source of energy was important not only in weaving, but also in the mining industry, where labor was particularly difficult. Already in 1711, Thomas Newcomen, an attempt was made to create a steam pump with a piston and a cylinder inside of which water was injected. This was the first serious attempt to use steam. The author of the improved steam engine in 1763 was James Watt. In 1784, the first double-acting steam machine used at the spinning mill was patented. The introduction of patents made it possible to protect the copyrights of inventors, which contributed to their motivation for new achievements. Without this step, an industrial revolution was unlikely.

Achievements and problems (the table is presented in the picture below) show that the steam engine contributed to an industrial revolution in the development of transport. The appearance of the first steam locomotives on smooth rails is connected with the name of George Stephenson (1814), who personally operated in 1825 with a train of 33 cars on the first railway in the history for citizens. Its 30-km route was connected by Stockton and Darlington. By the middle of the century, all of England was encircled by a network of railways. A little earlier, the American Robert Fulton, who worked in France, tested the first steamship (1803).

Success of mechanical engineering

In the table presented above, one should single out an achievement without which an industrial revolution would be impossible-the transition from manufactory to factory. This is an invention of a lathe, which makes it possible to cut nuts and screws. The mechanic from England, Henry Maudsley, made a breakthrough in the development of industry, in fact creating a new industry - machine building (1798-1800). To provide machine tools to factory workers, machines must be created that produce other machines. Planing and milling machines soon followed (1817, 1818). Machine building contributed to the development of metallurgy and the extraction of coal, which enabled England to flood other countries with cheap industrial goods. For this, it was called the "workshop of the world."

Collective work with the development of machine tools became a necessity. A new type of employee has been formed - performing only one operation and not being able to produce the finished product from start to finish. There was a separation of intellectual forces from physical labor, which led to the emergence of qualified specialists, which formed the basis of the middle class. The industrial revolution is not only a technical aspect, but also serious social consequences.

Social consequences

The main result of the industrial revolution is the creation of an industrial society. It is characterized by:

• Personal freedom of citizens.
• Market relations.
• Commodity production.
• Technical modernization.
• The new structure of society (the predominance of urban residents, class stratification).
• Competition.

There were new technical opportunities (transportation, communication), which increased the quality of people's lives. But in pursuit of profit, the bourgeoisie sought ways to reduce the cost of labor, which led to widespread use of the labor of women and children. The society has split into two opposing classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

Dilapidated peasants and artisans could not get a job because of a lack of jobs. Culprits were considered machines that replaced their work, so the scope was moved against the machines. The workers were smashing the equipment of the factories, which marked the beginning of the class struggle against the exploiters. The growth of banks and the increase in the capital invested in England in the early 19th century led to a low solvency of other countries, which caused a crisis of overproduction in 1825. These are the consequences of the industrial revolution.

Achievements and problems (table): the results of the industrial revolution

The table about industrial revolutions (achievements and problems) will be incomplete without taking into account the foreign policy aspect. For most of the nineteenth century, England's economic superiority was undeniable. It dominated the world trade market, which was rapidly developing. At the first stage, competition was made only by France thanks to the purposeful policy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Uneven economic development of countries can be seen in the picture below.

The second stage of the revolution: the emergence of monopolies

Technical achievements of the second stage are presented above (see picture No. 4). Chief among them: the invention of new communications (telephone, radio, telegraph), an internal combustion engine and a furnace for steelmaking. The emergence of new energy sources is associated with the discovery of oil fields. This allowed K. Benz to first create a car on a gasoline engine (1885). In the service of man came chemistry, thanks to which began to create strong synthetic materials.

For new productions (for the development of oil fields, for example), considerable capital was required. Strengthened the process of their concentration by combining companies, as well as their merging with banks, whose role has significantly increased. There are monopolies - powerful enterprises that control both production and sales of products. They were caused by industrial revolutions. Achievements and problems (the table will be presented below) are connected with the consequences of the emergence of monopoly capitalism. Types of monopolies are shown in the picture.

The consequences of the second stage of the industrial revolution

Uneven development of countries and the emergence of large corporations led to wars for the redivision of the world, the seizure of markets and new sources of raw materials. During the period from 1870 to 1955, twenty serious military conflicts occurred. In the two world wars, a huge number of countries were involved. The creation of international monopolies led to the economic division of the world under the rule of the financial oligarchy. Instead of exporting goods, large corporations began to export capital, creating production in countries with cheap labor. Domestically, monopolies dominate, ruining and absorbing smaller enterprises.

But the industrial revolutions are also much positive. Achievements and problems (the table is presented in the last sub-heading) of the second stage is mastering the results of scientific and technical discoveries, creating a developed infrastructure for society, adapting to new living conditions. Monopoly capitalism is the most developed form of the capitalist mode of production, in which all the contradictions and problems of the bourgeois system are manifested most fully.

Results of the second stage

Industrial revolution: achievements and problems (table)

The industrial revolution, achievements and problems of which are presented in two tables (following the results of the first and second stages), is the greatest achievement of civilization. The transition to factory production was accompanied by technological progress. However, the risk of military and environmental catastrophes requires that the development of modern technologies and the use of new sources of energy are under the control of humanistic social institutions.