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Explore the profound impact of the Industrial Revolution on European life pre-1750, from rural changes to urbanization, social class shifts, and environmental alterations.
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How does your book describe the daily life of the vast majority of Europeans before about 1750?
Why is it called a Revolution? • It transformed the nature of work • It changed the concept of time and humans’ relation to the natural world • It radically altered the institutions of society: schools, transportation, families, social classes, work • It gave rise to social conflicts and philosophies that would profoundly affect world history: communism, fascism, and Social Darwinism • Most of all, it would radically alter the environment and the climate
It gave rise to a new era • “machine era”: fossil fuels replaced wind, wood, and muscle as a fuel source; machines replaced human and animal force • Enormous productivity; industrial production in Britain increased 50 times (5,000%!) between 1750 and 1900 • “The Industrial Age” replaced the Agricultural Age after 12,000 years
This required a lot of energy • 2,000 Kcals recommended daily calorie intake • 3,000 Kcals: daily amount of calories controlled by an individual in the foraging age 200,000-12,000 years ago • 12,000 Kcals: daily amount controlled by a person in the agricultural age 12,000-250 years ago • 230,000 Kcals: daily amount controlled by a person today
Beginnings of industrial development in England in the mid-1700s
Why Britain? 1. political stability 2. economic stability 3. population growth (provided workers) 4. near to the sea, and inland transportation was easy-not many mountains, lots of rivers 5. business-friendly government 6. easy access to fuel and raw materials 7. Britain was wealthy. It had money from colonies and banking structure to fund new businesses
Before the Industrial Revolution, Britain was mostly a nation of small farmers
Then in the 1700s came the “Enclosure Acts”, which threw small farmers off their land
This led to an “Agricultural Revolution” Large farmers could now experiment with new farming methods Major innovation: The seed drill
The seed drill was developed by Jethro Tull • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWubhw8SoBE
Progression of Production • Cottage industries- people working by hand in homes • Mills- small factories powered by water-10,000 mills in Britain on the eve of the Industrial Revolution • Factories powered by steam engines
Inventions in textile production… • Flying Shuttle – John Kay 1733 • Spinning wheel/spinning jenny – James Hargraves 1764 • Water frame for spinning – James Arkwright
The big invention: Steam engine • Once designed (James Watt), no need to place factories near water • Change in location, change in dynamics of mill cities
Coal mine1830 to 1850: British coal production doubledBritain produced nearly 10 times as much coal as the next largest European producer (Belgium)
Importance of Railroads • Provided new jobs • Large amounts of goods could be transported further and faster • More efficient
Changing countryside“…the fine soot or blacks darken the day, give white sheep the color of black sheep, discolor the human saliva, contaminate the air, poison many plants, and corrode monuments and buildings.”
You will receive predetermined # of Starbursts • Play Rock Paper Scissors (one piece at a time) • You MUST keep playing • If you run out of Starbursts, you will need to “borrow” them from the Bank, but you must repay them at a rate of 2 for each one you borrowed.
Changes in the workforce Power loom. Women replace men as weavers Children go to work in factories
Child labor in the 19th Century • With the rise of factories, there were no laws governing work requirements for children • Children under 10 often worked 14 hours a day for a penny an hour.
Children could be more easily disciplined • Could fit in places adults couldn’t • Were paid less.
Child factory workers: scavengers Job description It was the job of the scavenger to pick up loose cotton from under the machinery. Unfortunately, they had to do this while the machine was still working.
Child factory workers: Piecers • Piecers had to lean over the machine and repair any threads that broke during the manufacturing process and thus might cause a production delay. • Piecers walked 20 miles a day!
Social Impact – Urban Slums1800 to 1850, London adds 1.5 million people; Glasgow’s population increases 500%; Leeds goes from 53,000 to 721,000
Social impact: familiesIn oneslum in London in 1847, 461 people lived in just 12 houses
Accidents • Frequent and horrific. • Workers were not compensated and were abandoned immediately. • Hospitals saw thousands of injuries and visitors to England were appalled at the sight of legless and armless people in the streets
Accident Account • (1) Dr. Ward from Manchester was interviewed about the health of textile workers on 25th March, 1819.When I was a surgeon in the infirmary, accidents were very often admitted to the infirmary, through the children's hands and arms having being caught in the machinery; in many instances the muscles, and the skin is stripped down to the bone, and in some instances a finger or two might be lost. Last summer I visited Lever Street School. The number of children at that time in the school, who were employed in factories, was 106. The number of children who had received injuries from the machinery amounted to very nearly one half. There were forty-seven injured in this way.
First hand account of the work of scavengers • (1) John Brown wrote about Robert Blincoe's experiences in a textile mill in an article for The Lion newspaper (15th January 1828) • The task first allocated to Robert Blincoe was to pick up the loose cotton that fell upon the floor. Apparently, nothing could be easier... although he was much terrified by the whirling motion and noise of the machinery. He also disliked the dust and the flue with which he was half suffocated. He soon felt sick, and by constantly stooping, his back ached. Blincoe, therefore, took the liberty to sit down; but this, he soon found, was strictly forbidden in cotton mills. His overlooker, Mr. Smith, told him he must keep on his legs.
And another more violent tale • (2) Frances Trollope, Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy(1840) • A little girl about seven years old, whose job as scavenger, was to collect incessantly from the factory floor, the flying fragments of cotton that might impede the work... while the hissing machinery passed over her, and when this is skillfully done, and the head, body, and the outstretched limbs carefully glued to the floor, the steady moving, but threatening mass, may pass and repass over the dizzy head and trembling body without touching it. But accidents frequently occur; and many are the flaxen locks, rudely torn from infant heads, in the process.
. • The low houses are all huddled together in close and dark lanes and alleys, presenting at first sight an appearance of non-habitation, so dilapidated are the doors and windows:- in every room of the houses, whole families, parents, children and aged grandfathers swarm together
What are the conditions you see in this picture that would contribute to the spread of cholera and other diseases ?
