How the Industrial Revolution changed the world
Learn more about the Industrial Revolution.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Public DomainLearn about Adolf Hitler's public speaking style by listening to him delivering the closing address at the 1934 Nürnberg Rally. Footage of this speech served as the climax of Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph des Willens (1935; Triumph of the Will). This excerpt is translated as “The movement [National Socialism] is a living expression of our people and, therefore, a symbol of eternity. Long live the National Socialist movement! Long live Germany!”
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Auckland Museum; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Learn about the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and its aftereffects.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.On December 16, 1773, American patriots dumped 342 chests of black tea off British boats into Boston Harbor.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Among the many industrial advancements of the British was the use of weaving machines in the growing textile industry.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn more about the various people who contributed to the invention of the lightbulb.
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Public DomainBefore the Industrial Revolution, power came from three main sources: humans, draft animals, and water.
The ingenuity people used in harnessing waterpower can be seen in this medieval-style mill. The waterwheel is turned by a stream and is connected to a shaft that leads into the building. At the other end of the shaft is a gear. The connection of a series of gears translates the power from the stream to a shaft that drives a millstone, which grinds flour from grain.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail James Watt. Etching by J. Scott, 1869, after J. E. Lauder. Wellcome Collection, London (Public domain)Learn about James Watt's steam engine.
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Transcript
The Industrial Revolution was the transformation of economies dominated by agriculture and handicrafts to economies dominated by industry and machine manufacturing.
The process began in 18th-century Britain and slowly spread to other parts of the world.
The Industrial Revolution involved technological changes, including the novel use of materials like iron and steel, the intensified use of energy sources like coal and steam, and the use of new inventions like the spinning jenny; socioeconomic changes, including the introduction of the factory system and a wider distribution of wealth; and cultural changes, including the growth of cities and development of worker’s rights movements.
But that wasn’t all: the period was also marked by the devaluation of skilled work and by unsafe working conditions, long hours, and child labor.
The creation of entirely new industries meant there were little to no standards as to how new workers should be treated, and Arnold Toynbee, the English historian and reformer who popularized the term Industrial Revolution, even called it “a period as disastrous and as terrible as any through which a nation has ever passed.”
The process began in 18th-century Britain and slowly spread to other parts of the world.
The Industrial Revolution involved technological changes, including the novel use of materials like iron and steel, the intensified use of energy sources like coal and steam, and the use of new inventions like the spinning jenny; socioeconomic changes, including the introduction of the factory system and a wider distribution of wealth; and cultural changes, including the growth of cities and development of worker’s rights movements.
But that wasn’t all: the period was also marked by the devaluation of skilled work and by unsafe working conditions, long hours, and child labor.
The creation of entirely new industries meant there were little to no standards as to how new workers should be treated, and Arnold Toynbee, the English historian and reformer who popularized the term Industrial Revolution, even called it “a period as disastrous and as terrible as any through which a nation has ever passed.”
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