
When did the Second Industrial Revolution start and end?
The second Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century and took place in Britain, continental Europe, North America, and Japan. Later in the 20th century, the second Industrial Revolution spread to other parts of the world. Read more below: The first Industrial Revolution.
Where did the Industrial Revolution take place in Europe?
The Industrial Revolution in Continental Europe came later than in Great Britain. It started in Belgium and France, then spread to the German states by the middle of the 19th century. In many industries, this involved the application of technology developed in Britain in new places.
What caused the Industrial Revolution in Europe?
I want to go there! The Industrial Revolution in Europe The industrial revolution in Europe didn't happen overnight but only spread over the continent very gradually. One of the triggers was the unusually high growth in the population which set in around the middle of the 18th century and produced a gigantic reservoir of workers.
What was the Industrial Revolution?
The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development in the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones.

When was the Industrial Revolution in Europe?
The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies—especially in Europe and North America—into industrialized, urban ones.
When did the Industrial Revolution end and why?
The history of the Industrial Revolution began in 1760 and ended at the start of WW1 in 1914. It would be a period filled with enormous technological, socioeconomic and geopolitical change around the world.
Where did the Industrial Revolution go after Europe?
Rebecca Beatrice Brooks March 25, 2018 September 13, 2020 Comments Off. The industrial revolution began in Britain and then slowly spread across the world over the span of a few centuries. The first regions of the world to be industrialized were Western Europe, then North America, followed by Eastern Europe and Asia.
How long did the Industrial Revolution end?
The Industrial Revolution was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. Its start and end are widely debated by scholars, but the period generally spanned from about 1760 to 1840.
What ended the Industrial Revolution?
1760 – 1840Industrial Revolution / Period
What was a result of the Industrial Revolution in Europe?
The Industrial Revolution transformed economies that had been based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechanized manufacturing, and the factory system. New machines, new power sources, and new ways of organizing work made existing industries more productive and efficient.
Why did the Industrial Revolution spread to the rest of Europe after 1815?
The domestic and foreign demand for clothes was growing and this could be met by the textile industry which had now mechanized its production and which was now even more efficient. The goods had a ready market in Britain's many overseas colonies.
Are we in the third Industrial Revolution?
Right now, we are going through the fourth industrial revolution, aka Industry 4.0.
What came after the Industrial Revolution?
It was followed by the age of science and mass production, and then the digital revolution.
What are the 5 industrial revolutions?
Five Industrial RevolutionsTools2,000,000B.C.Metallurgy3600B.C.Steam power1764Mass production1908Automation1946
When was the 2nd Industrial Revolution?
The second Industrial Revolution is usually dated between 1870 and 1914, although a number of its char- acteristic events can be dated to the 1850s. It is, however, clear that the rapid rate of pathbreaking inventions (macroinventions) slowed down after 1825, and picked up steam again in the last third of the century.
What is the third Industrial Revolution?
3rd Industrial Revolution: The Third Industrial Revolution, or Digital Revolution, began in the late 1900s and is characterized by the spread of automation and digitization through the use of electronics and computers, the invention of the Internet, and the discovery of nuclear energy.
How and why did the Industrial Revolution spread to the rest of Europe after 1815?
The domestic and foreign demand for clothes was growing and this could be met by the textile industry which had now mechanized its production and which was now even more efficient. The goods had a ready market in Britain's many overseas colonies.
What came after the Industrial Revolution?
It was followed by the age of science and mass production, and then the digital revolution.
What are the 4 stages of Industrial Revolution?
The 4 Industrial RevolutionsThe first Industrial Revolution 1765. The first industrial revolution followed the proto-industrialization period. ... The second Industrial Revolution 1870. ... The Third Industrial Revolution 1969. ... Industry 4.0.
When and where did the Industrial Revolution begin why did it begin there?
The first Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-to-late 1700s when innovation led to goods being produced in large quantities due to machine manufacturing.
Where and when did the Industrial Revolution take place?
Historians conventionally divide the Industrial Revolution into two approximately consecutive parts. What is called the first Industrial Revolution...
How did the Industrial Revolution change economies?
The Industrial Revolution transformed economies that had been based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, me...
How did the Industrial Revolution change society?
The Industrial Revolution increased the overall amount of wealth and distributed it more widely than had been the case in earlier centuries, helpin...
What were some important inventions of the Industrial Revolution?
Important inventions of the Industrial Revolution included the steam engine, used to power steam locomotives, steamboats, steamships, and machines...
Who were some important inventors of the Industrial Revolution?
Important inventors of the Industrial Revolution included James Watt, who greatly improved the steam engine; Richard Trevithick and George Stephens...
Where did the Industrial Revolution take place?
Governments and private entrepreneurs worked hard to imitate British technologies after 1820, by which time an intense industrial revolution was taking shape in many parts of western Europe, particularly in coal-rich regions such as Belgium, northern France, and the Ruhr area of Germany. German pig iron production, a mere 40,000 tons in 1825, ...
What were the major economic changes in Europe during the late 18th century?
Major economic change was spurred by western Europe’s tremendous population growth during the late 18th century, extending well into the 19th century itself. Between 1750 and 1800, the populations of major countries increased between 50 and 100 percent, chiefly as a result of the use of new food crops (such as the potato) and a temporary decline in epidemic disease. Population growth of this magnitude compelled change. Peasant and artisanal children found their paths to inheritance blocked by sheer numbers and thus had to seek new forms of paying labour. Families of businessmen and landlords also had to innovate to take care of unexpectedly large surviving broods. These pressures occurred in a society already attuned to market transactions, possessed of an active merchant class, and blessed with considerable capital and access to overseas markets as a result of existing dominance in world trade.
What was the result of urbanization?
Urbanization was a vital result of growing commercialization and new industrial technology. Factory centres such as Manchester grew from villages into cities of hundreds of thousands in a few short decades. The percentage of the total population located in cities expanded steadily, and big cities tended to displace more scattered centres in western Europe’s urban map. Rapid city growth produced new hardships, for housing stock and sanitary facilities could not keep pace, though innovation responded, if slowly. Gas lighting improved street conditions in the better neighbourhoods from the 1830s onward, and sanitary reformers pressed for underground sewage systems at about this time. For the better-off, rapid suburban growth allowed some escape from the worst urban miseries.
What was the development of modern Europe between the 1780s and 1849?
Undergirding the development of modern Europe between the 1780s and 1849 was an unprecedented economic transformation that embraced the first stages of the great Industrial Revolution and a still more general expansion of commercial activity. Articulate Europeans were initially more impressed by the screaming political news generated by ...
How did gas lighting affect the lives of the people of the 1830s?
Gas lighting improved street conditions in the better neighbourhoods from the 1830s onward, and sanitary reformers pressed for underground sewage systems at about this time. For the better-off, rapid suburban growth allowed some escape from the worst urban miseries. Rural life changed less dramatically.
How did craft work change Europe?
Craft work in the cities began to shift toward production for distant markets, which encouraged artisan-owners to treat their journeymen less as fellow workers and more as wage labourers. Europe’s social structure changed toward a basic division, both rural and urban, between owners and nonowners.
When did the countryside start to use technology?
A full-scale technological revolution in the countryside occurred only after the 1850s. Nevertheless, factory-made tools spread widely even before this time, as scythes replaced sickles for harvesting, allowing a substantial improvement in productivity.
How long did the Industrial Revolution last?
What is called the first Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-18th century to about 1830 and was mostly confined to Britain. The second Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century ...
When was the Industrial Revolution?
The first Industrial Revolution. In the period 1760 to 1830 the Industrial Revolution was largely confined to Britain. Aware of their head start, the British forbade the export of machinery, skilled workers, and manufacturing techniques.
How did the Industrial Revolution affect the middle class?
The Industrial Revolution increased the overall amount of wealth and distributed it more widely than had been the case in earlier centuries, helping to enlarge the middle class. However, the replacement of the domestic system of industrial production, in which independent craftspersons worked in or near their homes, with the factory system and mass production consigned large numbers of people, including women and children, to long hours of tedious and often dangerous work at subsistence wages. Their miserable conditions gave rise to the trade union movement in the mid-19th century.
What were the most important inventions of the Industrial Revolution?
Important inventions of the Industrial Revolution included the steam engine, used to power steam locomotives, steamboats, steamships, and machines in factories; electric generators and electric motors; the incandescent lamp (light bulb); the telegraph and telephone; and the internal-combustion engine and automobile, whose mass production was perfected by Henry Ford in the early 20th century.
What were the changes in nonindustrial society?
There were also many new developments in nonindustrial spheres, including the following: (1) agricultural improvements that made possible the provision of food for a larger nonagricultural population, (2) economic changes that resulted in a wider distribution of wealth, the decline of land as a source of wealth in the face of rising industrial production, and increased international trade, (3) political changes reflecting the shift in economic power, as well as new state policies corresponding to the needs of an industrialized society, (4) sweeping social changes, including the growth of cities, the development of working-class movements, and the emergence of new patterns of authority, and (5) cultural transformations of a broad order . Workers acquired new and distinctive skills, and their relation to their tasks shifted; instead of being craftsmen working with hand tools, they became machine operators, subject to factory discipline. Finally, there was a psychological change: confidence in the ability to use resources and to master nature was heightened.
How did the Industrial Revolution change the economy?
The Industrial Revolution transformed economies that had been based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechan ized manufacturing, and the factory system . New machines, new power sources, and new ways of organizing work made existing industries more productive and efficient.
Why is the Industrial Revolution convenient?
It is convenient because history requires division into periods for purposes of understanding and instruction and because there were sufficient innovations at the turn of the 18th and 19th… .
What was the Industrial Revolution?
The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development in the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones.
How did the Industrial Revolution affect Britain?
Though many people in Britain had begun moving to the cities from rural areas before the Industrial Revolution, this process accelerated dramatically with industrialization, as the rise of large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over the span of decades. This rapid urbanization brought significant challenges, as overcrowded cities suffered from pollution, inadequate sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water.
How did industrialization affect the middle class?
Meanwhile, even as industrialization increased economic output overall and improved the standard of living for the middle and upper classes, poor and working class people continued to struggle. The mechanization of labor created by technological innovation had made working in factories increasingly tedious (and sometimes dangerous), and many workers were forced to work long hours for pitifully low wages. Such dramatic changes fueled opposition to industrialization, including the “ Luddites ,” known for their violent resistance to changes in Britain’s textile industry.
What were the major advances in communication during the Industrial Revolution?
The latter part of the Industrial Revolution also saw key advances in communication methods, as people increasingly saw the need to communicate efficiently over long distances. In 1837, British inventors William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system, even as Samuel Morse and other inventors worked on their own versions in the United States. Cooke and Wheatstone’s system would be used for railroad signalling, as the speed of the new trains had created a need for more sophisticated means of communication.
What was the British textile industry before the Industrial Revolution?
But prior to the Industrial Revolution, the British textile business was a true “cottage industry,” with the work performed in small workshops or even homes by individual spinners, weavers and dyers.
Why did Britain make more mechanized factories?
More efficient, mechanized production meant Britain’s new textile factories could meet the growing demand for cloth both at home and abroad, where the nation’s many overseas colonies provided a captive market for its goods. In addition to textiles, the British iron industry also adopted new innovations.
Why did Britain expand its iron and steel industry?
This method was both cheaper and produced higher-quality material, enabling Britain’s iron and steel production to expand in response to demand created by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the later growth of the railroad industry.
What was the industrial revolution in Europe?
One of the triggers was the unusually high growth in the population which set in around the middle of the 18th century and produced a gigantic reservoir of workers.
When did the industrial age start in the Netherlands?
The industrial age in the Netherlands only really began around 1860 . The country was not only covered in waterways it possessed very little natural resources. These two factors made it very difficult to build up heavy industry and construct railway connections.
How many hours did the workers work?
Working hours were around 14 hours a day and the workers were slaves to the rhythm of the machines. Women were expected to work just as hard for less pay, especially in the collieries and textile factories. Children too were unscrupulously exploited. The workers lived in constant fear of unemployment and hunger.
What were the main features of the Industrial Revolution?
The industrial revolution in Europe had very different features. Belgium, one of the first industrialised countries, was able to draw on rich resources of iron ore and coal and a strong tradition of textile manufacturing. For this reason industrial development ran along similar lines to that in Great Britain.
What happened at the same time as the iron industry broke out?
As soon as people discovered how to turn coal into coke iron manufacturers had excellent, almost unlimited reserves of fuel at their disposal with which to process iron ore.
Why did Germany develop new methods of production so late?
In Germany new methods of production developed very late because the country was divided up into so many small states. Nevertheless after the customs union of 1834 productive heavy industries developed in the mining regions of upper Silesia, in the Saarland and the Ruhrgebiet.
What were the advantages of the United Kingdom?
In this situation Great Britain enjoyed two important advantages: an extremely productive and wealthy agricultural system, and an astonishing number of creative inventors. This was why the United Kingdom dictated the rhythm of progress to the rest of Europe from 1750 onwards for the next century or so.
When did the Industrial Revolution start?
What is the Industrial Revolution? The Industrial Revolution started around 1760 and ended between 1820 and 1840. It originally began in Europe and slowly shifted over to the United States in the early 1800s. The latter half of the 18 th century saw massive changes in the production of goods. Manufacturers were turning away from hand production ...
How did the Industrial Revolution affect society?
It would be challenging to find many aspects of life that were not altered by the first industrialization period on the economy, production, and people.
What was the beginning of the per capita economy?
per capita began to grow with the industrial revolution, alongside the development of the modern capitalist economy. It was the beginning of consistent GDP growth for the next century. Countries that capitalized on industrialization started to rely less on imports and became more self-sufficient.
What were the downsides of the Industrial Revolution?
As a result of the extremely rapid changes in production, cities and governments saw new problems arise . Inner-city pollution saw an abrupt rise from factories and increased population as more workers moved to the cities .
How did economies of scale affect the economy?
Through economies of scale, businesses streamlined their processes and created more products at reduced costs. It increased employment opportunities and the wages associated with them. Workers flocked to cities to find work at the factories being set up, which, in the beginning, often paid more than farming.
Why did factories increase the demand for housing in cities?
It also increased the demand for housing in cities, subsequently improving the overall city layout, planning, and education systems. Due to increased education and the need for more advanced technologies, new inventions skyrocketed. Such a mindset ultimately continued to accelerate the revolution and all of its beneficiaries.
Why did the working conditions in factories decrease?
Additionally, working conditions in factories decreased as companies tried to cut costs and become more profitable to stay ahead of their competitors. Child labor and employee health issues arose. The governments ended up implementing labor, pollution, and other regulations to ensure the safety of its people and the economy.
When did the second industrial revolution start?
The second industrial revolution lasted until WWI started in 1914.
Who started the Industrial Revolution?
In the United States, the industrial revolution lagged after Great Britain; the transition from agricultural to industrial society in the US started with first industrial mill opened by Samuel Slater in 1790.
What was the first invention of the Industrial Revolution?
About 1764 James Hargreaves conceives the idea for a yarn-spinning machine called the spinning jenny (which he patents in 1770). Another influential innovation is James Watt ’s steam engine.
Who brought the Industrial Revolution to Belgium?
Two Englishmen, William and John Cockerill, bring the Industrial Revolution to Belgium by developing machine shops at Liège. Belgium will become the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically.
What happened in 1811?
1811–13. Social opposition to industrialization begins to arise. Luddites, people opposed to industrialization, attack factories in a number of towns across Great Britain, destroying textile machinery, which is displacing them.
When did the Transcontinental Railroad start?
The United States begins building a transcontinental railroad in 1862 to connect the East Coast with the West Coast. Work progresses from both sides of the country, meeting at Promontory, Utah, in 1869.
When did the Industrial Revolution end?
The First Industrial Revolution, which ended in the middle of the 19th century, was punctuated by a slowdown in important inventions before the Second Industrial Revolution in 1870.
What was the second industrial revolution?
The Second Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid industrial development, primarily in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, but also in France, the Low Countries, Italy and Japan. It followed on from the First Industrial Revolution that began in Britain in the late 18th century that then spread throughout Western Europe. While the First Revolution was driven by limited use of steam engines, interchangeable parts and mass production, and was largely water-powered (especially in the United States), the Second was characterized by the build-out of railroads, large-scale iron and steel production, widespread use of machinery in manufacturing, greatly increased use of steam power, widespread use of the telegraph, use of petroleum and the beginning of electrification. It also was the period during which modern organizational methods for operating large scale businesses over vast areas came into use.
What was the Gilded Age based on?
The Gilded Age in America was based on heavy industry such as factories, railroads and coal mining. The iconic event was the opening of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, providing six-day service between the East Coast and San Francisco.
What was the most important thing in agriculture in 1870?
By 1870 the work done by steam engines exceeded that done by animal and human power. Horses and mules remained important in agriculture until the development of the internal combustion tractor near the end of the Second Industrial Revolution.
How did railroads and coal contribute to the Second Industrial Revolution?
Railroads allowed cheap transportation of materials and products, which in turn led to cheap rails to build more roads. Railroads also benefited from cheap coal for their steam locomotives. This synergy led to the laying of 75,000 miles of track in the U.S. in the 1880s, the largest amount anywhere in world history.
What was the most important engineering achievement of the 20th century?
Electrification allowed the final major developments in manufacturing methods of the Second Industrial Revolution, namely the assembly line and mass production. Electrification was called "the most important engineering achievement of the 20th century" by the National Academy of Engineering.
What was the radical phase of the Revolution?
The radical phase of the revolution brought increasing military success to revolutionary troops in effectively reorganized armies, which conquered parts of the Low Countries and Germany and carried revolutionary laws in their wake. The revolution was beginning to become a European phenomenon.
When did Napoleon change the rule of Italy?
Jacobin rule was replaced by a more moderate consolidation after 1795, during which, however, military expansion continued in several directions, notably in parts of Italy. The needs of war, along with recurrent domestic unrest, prompted a final revolutionary regime change, in 1799, that brought General Napoleon Bonaparte to power.
What was the most significant political event in Western Europe?
The central event throughout much of the Continent was the French Revolution (1789–99) and its aftermath. This was followed by a concerted effort at political reaction and a renewed series of revolutions from 1820 through 1848.
What was the French Revolution?
The French Revolution. Revolution exploded in France in the summer of 1789, after many decades of ideological ferment, political decline, and social unrest. Ideologically, thinkers of the Enlightenment urged that governments should promote the greatest good of all people, not the narrow interests of a particular elite.
What were the economic grievances associated with early industrialization?
Economic grievances associated with early industrialization fed into later revolutions, particularly the outbursts in 1848, but the newest social classes were not prime bearers of the revolutionary message.
When did Louis XVI call the Estates General?
These various discontents came to a head when King Louis XVI called the Estates-General in 1789 to consider new taxes. This body had not met since 1614, and its calling released all the pressures building during recent decades, exacerbated by economic hardships resulting from bad harvests in 1787–88.

England: Birthplace of The Industrial Revolution
Impact of Steam Power
- An icon of the Industrial Revolution broke onto the scene in the early 1700s, when Thomas Newcomen designed the prototype for the first modern steam engine. Called the “atmospheric steam engine,” Newcomen’s invention was originally applied to power the machines used to pump water out of mine shafts. In the 1760s, Scottish engineer James Watt began ...
Transportation During The Industrial Revolution
- Britain’s road network, which had been relatively primitive prior to industrialization, soon saw substantial improvements, and more than 2,000 miles of canals were in use across Britain by 1815. In the early 1800s, Richard Trevithick debuted a steam-powered locomotive, and in 1830 similar locomotives started transporting freight (and passengers) between the industrial hubs of …
Communication and Banking in The Industrial Revolution
- The latter part of the Industrial Revolution also saw key advances in communication methods, as people increasingly saw the need to communicate efficiently over long distances. In 1837, British inventors William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system, even as Samuel Morseand other inventors worked on their own versions in the United S…
Working Conditions
- Though many people in Britain had begun moving to the cities from rural areas before the Industrial Revolution, this process accelerated dramatically with industrialization, as the rise of large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over the span of decades. This rapid urbanization brought significant challenges, as overcrowded cities suffered from pollution, inade…
The Industrial Revolution in The United States
- The beginning of industrialization in the United States is usually pegged to the opening of a textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1793 by the recent English immigrant Samuel Slater. Slater had worked at one of the mills opened by Richard Arkwright (inventor of the water frame) mills, and despite laws prohibiting the emigration of textile workers, he brought Arkwright’s designs acr…
Sources
- Robert C. Allen, The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 Claire Hopley, “A History of the British Cotton Industry.” British Heritage Travel, July 29, 2006 William Rosen, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention. New York: Random House, 2010 Gavin Weightman, The Industrial Revolutionaries: T…