The Industrial Revolution: Part 2

Britain was the world’s first industrial nation. From the end of the 18th century, the rate of industrialisation quickened and, in many diverse ways, transformed the lives of millions of people. A person born at the end of the 18th century to the 19th would have seen a mass more changes in his life than his ancestors.

By 1850, Britain had been transformed. Even its physical appearance had changed – Britain’s landscape was blighted by new factory towns and cities with their endless chimneys puffing out black smoke, railway lines, full of activity wove around the land like a spiders web creating towns, polluting the air – they were the flies caught in the wrath of the industrial revolution.  From being one of the smallest, isolated, rural nations in the world, the industrial revolution turned Britain into the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world. The question is:

Was it a Revolution?

When we talk of revolutions, we usually refer to massive changes that take place in a short period of time. Britain was one of the first countries to take on these huge industrial changes. Yet some people still question whether the ‘Industrial revolution’ was actually a revolution. It took place in a fairly short time space for an industrial change so you could call it a revolution however, some people might disagree. In my opinion it was a revolution as a mass of changes took place as industry flourished and it took place in a time space of around about a century.

The industrial revolution was fuelled by many events and occurrences such as: The population boom, the agrarian revolution, the empire and the navy, Transport, Science, technology and medicine advances, Economy and trade and finally the slave trade. All of these events and occurrences fuelled the industrial revolution and kept it going – I will be mentioning all these events and occurrences and many more in the next part of my essay.