IB Paper 2 - 7. Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005)
First and Second Industrial Revolution - Britain 1750-1850 and USA 1780-1945
First and Second Industrial Revolution - Britain 1750-1850 and USA 1780-1945
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The idea of a first and second industrial revolution was popularised by economic historian David Landes in 1966.
The thesis Although the revolutions were characterised by different sources of power and different key industries, the general economic features were very similar and driven by the same logic of industrial capitalism. The major differences between the two revolutions occur in the sociocultural, and political responses of two different continents at two different times. |
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1. Power and technology
First Industrial Revolution |
Second Industrial Revolution |
Water and then steam power. Key industry is textiles but also iron and coal. Britain had the natural resources – water, iron-ore, and coal. Examples – Abraham Darby coal-based smelting (coke) 1709, Boulton and Watt rotary steam engine 1780s and Hargreaves ‘Spinning Jenny’ 1767. In 1750, Britain was producing 5.2 million tons of coal per year and 62.5 million by 1850. In 1840 1357 miles of railway lines in Britain by 1850, 6084 miles. |
Internal combustion engine and electricity. Key industry is automobile, but also steel and electrical appliances. USA has access to resources iron, coal, and oil. Examples – Alexander Graham Bell telephone 1876, Rudolf Diesel’s engine 1897, Ford Motor Company and Wright brother’s airplane both in 1903. 23% of industrial power was generated by electrical motors 1909 to 77% in 1929. 6.7 million cars in the US in 1919, by 1929 it was 23 million. |
Similarities – Innovations happened in liberal, free market, capitalist societies with good access to natural resources.
Scientists and applied scientific innovation was central to both, e.g., James Watt was a manufacturer of scientific instruments in the 1750s, Henry Clifton Sorby a scientist of metallurgy in the 1850s made possible Henry Bessemer’s mass-produced steel from the 1870s. Both were led by a transportation and communication revolution, e.g., Steam locomotive (Stevenson’s Rocket 1830) and telegraph (Cooke and Wheatston 1837), the internal combustion engine (Benz 1886) and the radio (Marconi 1895). The interconnected relationship between power source and innovation is important. Steam power made textile factory possible, and electricity made the moving production line possible.
Differences – Speed of change (see electricity and coal figures opposite), global spread much greater in the SIR and scale. The science of the FIR was pragmatic and amateur. In the SIR science was much more professional (expansion of universities) and systematically applied. This helps explain the increased speed of innovation. Scale. Ford Motor Company factory in Michigan employed 40,000 workers under one roof. Richard Arkwright in 1771 in Cromford, employed 200 workers.
Almost all the key innovations of the FIR were British. The SIR was much more international with innovations coming from all over the Western world Bessemer, Marconi, Benz, etc.
Scientists and applied scientific innovation was central to both, e.g., James Watt was a manufacturer of scientific instruments in the 1750s, Henry Clifton Sorby a scientist of metallurgy in the 1850s made possible Henry Bessemer’s mass-produced steel from the 1870s. Both were led by a transportation and communication revolution, e.g., Steam locomotive (Stevenson’s Rocket 1830) and telegraph (Cooke and Wheatston 1837), the internal combustion engine (Benz 1886) and the radio (Marconi 1895). The interconnected relationship between power source and innovation is important. Steam power made textile factory possible, and electricity made the moving production line possible.
Differences – Speed of change (see electricity and coal figures opposite), global spread much greater in the SIR and scale. The science of the FIR was pragmatic and amateur. In the SIR science was much more professional (expansion of universities) and systematically applied. This helps explain the increased speed of innovation. Scale. Ford Motor Company factory in Michigan employed 40,000 workers under one roof. Richard Arkwright in 1771 in Cromford, employed 200 workers.
Almost all the key innovations of the FIR were British. The SIR was much more international with innovations coming from all over the Western world Bessemer, Marconi, Benz, etc.
2. Economics
First Industrial Revolution |
Second Industrial Revolution |
The beginnings of automated mass production, steam powered factory system replaced domestic system. For example, Richard Arkwright's mill at Cromford in Derbyshire in 1771 saw ‘unskilled’ workers replace highly skilled and apprenticed hand loom weavers. The economy had recessions in post-Napoleonic Wars and in the 1840s. Real GDP per person almost doubled in the 90 years between 1780 and 1870, 70% more than both France and Germany. |
Emergence of large corporations such as Carnegie Steel, Ford Motors, and General Electric and moving production line. The General Electric Company (G.E.), founded in 1892 by Thomas Edison. Frederick Taylor developed the concept of scientific management or Taylorism, e.g., time-and-motion studies which used by Ford. The economy experienced harsh depressions in 1873 and again in 1897. 1890 to 1910 economic growth of above 4%. By 1913, the USA produced one-third of the world’s industrial output–more than the total of Great Britain, France, and Germany combined. |
Similarities – Both increased automation, mass-production, and the division of labour. Impact of success in wars (Napoleonic for UK and WW1 for USA) encouraged unprecedented innovation and economic growth which led both countries to become the preeminent global economic power and to dominate world trade for decades after.
Differences – Consumerism. The Second Industrial Revolution was to some extent driven by the demands of consumers rather than producers and other industries, e.g., Coca Cola founded in 1886 by John Pemberton. Greater disposable income for the working class and expansion of the middle class resulted in increased demand for processed foods, electric appliances and spending on leisure. (See socio-cultural below)
Differences – Consumerism. The Second Industrial Revolution was to some extent driven by the demands of consumers rather than producers and other industries, e.g., Coca Cola founded in 1886 by John Pemberton. Greater disposable income for the working class and expansion of the middle class resulted in increased demand for processed foods, electric appliances and spending on leisure. (See socio-cultural below)
3. Society and culture
First Industrial Revolution |
Second Industrial Revolution |
Urbanisation. By 1850 more than half Britons lived in cities. The First Industrial Revolution was characterised by an internal migration from rural areas notably Ireland, Scottish Highlands and English southwest. The agricultural revolution and enclosure (after 1801 Act) led to many poorer farmers being forced off the land. This was accentuated after the post Napoleonic War recession. In 1830s and 1840s a mining family earned 30 shillings a week, three times as much a farming family. Living and working conditions were largely unregulated and difficult and dangerous. Disease a problem e.g., cholera epidemic 1832. Child labour was common. But pay was significantly higher in the cities then in the countryside. Real wages in Britain rose by 40% between 1780 and 1850. Employers often provided housing, community infrastructure (churches, meeting halls, shops etc.) and even paid in their own currency. These were called company towns and gave significant control over the workers and even imposed their own moral code, e.g., Titus Salt at Saltaire. Railways began to breakdown social isolation. 1841 Thomas Cook the travel agent ran his first rail excursions. 1947 Greenwich Mean Time introduced. Uniform postal service (Penny Black 1840) and gradual improvements in printing and paper production and abolition of Stamp Act 1855 improved information flow. |
Urbanisation. By 1920 more than half Americans lived in cities. The Second Industrial Revolution was characterised by both internal migration (e.g., southern Blacks move to northern cities) and immigration from Europe. Over one-third of the 105 million Americans in 1920 were first- and second-generation immigrants, three quarters in industrial cities. Sharecropping was a way for very poor farmers, especially black, to earn a living from land owned by someone else. After the boom of the war years 1920s poverty forced many off the land. Employment in the manufacturing sector expanded from 2.5 to 10 million workers from 1880 to 1920. Food production, preservation and transportation significantly improved the diet. Company towns were quite common in isolated communities that were dependent on one employer (Mining was typical). At their peak there were more than 2,500 company towns, housing 3% of the US population. Segundo was founded by Colorado Fuel and Iron The widespread access to railways and later cars and the development of telephones and radios led cultural historian Stephen Kern has spoken of the SIN being responsible for “the annihilation of distance.” |
Similarities – Population growth, urbanisation and suburban living made possible by the train (FIR) and car (SIR). Factory discipline, loss of autonomy and wage labour. Alienating working conditions with repetitive work with little or no creativity and no job security. Post- war agricultural recession led to significant inequalities and rural-urban migration. Damage done to environment was common to both. Cities polluted by coal smoke (and later car exhausts) were common. Cities in the SIR were even bigger. The existence of company towns with paternalistic employers who controlled all aspects of people’s lives was common in both. Significant social and economic inequalities developed between wage labourers and the owners of industry.
Differences – Foreign immigrants, native and African Americans in the USA gave the social inequalities a racial dimension that was lacking in Britain. In the UK there was a social class division based on traditional ‘titled’ land ownership hierarchies that was absent in the USA. Early Victorian Britain redefined women’s roles as the domestic ‘angel of house’, for example, the 1842 the Mines Act stopped women working underground in the coal mines. In contrast, by the end of the 19th century new employment opportunities had emerged which predominantly employed women workers e.g., clerical work and teaching. Improving working conditions, better wages, and more leisure time in SIR. This led to emergence of entertainment industry associated with spectator sports, tourism, music halls and later cinema and popular music (gramophone and radio.)
Differences – Foreign immigrants, native and African Americans in the USA gave the social inequalities a racial dimension that was lacking in Britain. In the UK there was a social class division based on traditional ‘titled’ land ownership hierarchies that was absent in the USA. Early Victorian Britain redefined women’s roles as the domestic ‘angel of house’, for example, the 1842 the Mines Act stopped women working underground in the coal mines. In contrast, by the end of the 19th century new employment opportunities had emerged which predominantly employed women workers e.g., clerical work and teaching. Improving working conditions, better wages, and more leisure time in SIR. This led to emergence of entertainment industry associated with spectator sports, tourism, music halls and later cinema and popular music (gramophone and radio.)
4. Politics
First Industrial Revolution |
Second Industrial Revolution |
Initially government intervened very little, e.g., 1802 first law limited children to 12-hour day. Before 1850 no sewers, and trade unions illegal. For example, railway construction was unregulated with different gauges of track and towns with competing stations. The FIR occurred in a pre-democratic society and resistance to industrial change often used traditional, pre-modern methods, e.g., Luddism and Swing riots reflected the earlier rough music traditions. Trade Unions not made legal until 1871 but afterwards became powerful social forces. |
By 1870 state and federal government regulated railroad and telegraph networks, gas, water supply, and sewage systems in cities, electrical power and telephone networks added after 1870. High tariffs protected American industry from foreign competition, land was granted to railway companies to encourage construction, and the army was employed to remove Indians from western land desired by farmers and mining companies. Trade Unions were slow to develop and be recognised. Many of the big conglomerates refused to allow trade unions to organise on site e.g., Ford employed a private security firm at River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan to prevent union organisers. |
Similarities – in both anti-capitalist movements developed that sought to improve the living and working conditions of the working class and to limit the power and autonomy of the employers. In both, trade unions fought for legalisation.
Differences – In the FIR government regulation of industry and urban development was very limited. Although government intervention in the USA in the SIR was less pronounced than in Europe at that time, it was still considerably more powerful than in the early days of the FIR. The FIR was accompanied by the impact of the French Revolution in societies that were not democratic. Opposition to industrialisation was often tied into the campaign for political reform, e.g., Chartism. In the absence of a legal means of resisting industrialism opposition was often violent and revolutionary, e.g., Luddism, Swing Riots, European revolutions 1830 and 1848. In the USA socialist opposition to capitalism never really developed as it did in Europe. The first ‘red scare’ of the 1920s There was not a powerful socialist or Labour party in American politics.
Differences – In the FIR government regulation of industry and urban development was very limited. Although government intervention in the USA in the SIR was less pronounced than in Europe at that time, it was still considerably more powerful than in the early days of the FIR. The FIR was accompanied by the impact of the French Revolution in societies that were not democratic. Opposition to industrialisation was often tied into the campaign for political reform, e.g., Chartism. In the absence of a legal means of resisting industrialism opposition was often violent and revolutionary, e.g., Luddism, Swing Riots, European revolutions 1830 and 1848. In the USA socialist opposition to capitalism never really developed as it did in Europe. The first ‘red scare’ of the 1920s There was not a powerful socialist or Labour party in American politics.
Extension and extras
As IB students know, there is a section of the Paper 2 exam which is concerned with industrialisation. 7. Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005). Students are encouraged to see the links between different phases of the industrial revolution as it rolled out across the world. We have already looked at Britain, Switzerland, Japan and will also examine the Five Year Plans in Stalin's Russia. The IB exam paper often expects students to compare and contrast different regions of the world and the USA is very much in a different region to the UK. Comparing the first (British) industrial revolution to the second (American) is therefore a useful and, I think, interesting activity. In addition, as both these topics are *Matu topics that are more likely to appear in Matu exams, for revision purposes this extra reflection also makes perfect sense. Consider this activity. How does what you learnt in this unit impact on your ability to complete this activity?
Useful articles
History Today
US History Scene
The Khan Academy on the Gilded Age
As IB students know, there is a section of the Paper 2 exam which is concerned with industrialisation. 7. Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005). Students are encouraged to see the links between different phases of the industrial revolution as it rolled out across the world. We have already looked at Britain, Switzerland, Japan and will also examine the Five Year Plans in Stalin's Russia. The IB exam paper often expects students to compare and contrast different regions of the world and the USA is very much in a different region to the UK. Comparing the first (British) industrial revolution to the second (American) is therefore a useful and, I think, interesting activity. In addition, as both these topics are *Matu topics that are more likely to appear in Matu exams, for revision purposes this extra reflection also makes perfect sense. Consider this activity. How does what you learnt in this unit impact on your ability to complete this activity?
Useful articles
History Today
US History Scene
The Khan Academy on the Gilded Age
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