Britain the Pioneer-Why?

Where the Industrial Revolution Started Belgium and France began to industrialize after Napoleonic Wars. The Germans followed in the 1850’s, the United States in the late 1860’s. Italy, Austrian and Canada in the late 1870s and Russian by the end of the century. The industries were characterized by large plants, masses of factory workers, and professional managers. However, the fastest growing was Britain. In fact it was a industrialization pioneer.

Why Britain is the Pioneer of the Industrial Revolution The conditions enabling Britain to pioneer the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century can be divided into two categories, natural and political. On the natural side the country has in abundance three important commodities - water, iron and coal. Water in Britain's numerous hilly districts provides the power to drive mills in the early stages of industrialization; the rivers, amplified from 1761 by a developing network of canals, facilitate inland transport in an age where roads are only rough tracks; and the sea, never far from any part of Britain, makes transport of heavy goods easy between coastal cities.

Lots of Lakes and River in England

Britain Political Advantage during the Revolution Britain supported the entrepreneurs who were the leading powers in the revolution creating new inventions allowed for faster and bigger production of goods. Also the 1707 Union of Scotland and England offered great business opportunities for many.

1707 Act of Union Union agreement between Scotland and England. Allowed for tariff free trade and gave access to both countries to bigger markets to sell their goods. Tariff free trade was a new concept introduced by the two countries which forever revolutionized international trade and is a building block in trade agreements.

Free Trade Free trade is tariff free trade. Tariffs are additional taxes/fee imposed on imported good. Countries impose tariffs on imported good to protect their local economies and promote purchase of locally produced goods. Tariffs increase the price of imported good making them less attractive for consumers. NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement signed between Canada, USA and Mexico is an example of free trade agreement. The biggest free trade agreement to exist to date is the European Union.

Why Would Countries Want to Enter into a Free Trade Agreement? What do you think?

British Inventors Matthew Boulton – Manufacturing (1728-1809) A Birmingham factory owner and engineer whose works and capital facilitated the manufacture of James Watt’s steam engines. James Watt – Steam Engineering (1736-1819) Strong contender for the title of father of the steam age because of his years of hard work in improving the New design created a ‘steam engine’. Richard Arkwright – Textiles (1732-1792) Credited with having invented the ‘water frame’ for spinning cotton, and sometimes known as the father of the industrial revolution. Arkwright opened the world’s first water-powered cotton mill in Derbyshire. Josiah Wedgwood – Ceramics (1730-1795) Wedgwood not only pioneered the industrial production of ceramics, he was an archetypical industrialist of the age: religious dissenter, anti-slavery campaigner and member of the Lunar Society.

British Inventors George Stephenson – Railways (1781-1848) Stephenson invented or developed several aspects of rail transport which are still with us to this day, including flanged wheels, and the standard gauge. Henry Maudslay – Machine Making (1771-1831). Maudslay saw that the new age of machines would require metal to be worked with precision. He pioneered the making of the machines – lathes, drills, planning machines, etc. which were used to make the other machines of the revolution. James Brindley – Canal Engineering (1716-1772) One of the most important engineers of the eighteenth century and a maker of canals, most notably the Bridgewater, started in 1759, which set the template for later canals. Brindley also pioneered many of the techniques that were later used in railway building. John McAdam – Road Building (1756-1836). While Thomas Telford is usually the major celebrity of Industrial Revolution transport infrastructure, it was McAdam’s designs and building techniques that created Britain’s first decent all-weather roads.

Manufacturing in Britain 1976 -1830  cotton manufacturing increased threefold and by 1850 it employed 500,000 people. Coal output increased from 14.5 million tonnes to 45.4 million tones between 1815-1848 Transportation also expanded in 1838: 869 kilometers of railways to 10,655 kilometers by 1850 Britain was transformed from a primary agricultural economy to the world's first industrial nation.

The Secret Britain was able to gain a productive advantage over India in textiles due to it’s numerous inventions and geographic advantages. England wanted to keep its industrialization a secret, so they prohibited anyone who had worked in a factory to leave the country. Meanwhile, Americans offered a significant reward to anyone who could build a cotton-spinning machine in the United States.

Samuel Slater June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835 Samuel Slater, who had been an apprentice in an English cotton factory, disguised himself and came to America. Once here, he reconstructed a cotton-spinning machine from memory. He then proceeded to build a factory of his own. The Industrial Revolution had arrived in the United States. As a result Samuel Slater is know is the “Father of American Industrial Revolution”

To take for an example…the trade of pin-maker…In the way in which these business is now carried on…it is divided into a number of branches of which the greatest part of likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wires, another straights it, a thirds cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations…And the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into a bout eighteen distinct operations…I have seen a manufactory…where ten men only were employed. And could make upwards of frothy eight thousand pins in a day…But if they had all wrought independently and without any of them having been educated in this particular business they could not each of them have made twenty – Adam Smith

Class Discussion Read individually, make point form answers to the questions. Share with the class your findings. What did you understand from the quote? What important points did it bring? What is the significance of this quote to industrial revolution?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81xBNudz7O8