Throughout the nineteenth century, there were many changes occurring within Europe that ultimately led to a period that is referred to as the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization was a period of fundamental patterns of production, manufacturing, and work being transformed; changing the world from an agricultural world to one flourishing with manufacturing. Ultimately, there were 5 factors that promoted industrial growth. These 5 factors were coal, an engineering culture of constant, competitive innovation, financial innovations that made capital easily available, agricultural productivity, and state support (Grafton and Bell, 603 and 604). Without these factors, industrialization would not be as advanced as it is today. Industrialization affected different parts of Europe at many different times and rates. For example, the Ruhr region of Germany was filled with hundreds of mills and foundries producing textiles, while southern France remained heavily agricultural during these years (Grafton and Bell, 609). With this in mind, industrialization ultimately began in Great Britain due to the fact that its rich seams of coal were more easily exploitable. Financial innovation also originated from Great Britain because between 1836 and 1845, stock exchanges were founded in most major British provisional cities (Grafton and Bell, 604). France and Germany industrialized as well but at a slower rate than Great Britain did. Throughout France, the people conquered and transformed craft production so they could mass produce. Germany, a latecomer to industrialization, concentrated on heavy industry which led them to industrialization. With innovation, just like any other change, there also comes consequences. There were primarily three main types of consequences coming from industrialization and they were economic, social, and political consequences. Industrialization’s main consequences that were economic, social, and political were innovations that led to a prosperous economy, harsh working conditions of the factory workers and child labor, and the spread of political parties.
Industrialization throughout Europe made the country flourish due to its many inventions that made manufacturing faster and more efficient. Up until the Industrial Revolution, the major forms of energy people relied on were their own muscle power, the muscle power of animals, wind, and burning wood. When the revolution finally came about humans replaced their sources of energy with new power systems like power water and steam. One of the most known inventions, the invention that ultimately sparked the Industrial Revolution, was the steam engine. The steam engine, invented in 1698 by Thomas Newcomen, is what ultimately led to new means of transportation in today’s society. The steam engine made railroads and steamships possible, which resulted in faster and denser patterns of transportation and communication. For example, in 1840 some eighty steamships were being used full-time to bring Irish cattle and dairy products to England (Grafton and Bell, 607). Another invention that was important during the revolution was the steam loom created by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 England. The steam loom allowed for greater quantities of cloth to be made at a faster pace than how cloth was made previously. It also weaved the cloth more uniform. In Richard Guest, The Steam Loom Guest states, “The best hand Weavers seldom produce a piece of uniform evenness.” He also states, “In Steam Looms, the lathe gives a steady, certain blow, and when once regulated by the engineer, moves with the greatest precision from the beginning to the end of the piece.” The Industrial Revolution boosted the economy due to the production of materials increasing dramatically and has ultimately led to the important innovations and discoveries we have even to this day.
While the inventions throughout Europe were positive consequences of the Industrial Revolution, there were also negative consequences such as harsh working conditions for the factory workers and child labor. In Europe during this time, work itself became divorced from natural rhythms, with factories sometimes operating twenty-four hours a day to achieve greater efficiency (Grafton and Bell, 608). In The Sadler Committee, Elizabeth Bentley talks about her experience working in the factories. She said she began working at six years old where she worked from five in the morning until nine at night. She described how workers were “strapped” if they were too fatigued to keep up with the machinery; a strap was used to hurt workers excessively. In the article, she talks about how the factory was very dusty which affected her health. She stated, “Yes, it was so dusty, the dust got upon my lungs, and the work was so hard; I was a middling strong when I went there, but the work was so bad; I got so bad in health, that when I pulled the baskets down, I pulled my bones out of their places.” The working conditions of the factories were inhumane, especially for children. Child labor came about because factory owners claimed the children’s small fingers were necessary for more delicate work. But repeated investigations showed children working exhausting hours in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. This led to Parliament having to pass a series of Factory Acts, in 1819, that put strict limits on working hours for children (Grafton and Bell, 608). Nowadays, historians have justified child labor by realizing that child labor was normal and accepted in pre-industrial Europe. The main reason for industrialization was to keep children out of the workforce and give them an education. In the short run, child labor negatively affected children but in the long run, it positively affected them. Child labor and harsh working conditions were two major consequences of the industrialization that directly affected the people of Europe socially.
In the midst of the economic and social consequences of the Industrial Revolution, there were also political consequences such as the spread of political parties. Within this time period, party systems began to spread to Europe. The principal political factions that we can split the parties into were reactionary, radical, conservative, and liberal (Grafton and Bell, 623). Reactionaries and political radicals were on the extreme side of the spectrum. Reactionaries wanted to return to how the world use to be. For example, reactionaries wanted a full return to pre-Revolutionary social and political order. This was the complete opposite of political radicals. For example, political radicals hoped for expansion of suffrage to all adult males and social and economic reforms (Grafton and Bell, 624). On the less extreme side, the Industrial Revolution brought the political parties of liberalism and conservatism. Liberal politics were more concerned with individual rights such as the right to vote. They also campaigned for legal protections for freedom of speech and religion and promotion of free markets (Grafton and Bell, 623). On the other hand, conservatives stressed the need for tradition and social order. They warned that too rapid change, and too great an emphasis on individual desires and rights, could destroy the bonds that held nations together (Grafton and Bell, 624). Ultimately, these four political parties came about in Europe as a result of industrialization.
Within nineteenth-century Europe, the main consequences that came about because of industrialization were innovations that led to a prosperous economy, harsh working conditions of the factory workers and child labor, and the spread of political parties. Within these consequences, there were good consequences such as the spread of political parties and a flourishing economy because of faster and more efficient production. Alongside good consequences, there were also bad consequences such as child labor and harsh working conditions in the factories. Therefore, in conclusion, there were plenty of economic, social, and political consequences of industrialization that ultimately laid the starting grounds for how the world is today.
