Level 16
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The Late Modern Age

The Industrial Revolution

The transformation of production, labor, and society through mechanization and industry.

Wikimedia Commons · Unknown author · Public domain

60-Second Review

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A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Why Britain? Preconditions for Industrial Takeoff. A unique combination of resources, institutions, and prior agricultural change made Britain the birthplace of industrialization around 1760-1780.
  2. Cotton and the Mechanization of Textiles. A rapid sequence of inventions between 1733 and 1785 turned cotton into the pioneering sector of industrialization.
  3. Steam Power and the Metallurgical Revolution. Watt's improved steam engine and new methods for smelting iron and steel supplied the energy and materials of industry.
  4. The Factory System and the Transport Revolution. Machine-paced factory discipline spread alongside canals and railways that stitched Britain into a single national market.
  5. Industrial Cities and Working-Class Life. Explosive urban growth in cities like Manchester brought overcrowding, pollution, and harsh conditions for the new working class.
  6. Resistance, Reform, and the Birth of the Labor Movement. From Luddite machine-breaking to Chartism and the first Factory Acts, workers and reformers reshaped industrial law.
  7. The Spread of Industrial Capitalism: Europe, America, and Empire. Industrial capitalism produced a new bourgeoisie in Britain while spreading unevenly to Europe, the United States, and the colonial world.
  8. The Second Industrial Revolution and the Debate over Its Meaning. Electricity and chemistry drove a Second Industrial Revolution after 1870, while historians still debate the first one's causes and costs.

This module continues after "The Enlightenment" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1Why Britain? Preconditions for Industrial Takeoff
2Steam Power and the Metallurgical Revolution
3Industrial Cities and Working-Class Life
4Resistance, Reform, and the Birth of the Labor Movement
5The Second Industrial Revolution and the Debate over Its Meaning

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Review Flashcards

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Memory

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Time Attack

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Chronological Order

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Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Robert C. Allen, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective.
  • Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England.
  • Eric Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire: The Birth of the Industrial Revolution.
  • T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830.
  • Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.
  • E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class.
  • David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.
  • UNESCO, Ironbridge Gorge, World Heritage List, available at whc.unesco.org.