DBQ: The Industrial Revolution

Though some may say that for one society to benefit it does not have to cost another, actually, for one society to benefit, it has to come at the cost of another.Examples of how this viewpoint is shown include: America’s dominance of economy, leaving others to scramble (Doc 3). America’s control of the Middle East to get oil and other resources causing conflict (Doc 4). The wealthy having such a small population but high amount of money, vice versa for the very poor (Doc 6). Merchants taking farms from farmers, kickstarting the Industrial Revolution.
Firstly, North America holds a dominance over the world in wealth, and by that taking from North America, other regions and countries are left with less, ending with the least wealthy being africa, who had a long history of being colonized by Europe (the second biggest volume of wealth in the world) .
This is shown in the fact that 68.7 percent of the world’s population only holds three percent of the wealth in the world and only 8.4 percent of the world’s population has 83.3 percent of the wealth of the world (Doc 6). The 68.7 percent of the world with the least amount of money often works in factories for very low wages, these factories being owned by the most wealthy. This relates to how those who get ahead have to step on others, with the wealthy exploiting the poor for their wealth.
Additionally, this exploitation of others to get ahead, as shown with individual people has a long history. At the start of the industrial revolution, the start of the modern age, merchants started to buy farms and become very wealthy off of them. These farms had previously been the livelihood of the farmers who had owned them, these previously content farmers had to leave to cities, often becoming very poor factory workers. This shows how the practice of stepping on others is an important part of