The Positive Effects Of Industrialization In Western Europe

The Industrial Revolution started in Britain in the 1700s. It is defined as the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This means a shift from the home to the factory, from the country to the city, from human or animal power to engines powered by fossil fuels (coal and, later, oil). The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. The industrial Revolution eventually brought positive effects to everyday life, but the price of attaining this modernization created an immense amount of human suffering.
Although industrialization happened rapidly, one can see a long steady build-up toward it in Western Europe over many centuries. The extensive use of water wheels, windmills, and other labor saving devices all put the European mentality in touch with exploiting natural forces and laws to increase productivity. The Enlightenment's scientific discoveries also laid the foundations for industrial and scientific advances of the 1800's. All of these developments took place in Western Europe because of different forces that fed back on one another
This created two effects that also helped lead to the Industrial Revolution. First of all, the Enclosure Movement drove many people off their lands, forcing them to flock to the cities in search of homes and jobs since they were unable to keep up and make a living. Also, this new kind of agriculture doubled food production, thus leading to dramatic population growth in England in the 1700's. The combination of population growth in the cities created the labor supply for Britain's textile mills when the Industrial Revolution