Cause And Effects Of The Industrial Revolution

There were many causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment combined to create a new world view. This, in turn, led to the creation of new technology and organizations like the British Royal Society of Arts focused on progress and Enlightenment ideals. The Agricultural Revolution and enclosure movements led to increased agricultural productivity and produced a pool of potential workers to work in new factories, leading to ability for industrial change. Natural resources and easy access to major waterways also allowed for increased industrial development. In Great Britain, there were high levels of taxation. This taxation led to an increased government budget than in turn led to the
James Watt’s improvements to the steam engine between 1763 and 1779 led to its increased practical and commercial success. The technical innovations of the industrial revolution increased the demand for iron which led to an iron boom in Great Britain. One innovation of the industrial revolution was railroads. The development of railroads led to lower shipping costs, a more connected world, and larger markets that decreased the importance and prevalence of cottage industry. A final factor that caused the industrial revolution was population growth that called for a growth in industry. Industrialization in Great Britain led to the industrialization of other countries as British innovations inspired other countries to innovate. Strong governments in continental European countries promoted industrial innovation by using state power to try to catch up with Great Britain. Increased development in continental Europe was also caused by limited liability banks which lowered investment risks by ending the practice of making investors pay more than they invested if a business failed. One effect of increased factory labor was the decreased presence of working women as married women could no longer manage factory work
During this time period, there were radical and extreme changes to French political structure in the form of the French Revolution. Comparably, the British Industrial revolution caused radical changes to industry through the adoption of new technology that mirrored the French’s adoption of new politics. Both Great Britain and France were also similar because of the high taxes they levied to pay off war debt. However, French taxes led to revolution, while British taxes led to industrial development. During the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain increased its output of products immensely, producing 2% of the world’s products in 1750, a stark contrast to the massive 20% of the world’s products in 1860. Continental Europe, the United States, and Japan also industrialized in comparable ways as all three areas were inspired by Great Britain and industrialized their economies immensely as a result of the British industrial revolution. In Great Britain and most of Europe and the west, industrialization led to increased production, contrasting the decreased production in India and other non-Western countries that occurred as a result of the European industrial revolution. One country that contrasted the rest of the non-Western countries was Japan which industrialized along with the west. Because of their head start in the race to industrialize, Great Britain’s technology was very