HISTORY

History



History

Agricultural Revolution

The three most important factors

For many years, the agricultural revolution in Europe was thought to have occurred because of three significant changes: the selective breeding of livestock; the removal of common property rights to land; and modern systems of cropping, involving turnips and clover (Berlanstein, 1992).

Agricultural revolution change in European society

The agricultural revolution had boosted production, and it led to the end of the old and inefficient strip farming. This led to the "Enclosure Acts" which created fields and forced workers off the land. They migrated to the towns and became the source of cheap labour that the Industrial revolution needed. Improved agricultural yields provided a relatively cheap source of food to feed them (Berlanstein, 1992).

Industrial Revolution

The three most important factors

Triumph of the geeks

The science of the previous couple of centuries had started to pay off - a better understanding of physics, mechanics and many chemical processes, and not least a middle class with time on its hands to experiment with these, had been developed, and could now be put to fair use (Berlanstein, 1992).

Greedy businessmen

Britain's economy was conducive to such developments at the time, with a powerful merchant class of entrepreneurs, which was itself the main cause of early colonization (itself a factor), and was wealthy enough to take risks with innovative ideas. They had a freer semi-democratic society than many of the rigid semi-feudal societies elsewhere in Europe, which generally impeded progress and sometimes destroyed economies in inter-dynastic wars (Uglow, 2002).

Material advantage

Both of the above could also apply to, say, the Netherlands, but Britain had the advantage, as Jay said, of a great wealth of iron and coal, as well as a larger population and more barren land (and freedom from probable invasion). The early British Empire, fast outpacing the other colonial powers, provided tribute form India (though in the early days this should not be exaggerated), and cotton from America (the textile industry was one of the first to be mechanized, and large-scale trade continued after the revolution) (Clark, 2007).

Working conditions

Working conditions in the factories were poor. Men, women, and children alike were employed at extremely low wages in crowded, unhealthy, and hazardous environments. Workers were often able to afford no more than the simplest housing, resulting in the rise of urban slums. These conditions quickly led to actions to protect workers. Laws were passed requiring safety standards in factories, setting the minimum age limits for young workers, establishing schools for children whose parents both worked, and creating other standards for the protection of workers (Uglow, 2002).

Western Social Change between 1815 and 1914

Romanticism

Romanticism is a cultural and political movement originated in west in the late eighteenth. Essentially bourgeois intellectual movement, the consequences of the French Revolution created disillusioned intellectuals opposed to the illustration. Affirmed the principle of freedom and individuality and gave vent to the feelings, passions and instincts.

The role of women

In making history, women have made strong character victimization (marginalization, lack of education). In the late nineteenth century begins to emerge a ...