Summary: The First Industrial Revolution

The topic I have chosen to discuss related to the last 400 years in Western Civilization is the industrial revolution in Britain. The industrial revolution was what created the modern capitalist system. Britain was the first to lead the way in this huge transformation. Technology changed, businesses, manufactured goods, and wage laborers skyrocketed. There was not only an economic transformation, but also a social transformation. The industrial revolution is such an interesting subject to further explore, because it truly made a difference in Britain in the late 1700s. The industrial revolution brought an increased quantity and variety of manufactured goods and even improved the standard of living for some individuals, however, it resulted in grim employment and living conditions that were for the poor and working classes. The industrial revolution had a bright and dark side to it. It was dark due to all the horrible working conditions, crowded cities, unsanitary facilities, diseases, and unsafe work environment, but the bright side is that it was a period of enormous social progress.

Meanwhile, in London in the Middle Ages, if there was a major epidemic it was more than likely that you would die a horrible death. The Black Death wiped out 1,000,000 people in Britain alone. There was however, hope. An early form of what we call welfare today developed. Poor people couldn’t afford to see a doctor. A single doctor's fee was usually about a month's wages for a laborer. For the utterly impoverished, a common alternative was the local apothecary.

Firstly, access to medical care. Years ago medical care in the 19th century was not very good. The hospitals were very basic, many beds in a large room (ward) there were very rarely curtains around the beds for privacy because in those days clothes were short and extra material would be made into clothing. Also, they may not have been very clean, they were hygienic to work in but for people that were very ill they may of made that person more poorly. Clinics were similar; they had the basic bed to check patients on and the small amount of medicines. Not all the time did they have the correct suitable medication for patients. So some patients may have had to suffer for longer than what they should off because it was hard to get medication that was going to cure

Although peasants believed in church and treatment of the plague through prayer and hoped for God’s mercy, not much was done to ease their suffering. Back then, science was not as innovative and the doctors used common known medicine, but it was insufficient in curing the bubonic plague. Many of the treatments and theories held by doctors had no scientific

The Industrial Revolution set people away from farms and small villages and moved them to cities and towns because of the job opportunities that arose in the cities. The Industrial Revolution not only helped people move along in the late 1700s and early 1800s but also it has made the people what they are today. During the Industrial Revolution, the movement from an agrarian society to an industrial one reshaped the roles of families, widen the gap between classes, and led to the developments in communication, transportation, and other scientific fields that completely changed humanity.

“The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution” by Charles H. Morris is, simply put, centered on the nineteenth century in America. The book opens with the lesser-known Shipbiulders’ War of 1812, which was fought between the Americans and the British and lasted about two and a half years. The chapter goes on to describe how this war was fought using what the American industry had at the time, which led to the challenge of “cutting corners without compromising performance.” (p. 7) Morris closes the chapter by describing how this forgotten war essentially spurred industrial growth in the New England area. The next chapter focuses on Great Britain’s industrial rise to power, highlighting topics such as textile production, new

Alongside the revolution came an increase in death. Many of the deaths occurred amongst the poor people due to diseases such as Cholera, Typhoid, and Typhus (source 16). As the cities began to overcrowd with job-hungry

In my fifteen years of living, I have been vaccinated numerous times for all types of diseases; Polio, Measles, Mumps, and a few others. Immunization

The year is 1849 and so far I have discovered several things about the cholera outbreak in London. My colleagues assume that the cause of cholera is caused by poison carried in the air that results from decaying matter (Fairbanks and Candelaria 10). However, I disagree with my colleagues in their belief of the miasma theory (Mckenzie 13). I have constructed a theory that the disease is spread by person-to-person contact and the material causing the cholera, must be in fact, swallowed and introduced into the alimentary canal (Fairbanks and Candelaria 10). My experience with the disease shows that not everyone who treats a sick person becomes sick, and others get sick even with the absence of a sick person in close proximity (Fairbanks and Candelaria 10). I have found that physicians who practice superior cleanliness do not get cholera. Cholera outbreak also seems to be worse among working class people, poor cleanliness seems to be what contributes to the spread of the disease (Fairbanks and Candelaria 10). The sanitary conditions of the city are not well by any means. The city is overcrowded, streets were unpaved, filthy, and heaped with trash and garbage (McKenzie 11). Most people get their drinking water from a water pump that is in close proximity to their house.

North’s paper exhibits a snapshot of his present, the two contain several parallels. The Cholera Years presents several scientific theories as to cholera’s cause that received traction in the medical world. Surprisingly, North’s account of cholera’s causes avoids the inclusion of a personal theory but relies on citing a variety of professional findings. For example, both North and Rosenberg cite Dr. Snow as a researcher focused on the matter of cholera, whose theory promoted cholera as transmissible through contaminated drinking water. North continued his discussion of contagion by citing other doctors such as Copeland, Watson, Britton, and Swayne, with each positing a slightly different angle to gain a more complete picture of cholera as a contagion (North 13-16). Rosenberg also produced a broad discussion on the status of cholera as a contagion with the works of sanitarians, such as Max von Pettenkofer, and foreign physicians, such as Dr. William Budd (Rosenberg 195-196). As a historian, Rosenberg includes broad strokes of this time period, which results in descriptions of theories opposed to the contagion theory. As such, Rosenberg notes the position of individuals such as John Griscom, Edwin Snow, and Henry Clark, who all spent their lives focusing on filth as the major cause of epidemics (Rosenberg 196). North generated a similar

Because cholera was one of the most deadly diseases, the transmission of the disease not only left a strong impact on Europe during the 19th century, but it conceivably also killed Montresor’s family. Moreover, the living conditions and poor health habits of Europeans added to the deadliness of the disease. One contribution to the spread of the disease was the living conditions of the lower class. The

America has been expanding and growing since its birth out of Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution has been an influence in the American life since it first in the 1700s. “Most families did not have enough to sell at the market- they had just enough for their own needs.” Up until the factories started booming and employment rates skyrocketed, people really couldn’t become wealthy and live a decent life. As the ways of farming grew the English at the time began to use up more and more land efficiently. “Unusable swamplands could be drained and used for crops.” That’s absolutely amazing that in this era they could turn swamps into areas to raise more crops so they can naturally make more money at the markets and become a bit wealthier. Farming is one of the most important lively hoods of mankind; no matter what argument anyone tries to make. If we didn’t have farming and agricultural production we wouldn’t have all the different sorts of food products we do, nor would they be as abundant. Life would be like it was before the Industrial Revolution came about and most of us would still be growing our own food and barely scraping by in life. With all this agricultural expansion of the time population in England start expanding drastically as well. Thanks to population growth people started to worry more about new inventions and producing stuff for us to make our day to day lives easier than we could have ever before. With all the technological advancements leading up to

Think about your life for one second: you communicate with people, travel, make purchases, and utilize those commodities. But have you ever wondered what made those things possible? After all, you go to the store to buy things you need. You drive a car to work and to visit your friends. If you need to talk to someone, you simply pick up your phone or computer. However, none of this would be possible without a means of communication, factories to manufacture the products you need, places to work, and ways to travel and transport goods. And what made these possible? The answer is the Industrial Revolution, which started in Europe around the year 1730. A revolution is a major change or turning point in something. The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the quintessence of capitalistic ideals; it bred controversy that led to Karl Marx’s idea of communism as a massive grass roots reaction to the revolution’s social abuses. Firstly, the Industrial Revolution featured the construction of machines, systems and factories that allowed goods to be manufactured at a faster rate with a lower cost. The seed drill made it so there could be “a semi-automated, controlled distribution and plantation of wheat seed”(Jones 2013). Secondly, there was a great social and economic divide between the wealthy owners and the poor workers, which gave rise to the mass’s vulnerability to the advent of extreme socialism. Figures of authority severely oppressed their employees by giving them insufficient pay, a treacherous work environment, and even making some children work more than 12 hours per day (Cranny 150). Finally, far right capitalism created a brutal boom and bust cycle of economics that made, for the multitude at the bottom, a perpetual nightmare of poverty and death. People responded to this social situation by taking part in violent protests; oppression sires rebellion. The Industrial Revolution was the chassis of great imagination and progress of political, economic, and social force that still affects this world today.

We are standing at the precipice of what some call the 4th Industrial Revolution. The 4th Industrial Revolution is being described as a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. We are rapidly moving to an era where billions of people will be connected by mobile devices with unprecedented processing power and storage capacity. Our access to knowledge will be unlimited.