4º ESO

4º ESO
TopicOne:
Topic One:
Enlightmentand
Enlightment andRevolutions
Revolutions
ininXVIII
XVIIIcentury
century
 1. The Industrial Revolution
All changes that happened in the eighteenth
century led to an unprecedented revolution
in the goods-producing systems: the
Industrial Revolution, which initially occurred
in England in the second half of the
eighteenth century and spread to Europe and
America a few years later.
The Industrial Revolution marked the end of
the domestic system when most people
made goods by hand and worked from their
homes. (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/bseh/industry/)

The move to factories as the centers of production meant more goods could be produced and
quality could be controlled.
Before 1750, most industry in Britain was small-scale. Most of it was literally "manufactured"
by hand – shoes, nails, knives etc were made by artisans (craftsmen) in small workshops.
The Industrial Revolution saw the end of this way of industry, and the coming of factories. The
first modern water-powered factory was built by Richard Arkwright.
The domestic system gave more freedom and independence to the workers, but it was
an inefficient system of production. Comparison of the domestic system against the
factory system:

Domestic system Factories

Small-scale, so not much produced. Large-scale, so a much greater quantity of goods produced.

Workers' homes were too small to hold large Big enough to house machinery, which meant greater
machines. quantities could be produced.

Big enough to house a water wheel or steam engine to

Hand power only.
power machinery.
Needed a highly skilled craftsman often serving a
Machines could be operated by unskilled labour such as
seven-year apprenticeship, so labour was very
women and children, which was much cheaper.
expensive.

Workmen could work when they wanted to, eg many

took "Saint Monday" off to get over their hangovers Employers could enforce factory discipline.
from the weekend.

Machines all worked to the same standard. Overlookers

No way of ensuring consistent quality.
could enforce quality control.

Workers were spread over a wide area, so time was Workers travelled to the factory in their own time,
wasted transporting materials from one to the other. therefore, travelling was not a production cost.
A revolution in the textiles industry

The revolution in the textiles industry was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Many
historians believe that the Industrial Revolution would not have happened without the
revolution in the textiles industry.
Before 1750, a lot of woolen cloth was produced, but the textiles industry was a low-tech
cottage industry. After 1750, however, there was a revolution in the textiles industry. This
involved:
• A growth in demand, probably as a result of
the growth in population, but also because
of the opening up of the export market.
• Technological change and innovation - the
use of machinery.
• A move to bigger units of production - the
factory system.
• The use of unskilled, cheap labour.
• A shift from wool - which was heavier and
more difficult to wash and produce - to
cotton.
A revolution in the iron and steel industry

Iron and steel was the most important industry in the Industrial Revolution, and the
Industrial Revolution could not have happened without a massive increase in the
production and quality of iron and steel. It was essential for mechanical and civil
engineering, domestic and military uses.

1700 1800 1850 1900

Iron (in tons) 25,000 250,000 2.5 million 10 million
Steel (in tons) - - 60,000 5 million

Firstly, the iron and steel industry was small-scale. However, in the 18th century, there
was a revolution in the production of iron, and in the 19th century, a revolution in the
production of steel.
There were some reasons why the iron and steel industries grew:

• A shortage of wood.
• Increasing demand for iron because of the Industrial Revolution
• Iron was brittle and broke under strain. After 1850, therefore, there was increasing
demand for steel, which was strong and malleable, particularly for the railways.

Iron was used:

•To build factories and bridges.

•To build machines.
•It was essential for steam engines, ships, trains and rails.
•It was essential for replaceable machine parts.
•It was used for weapons of war such as cannons and rifles.
A revolution in the coal industry

Coal was one of the vital elements that

contributed to the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution would not have
happened without coal.
The mining of coal changed from being a
small-scale operation to become a large-
scale operation helped by major
technological advances.

A major key to the increase in production

was the use of the steam engine. The steam
engine was powered by coal, so as the steam
engine improved and was used in more
industries, this led to an increased demand
for coal.
A similar example of industries
interacting to cause the Industrial
Revolution is between coal and the
railways. The first steam trains in
the world and the first railway in
the world - the Stockton and
Darlington Railway 1825 - were
built to transport coal to the docks.
However, railways proved so
popular and grew so big that they
became a major user of coal in the
19th century, and this increased
the demand for coal.
Coal was used as fuel for steam engines for trains, ships, factories, domestic heating, gas
lighting, etc.

  1700 1800 1850 1900

Coal (in million 2.5 11 49 225
tonnes)
The steam power
The development of steam power was crucial
to the Industrial Revolution because it was
the main source of power that operated the
machinery used in industry.
Probably, the Industrial Revolution would not
have happened without the steam engine.

The first working steam engine was Thomas

Newcomen’s atmospheric engine first used in
a mine in Dudley in 1712.
James Watt working in partnership with
Matthew Boulton took the steam engine and
developed it further. The improvements he
made created the machine that became the
basis of all the power in the Industrial
Revolution.
The steam engine brought about at least
six consequences:

• Power for industry

• Transport – In 1800, the steam-powered
locomotive was invented. The first
steam-powered boat was built in 1802.
This had significant effects, not only on
industry and agriculture and the
transport of goods, but on the transport
of people and their mobility and social
lives.
• Agriculture – steam ploughs, steam
threshing machines.
• Location of industry – the steam engines used coal, so industry was located on the coalfields.
• Organisation of industry – steam engines were expensive, so mainly large firms could afford
them. The steam engines allowed large-scale production.
• Conditions of labour – the steam engines never flagged or stopped, so this required
significant changes in the way people worked. There was now no requirement for workers to
be strong or skilled and, if a person was big, it could now be a disadvantage. The steam-
powered machine did all the work, so children replaced men as the key workers in industry.
Working conditions
Before 1750, most people worked in their own homes. They were able to start and stop
work when they wanted.
The new factories ran to the
unceasing, unchanging rhythm
of the steam engine, and
factory owners had to impose
‘factory discipline’.
Not only men, but women and
tiny children did physically
monotonous and/or strenuous
work in hot, damp, dusty and
dangerous conditions for long
hours, for next-to-nothing pay,
under a regime of cruel
overseers, punishments and
fines.
A cotton factory - a child can be seen sweeping
among the moving machinery
There were many factory
working abuses:
1. Long working hours – normal shifts
were recorded as 12 to 14 hours a
day. Workers were often required to
clean their machines during their
mealtimes.

2. Low wages – a typical wage for male

workers was about 15 shillings (75p) a
week, but women and children were paid
much lower wages, with women earning
7 shillings (35p) and children 3 shillings
(15p). For this reason, employers
preferred to employ women and children.
3. Cruel discipline –it was claimed that children had been led to death. Women and
children were easily bullied.

4. Fierce
systems of
fines:
Fines were
imposed for
things like
talking or
whistling,
leaving the
room
without
permission,
of having a
little dirt on
a machine.
5. Deformities – many children who were forced to stand for long hours grew up with
conditions such as knock-knees and bow legs.

6. Accidents – forcing
children to crawl into
dangerous, unguarded
machinery - often
when they were so
tired they were falling
asleep on their feet -
led to many accidents.
It was said that 40 per
cent of accident cases
at Manchester
Infirmary in 1833 were
factory accidents.
7. Health: Going straight out into the
cold night air led to many cases of
pneumonia. The air was full of dust,
which led to chest and lung diseases
and loud noise made by machines
damaged workers' hearing.

8. Orphans: orphans from workhouses

were "apprenticed" to factory
owners, supposedly to learn the
textiles trade. They worked 12-hour
shifts, and slept in barracks attached
to the factory, in the beds just
vacated by children about to start
the next shift.

9. Truck system – some employers

paid their workers in tokens, which
could only be spent at the
employer’s shop, where prices were
higher.
 2. The American Revolution
1. Origins:

The American Revolution was

predicated by a number of ideas
and events that, combined, led to
a political and social separation of
colonial possessions from the
home nation and a coalescing of
those former individual colonies
into an independent nation.

2. When?

The revolutionary era began in 1763, when the French

military threat to British North American colonies
ended.
3. Why?

The Establishment considered that the colonies should pay an increased proportion
of the costs associated with keeping them in the Empire, so Britain imposed a series
of direct taxes followed by other laws intending to demonstrate British authority. All
of them proved to be extremely unpopular in America.
The colonies lacked
representation in
the governing
British Parliament
but many colonists
considered these
laws were
illegitimate and a
violation of their
rights as
Englishmen
4. Most important events:

In 1772, groups of colonists began to create

Committees of Correspondence , which would
lead to their own Provincial Congresses in most
of the colonies. In the next two years, the
Provincial Congresses or their equivalents
rejected the Parliament and effectively replaced
the British ruling structures in the former
colonies, culminating in 1774 with the
coordinating First Continental Congress. In
response to the protests, the British sent combat
troops to Boston which dissolved local
governments, and imposed direct rule by Royal
officials. This made the Colonies mobilize their
militias, and fighting broke out in 1775.

At first the First Continental Congress was loyal to King George III so they asked for royal
intervention on their behalf. But the British Parliament declared that the states were "in
rebellion" and the colonists were “traitors”. In 1776, representatives from each of the
original thirteen states voted in the Second Continental Congress to adopt a Declaration of
Independence, which now rejected the British monarchy as well as its Parliament.
 4.1 Declaration of
independence
The Declaration established
the United States, which was
originally governed as a loose
confederation through a
representative government
selected by state legislatures.
The war ended with effective
American victory in October
1781, followed by formal
Signing of the Declaration of Independence, by John Trumboll, in US Capitol British abandonment of any
claims to the United States
with the Treaty of Paris in
1783.
5. TREATY OF PARIS (1783)
The peace treaty with Britain, known as the Treaty of Paris, gave the U.S. all land east of
the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, though not including Florida.
6. Consequences

6.1:Impact on Britain:
Losing the war and the 13 colonies was a shock to the British system. The war revealed
the limitations of Britain's fiscal and military state since: it had powerful enemies, no
allies, depended on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication, and
was faced for the first time since the 17th century by both Protestant and Catholic foes.
Inside parliament, the result was a powerful crisis. They started to be concerned about
the issues of representation, parliamentary reform , and government retrenchment.
Reformers sought to destroy what they saw as widespread institutional corruption.

6.2 impact on the newly-born country:

The American Revolution initiated a series of social, political, and intellectual
transformations in early American society and government.
· Americans rejected the oligarchies common in aristocratic Europe at the time,
championing instead the development of republicanism based on the Enlightenment
understanding of liberalism.
· Creation of a representative government responsible to the will of the people.
However, sharp political debates erupted over the appropriate level of democracy
desirable in the new government, with a number of Founders fearing mob rule.
The Constitution of the United States in
1788:

It established a strong federated

government . The UNITED STATES BILL
OF RIGHTS (1791) , comprising the first
10 constitutional amendments, quickly
followed. It guaranteed many natural
rights that were influential in justifying
the revolution, and attempted to
balance a strong national government
with relatively broad personal liberties.
The American shift to liberal
republicanism, and the gradually
increasing democracy, caused an
upheaval of traditional social hierarchy
and gave birth to the ethic that has
formed a core of political values in the
United States and in modern European
states, among others.
7. SOME OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS: THE TEA PARTY

In June 1772, in what became known as the Gaspée Affair, a British warship that had
been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations was burned by American
patriots.
Soon afterwards, Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts reported that he
and the royal judges would be paid directly from London, thus bypassing the colonial
legislature.
On December 16, 1773, a group
of men, led by Samuel Adams
and dressed to evoke American
Indians, boarded the ships of
the government-favored British
East India Company and
dumped an estimated £10,000
worth of tea on board
(approximately £636,000 in
2008) into the harbor. This
event became known as the
Boston Tea Party and remains a
significant part of American
patriotic lore.
3. The French Revolution
The French Revolution (1789–1799)
was a period of radical social and
political turmoil in French and
European history. The absolute
monarchy that had ruled France for
centuries collapsed in 1789. French
society got an epic transformation as
feudal, aristocratic, and religious
privileges finished under a sustained
assault from liberal political groups
and the masses on the streets. Old
ideas about hierarchy and tradition
succumbed to new Enlightenment
principles of citizenship and
inalienable rights.
CAUSES:

a) Long-term causes

A combination of money problems and the

new ideas of the Enlightenment’s liberty
were the basic threats to the old French
system of royal rule:

• The Ancient Regime ready for a change

because it was old-fashioned and unfair
under the rule of the king, Louis XVI, and
his unpopular wife, Marie Antoinette, the
sister of the Emperor of Austria. He, as
the rest of the kings in his time, was an
absolute monarch who lived in total
luxury in palaces as Versailles spending
lavishly on clothes and jewels while their
people were starving.
• By the 1780s the middle
class was growing in
wealth. Many
businessmen and
professionals (lawyers,
doctors, writers,
teachers…) began to
question the way in which
the country was
governed. They were
highly influenced by
Rousseau’s ideas
expressed in his book The
Social Contract, about
human beings’ natural
rights:
“Man was born free. No man has a any natural authority over others; force does not
give anyone that right. The power to make laws belongs to the people and only to
the people.”
• The American Revolution also inspired these people to fight for their rights.

• Peasants and landless labourers started getting angrier and angrier with the first
and second states because these were a very small minority putting a lot of
pressure on them with the paying of heavy taxes and tithes.

• And finally, there was a growing list of complaints by the three states against the
taxes that the King’s government was trying to make them pay, even though each
of them had very different reasons for this opposition.

b) Short-term causes
• Financial crisis : By 1787 the French government was bankrupt because of many
reasons: the great deal of money spent on fighting against the Britain, the one
spent by Queen Marie Antoinette and the French court, etc. Besides, in the years
1787-9 heavy rain, hard winters and hot dry summers led to 3 very poor harvests,
so farmers and peasants had very small incomes and there was a shortage of basic
food products. Consequently, town workers had to pay higher prices for their food.
The figures of unemployed town workers rose dramatically because the rural
workers had less money to buy the goods town workers made.
• Estates-General of 1789: In August 1788 the King decided desperately to call the
Estates-General, who met in separate buildings on 4 May, 1789. The Estates-General
was a body of people representing each of the three social estates in France. French
society was divided into three separate castes known as estates. The first estate was
made up of priests, and religious leaders. The second estate was made up of the
nobility, while the third, poorest and lowest estate consisted of everyone else, over 97%
of the population of France. King Louis XVI hoped that by calling them together they
could solve the problems of debt facing the nation. The Estates-General had other plans
however. They wanted to use the meeting to take power from the King, and address the
social ills that they felt were plaguing them.
• Each of them had very different claims:

 The king wanted them to approve new

taxes.
 The nobles and the clergy hoped for
more concessions from the King.
 The middle class hoped to create an
English-style democracy.
 The peasants hoped for an end of the
suffering caused by high taxes and bad
harvests.
• National Assembly (1789): Obviously, they would never reach an agreement. Members
from the wealthy middle class and some radical nobles and priests led a National
Assembly in which it was decided they would draw up a constitution showing the way in
which France was to be governed. On June 1789 the members of this illegal Assembly
met in the royal tennis court at Versailles to swear an oath that they would not leave
until the King met their demands.
So the King was
forced to agree to
the setting up of a
National Assembly
to draw up the
French Constitution.
This new National
Convention was
elected by men who
were well off
enough to pay taxes.
They also introduced
a new currency and
taxation system.

The National Assembly taking the Tennis Court Oath, by Jacques-Louis David
July 14th 1789: Storming of the Bastille
The former fact gave hope to the poor in the towns and on July 14th 1789 the mob stormed
and destroyed the Bastille, which was a hated prison and symbol of the old regime. Also
many chateaux and palaces were attacked all over the country by peasants’ revolts. This
made many rich people tried to escape from France.
In October 1789 a large crowd of women marched on Versailles and brought the King and
his family to Paris.

The Church lost its land and its power to

tax its tenants (tithe). Priests had to be
elected and had to make oaths of loyalty
to France, not to the Pope anymore.
During the night of 20-21 June, Louis and
his family, in disguise and carrying false
papers of identity, left Paris. But the King
was recognized along the route at
Varennes by a mob and brought back to
Paris.
The continued escalation of violence
finally convinced the National
Assembly that they had no choice
but to give up. On August, 4 th, 1789
the National Assembly passed a
number of important reforms that
abolished feudal dues, and
established taxes on members of the
first and second estates.
The National Assembly then turned
their attention towards creating a bill
of rights for their people. This
Declaration of Rights included the
freedom of speech, the freedom of
the press, and the freedom of
religion. It also protected citizens
from being falsely arrested. This
Declaration of Rights remains in the
French Constitution to this day.
After a long debate The National Assembly decided to keep the monarch, so they made
him take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution on 3 September 1791. But many people
did not believe in the King’s good intentions, while some others did want to believe he
had accepted this new Constitutional Monarchy.
On 10 August 1992 mobs of starving people stormed Tuileries Palace and arrested him.
On 21 September the
National Assembly
announced that France
was not a Monarchy
anymore, but a Republic.
On December 1792 the
749 members of the
Convention put the King
on trial charged with
bankrupting France,
disloyalty to the new
constitution and plotting
against the Revolution. In
1793 he was found guilty
and was voted to be
executed by guillotine.
Reign of Terror (1793–1794)
Now France was being ruled by a strict group called the political party known as the
Jacobins. The leader of this political party was called Robespierre. He was very cruel and
oversaw the Terror, a very violent period from 1793-4 in which more than 12,000 peolple –
royalists and clergy members- were guillotined. But in 1794 Robespierre was turned on by
his own supporters, arrested and executed (Thermidorian Reaction).
The Directory (1795–1799)
After the reign of terror ended, the Jacobins lost their power in France. The National
Convention continued to rule as the government, however, a new constitution was written,
which once again denied the right to vote to those who could not afford to pay a vote tax.
This constitution established the office of five directors, known as the Directory, who ruled
France.
The Directory ruled from 1795 until 1799. Once again, the rich began to grow wealthier,
while the poor had very little. The same old problems that had begun the revolution once
again began to creep into France.
In this way the army and its successful
general, Napoleon Bonaparte eventually
gained much power.
On 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire of the
Year VIII) Napoleon Bonaparte staged the
”coup of 18 Brumaire” which installed the
Consulate. This effectively led to Bonaparte's
dictatorship and eventually (in 1804) to his
proclamation as Empereur (emperor), which
brought to a close the specifically republican
phase of the French Revolution.
Consequences and legacy
• The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of radical social and political
upheaval in history.
• The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three
years.
• French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and
religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political
groups and the masses on the streets.
• Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment
principles of citizenship and inalienable rights
• The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution:
• The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism, the
development of modern ideologies, and the invention of total war all mark their
birth during the Revolution.
• Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution include the Napoleonic
Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy, and two additional
revolutions as modern France took shape.
• In the following century, France would be governed at one point or another as
a republic, constitutional monarchy, and two different empires.