Q. What were the causes of the Industrial Revolution?

The First Industrial Revolution began in England in about 1750–1760 that

lasted to sometime between 1820 and 1840. It is one of the most distinguished turning
points in human history. It was in England where industrial related activities first
commenced and several socio-economic changes took place which collectively came to be
known as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was the transition from human
and animal labour technology into machinery, new chemical manufacturing and iron
production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam
power, and the development of machine tools. The iron and textile industries played central
roles in the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution transferred the rural industries
into towns and craftsmen became the wage labourers. The invention of the steam engine in
1712 created the early modern industrial era throughout the world, which brought about
revolutions in textiles, mines, steam-powered railroads, steam-powered ocean freighters,
steel production, and other areas of economic activities. This contributed towards massive
expansion of cities, industries, and infrastructure of all kinds. Also, banking and other
financial systems improved to run the industries and business firms smoothly. Child and
infant mortality rate decreased and fertility rate increased. As a result, population growth
had dramatically changed. Thus, in the words of Eric Hobsbawm, “the Industrial Revolution
marks the most fundamental transformation of human life in the history of the world
recorded in written documents.” Further the Industrial Revolution is of such importance
that if one wanted to understand the origins of modern society, one had to understand the
origins of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Therefore, the causes of the Industrial Revolution
have been discussed in the following work.

Phyllis Deane, in her work, The First Industrial Revolution

(1965), explains that there were certain identifiable changes working together that led to
the development of the Industrial Revolution. She asserts that these changes, which were
interrelated, were associated with an increase in the population level as well as an increase
in the annual volume of goods and services produced. According to her, these changes were
: (i) widespread and systematic application of modern science and empirical knowledge to
the process of production for the market (ii) specialization of economic activity directed
towards production for national and international markets rather than for family use (iii)
movement of population from rural to urban communities (iv) enlargement and
depersonalization of the typical unit of production so that it comes to be based less on the
family or the tribe and more on the corporate or public enterprise (v) movement of labour
from activities concerned with the production of primary products to the production of
manufactured goods and services (vi) intensive and extensive use of capital resources as a
substitute for and complement to human effort (vii) emergence of new social and
occupational classes determined by ownership of or relationship to the means of production
other than land, namely capital. Deane also cites colonialism, slavery, and trade with non-
European countries as an important factor for bringing about the Industrial Revolution.
English plantations in the West Indies had extended the range of commodities English
merchants could sell to Europeans in exchange for foreign timber, silk for the textile trade,
pitch and hemp for ships and buildings, high-grade iron for the metal trade, etc. Thus,
West Indian products such as sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and dyewoods, produced by
slaves on plantations (and exchanged in the West Indies for captured Africans), allowed
Britain to expand its international trade and accumulate capital with which to fund industry.
International trade was also important as it provided poor, less-developed countries with
the purchasing power to buy British goods, and thereby causing the growth of large towns
and industrial centres. It was the growth of really big towns like London, Liverpool,
Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow that directly stimulated the large-scale investments
in transport which were such an important feature of the early stages of the British
industrial revolution. All these towns, especially Liverpool and Glasgow, owed much of their
growth to foreign trade. Further, Deane places a huge emphasis of the cotton industry for
amplifying the growth of industrialisation. The demand for cotton was highly elastic; i.e.,
small changes in price had large effects on the quantity demanded. In addition, it helped
that there was already a high demand for cotton goods made in India, which were of better
quality than those from Britain. For these and other reasons, mechanical inventions in the
late eighteenth century that permitted greater output of cotton at a cheaper price and with
a higher quality, were quickly adopted by industrialists. An epochal consequence of these
inventions was that they made feasible and desirable the concentration of workers in large
factories.

T.S. Ashton explains the growth of population as one of the reasons

for the rise of the Industrial Revolution in his book, The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830
(1948). Ashton states that there was a rapid growth in population in England and Wales
between 1760-1830 from nearly six and a half-million in 1750 to fourteen million in 1831.
However, it was not a rise in birth rate that led to this growth but it was rather a result of a
fall in the mortality rate. Several reasons were given by Ashton for this fall in the mortality
rate- the introduction of root crops made it possible to feed more cattle in the winter
months, and so to supply fresh meat throughout the year; the substitution of wheat for
inferior cereals, and an increased consumption of vegetables ,strengthened resistance to
disease; higher standards of personal cleanliness, associated with more soap and cheaper
cotton underwear, lessened the dangers of infection, etc. The question then arises, what
relation does population growth have with the development of industry? Ashton answers
this question in his work by explaining that a rising population made possible greater
effective demand which was made possible by greater agricultural and industrial
productivity. He concludes that alongside the population increase occurred an increase of
productive land and capital, which led to a rise in the standard of living for most people.
Further, Ashton asserts that Britain’s supply of capital increased throughout the eighteenth century,
as did that of labour, due in part to population growth, which contributed towards the
development of the Industrial Revolution. This increase in capital came from the nationwide
accumulation of savings, due largely to the fact that after the Glorious Revolution the ranks
of the wealthy and middle class swelled and the rich got richer—and the rich have a higher
propensity to save than spend. Ashton also emphasizes a factor of whose importance recent
scholars have come to doubt: enclosures. He argues that the agricultural revolution that
supposedly happened in the eighteenth century, which improved the land’s productivity,
was made possible in large part by “the creation of new units of administration in which the
individual had more scope for experiment”. This made it easier for the peasants to bring
about changes in the method of farming. For example, enterprising landowners introduced
four-course crop rotation, the growing of turnips, the production of grain and cattle rather
than of sheep, and cultivation by tenants on large-scale holdings. Gradually, the horse was
substituted for the ox, and wheat was grown instead of rye or oats. At the same time,
Ashton thinks, enclosures drove many peasants off the land, freeing them to serve as
industrial laborers. All these processes facilitated the Industrial Revolution. Among the
other factors Ashton highlights are the dismantling of feudal regulations on economic
activity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the momentous improvements in
means of transport that occurred between 1760 and 1830. This greatly helped in reducing
the cost of transporting coal, iron, timber, and other heavy commodities.  He acknowledges
the Scientific Revolution as laying the foundation for the many brilliant inventions that
swept the land, from the spinning jenny to the steam engine.

Capitalism was another important component necessary for the rise

of industrialization.  Historians refer to the form of capitalism common during the Industrial
Revolution as market capitalism. At the time, it was a revolutionary idea, because in the
previous centuries, mercantilism had been the dominant economic system.  In general,
mercantilism is viewed as an economic system that favoured heavy government control and
regulation.  Under mercantilism, absolute monarchs ruled over vast empires and controlled
almost all aspects of the economy.  However, prominent thinkers, including Adam Smith,
began to argue against mercantilism in favour of an economic system with more freedom
for individuals. Adam Smith was the famous Scottish writer and economist who is credited
with laying the foundation for capitalist theory in his 1776 book titled ‘Wealth of Nations’. 
In the book, he challenged the role of the government in economics.  Smith argued
against mercantilism and government control of the economy and instead proposed the
idea of the ‘invisible hand’.  Simply put, the invisible hand is the idea that the market forces
of supply and demand should drive the economy of a country.  Capitalism caused the
Industrial Revolution because industrialization required significant work and investment
from individuals and not necessarily the government.  For example, in Britain, where the
Industrial Revolution began, wealthy entrepreneurs were important because they used their
wealth to create factories and mines.  This investment from individuals, whose actions were
guided by the profit motive, would not have been possible without the emergence of
capitalism.  Furthermore, as the Industrial Revolution began, the individualistic principles of
capitalism helped create a climate wherein industrialization exploded, and eventually
spread worldwide. The next major factor that helped the development of the Industrial
Revolution was the impact of European Imperialism.  While not directly a cause of the start
of the Industrial Revolution, imperialism as a concept was linked with the growth of
industrialization. Following the Age of Exploration, powerful European countries such as
Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium undertook large imperial campaigns
in order to create vast empires.  During this period of time, which historians refer to as the
Age of Imperialism, large sections of the world came under European control, including:
North America, South America, Africa, Indian, Australia, and China. In general, the Age of
Imperialism occurred prior to and during the rise of industrialization. As a result, historians
often view the Industrial Revolution as a cause of the later stages of the Age of Imperialism. 
Regardless, European imperialism was vital to the start of the Industrial Revolution
(especially in Britain) for several reasons.  First, the colonies created during the Age of
Imperialism supplied the European countries with large amounts of raw materials that could
then be used to produce goods in the factories.  For example, the Trade Triangle developed
in the Atlantic Ocean during this time. In the Trade Triangle, European factories were fed
with resources from North and South America. In turn, the goods produced were shipped
and sold in Africa in exchange for slaves. The slaves were then transported to North and
South America to work on plantations producing raw materials such as cotton, which would
then be taken again to European factories. Therefore, European imperialism provided the
resources necessary to begin mass production of goods. The second reason is that European
imperialism created a large market for goods. For example, as European countries colonized
areas of the world, they established trade routes. This meant that any goods produced in
European factories could then be shipped and sold to markets around the world. This
helped expand industrialization as it allowed European factories to produce goods on a
much larger scale.

Among other reasons, the mining of resources such as coal, was vital to
the process of industrialization. Britain was the first to industrialize and had large supplies of
coal present in the country.  Coal was a necessary ingredient in the industrial process as it
fuelled the steam engines that were used in trains, ships and all other sorts of machinery. 
Not only did Britain have large supplies of the resource, but it was also easily
obtainable. Unlike other European nations, coal in Britain was relatively close to the surface
and was therefore relatively easy for miners to find and extract it. The mining of coal
became even easier after the invention of the steam engine by Thomas Newcomen, which
was originally used to pump water out of coal mines. The Agricultural Revolution also
contributed towards the rise of industrialisation.  As previously stated, the Industrial
Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century due in part to an increase in food
production, which was the key outcome of the Agricultural Revolution.  As such, the
Agricultural Revolution is considered to have begun in the 17th century and continued
throughout the centuries that followed, alongside the Industrial Revolution.  In general, the
Agricultural Revolution involved new farming techniques, the use of machinery in farming,
and the increase of private land ownership.  For example, Charles Townshend introduced
the concept of crop rotation which allowed British farmers to produce more food faster. 
This led to a dramatic increase in the population of the country which in-turn created a large
workforce for the factories and mines.  Also, Jethro Tull invented the seed drill which
allowed farmers to plant crops faster and in straight rows.  This also led to an increase in
food production, while also allowing the same amount of work to be done by less people. 
Therefore, people were able to leave the farms and move to the towns and cities where
factories and mines were being established.  Finally, the “Enclosure Movement” in Britain
led to increased private ownership of farms, and forced smaller farmers off of their
traditional land.  This caused a mass migration of farmers to the town and cities in search of
work.  As a result, this created a large workforce that factory and mine owners could then
exploit. In all, the Agricultural Revolution was an important cause of the Industrial
Revolution.  The Agricultural Revolution took place in Britain in the 1700s and involved
inventions and innovations that led to an increase in food production.  As stated previously,
the increased food production allowed Britain’s population to also increase which
benefitted the Industrial Revolution in two ways. First, the increased population helped
produce workers for the factories and mines that were so important to the Industrial
Revolution.  Second, the larger population created a market for goods to sold to which
helped the owners of the factories to make a profit off of the sale of their goods.

In conclusion, there were several factors that contributed to the

development of the Industrial Revolution. The Revolution began a period of economic
growth and prosperity which we call the modern era. In this study we have tried to discuss
the various changes that created the new era in the human history. At the end of the First
Industrial Revolution, technology and skilled workers from Britain had transferred to some
other countries of Europe, such as Belgium, France, Sweden and Germany and to the USA.
As a result, global economic development has commenced. A new middle class had
been created at the end of the revolution. Trade unions were also formed to fight against
the various tortures on the workers. Development of textile industry, iron and steel
industry, various chemicals production, agricultural revolution, improvement of
transportation, etc all occurred during Industrial Revolution. However, in spite of its
unlimited success, it had some negative effects, such as increase of unskilled workers, rise of
women and child labour in unhygienic and risky situation, rise of slave trade, and rapid
increase of environment pollution. There was no compulsory primary education in the
schools, the child labourers increased in the factories and a large gap between the rich and
the poor had been created. Thus, it is evident that the Industrial Revolution had both
positive and negative effects but there is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution paved the
way for a new age of invention and innovation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Ashton, T.S, The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1948.
 Deane, Phyllis, The First Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1965.