The industrial revolution

1.1 The agricultural revolution:

Causes:
New methods first became used in England at the beginning of the
18th century:
● Fallow land was no longer used.
● Continuous crop rotation was introduced with new crops
such as potatoes.
● New crops that helped revitalise the soil and could be used
as fodder for livestock were introduced. Crops from America,
such as tomatoes and maize became widespread in Europe.
● Manure produced by livestock was used as a natural fertiliser.
● Iron tools became more widespread and more plough horses
were used.
● From the end of the 18th century, agricultural productivity
increased thanks to irrigation, chemical fertilisers and
mechanisation.

Consequences:
● The much higher production of food crops meant that the
population could grow.
● The demand for iron tools and machinery grew, and this
helped the industrial sector to develop.

1.2 The demographic revolution:

Between 1700 and 1914, the European population grew
significantly, increasing from 110 million to 450 million inhabitants.
Causes:
● Improvements in nutrition ( because of the large increase in
agricultural productivity and improved transport)
● Reduced death rates (because of medical advances)
● Increasing of life expectancy (from 30 to 60)

Consequences:
● It contributed to industrial development:
- It provided the workforce needed by factories.
 - The consumers increased, generating more demand for
industrial products.
● Redistribution of the European population:
-Rural exodus (surplus farm workers emigrated from the
countryside to the industrial cities).
- Millions of European, from England, Germany and southern
Europe mainly emigrated to new countries in America, Asia and
Oceania.

2. The Industrial Revolution.

It was the gradual transition from a society based on agriculture to one
based on industry. It has got the characteristics:
❏ Manual work is replaced by work done in factories by machines
and workers.
❏ The use of fossil fuels such as coal.
❏ Increased production and sale of goods all over the world thanks
to improved transport.
❏ Growing of the working class.

Industrialization didn´t occur at the same time in all countries. The

unequal rate of modernization of the economy resulted in the
world division into two groups: The developed countries and the
devoloping countries.
Causes:
-The population´s new economic needs.
- The role of the wealthy middle class (they had capital that could
invested)
- Technological advances.

2.1 The first Industrial Revolution.

The first country to become industrialised was England, in the early 1750´S
for the growing demand for textiles due to the growing population.
The textile industry played a central role. In order to increase production,
new technologies that mechanised all stages of the textile production
were invented.
Other important sector was the iron and steel industry. The iron and steel
industry´s growing demand for coal was a problem, because the mines
were exhausted. As a consequence, it was developed a steam-engine
(Watt) that used mechanical energy produced by steam.
The need to transport agricultural and industrial products resulted in a
series of inventions, culminating in the transport revolution. English
engineer Stephenson used the steam engine to power a locomotive for
the first time. The new railways quickly extended throughout Europe and
the United States.
2.2 The Second Industrial Revolution.
Towards the end of the century, the steam engine era ended and the
Second Industrial Revolution began. New technologies were developed in
almost all of Europe and the United States. New pioneering countries
included Germany, Japan and the United States.
During this period, several important advances were made:
➢ Oil began to be used as a new source of energy.
➢ Electricity replaced the mechanical energy produced by the steam
engine. Edison perfected the bulb. The first electric tram lines were
opened.
➢ The iron and steel industry had a spectacular growth thanks to the
Bessemer converter, which could transform large amounts of iron
into steel., which made it easier to build boats, railways, bridges and
buildings.
➢ The chemical industry specialized in synthetic products that
replaced natural ones.
➢ Advances in transport:
- Railways connected more and more territories.
- Maritime transport.
- The first petrol-powered automobile (Benz).
- This period was also the start of aviation.
 ➢ Work reorganization helped increase the industrial productivity.
Division of labour was implemented as a model of production (each
worker should be assigned a simple task in the manufacture of an
industrial product).
➢ Capitalism adapted to the needs of industrialization. Banks were
opened to store saver´s money and provides loans to industrial and
railways companies.
➢ The first corporations appeared in order to prevent competition
between sellers and completely control the market.

3. The class society and labour movement.

3.1 The class society:
The liberal revolutions laid the legal foundations for the equality of all
citizens before the law. However, industrialization contributed to
economic inequality and wealth became the new criterion on which social
divisions were based.
Society was divided into three classes:
1. The upper class
- the Old Regime nobility. They had lost their privileges but kept
their large areas of land.
- The wealthy middle class: bankers, industrialists, merchants,
speculators who bought and sold urban lands, and owners of
transport companies.
2. The middle class.
- The middle middle class: Teachers, lawyers, economists,
engineers, architects, doctors, etc (liberal professions)
- The lower middle class:
Merchants and artisans.
3. The working class.
- The peasants: They lived in extreme poverty and
industrialization didn´t benefit them. Many of them were
forced to emigrate abroad or to cities (rural exodus).
- The urban working class.
 ➢ Industrial workers or proletariat: Men, women and
children who worked in factories with machines that
required no skill or strength.
➢ Artisans: They worked in workshop. Most could not
compete because their products were more expensive
than those produced in factories. So, the number of
artisans gradually decreased.
3.2 The labour movement:
It began in the mid-19th century.
It´s aim was to improve the poor living and working conditions of workers
during the industrialization. The level of development of the labour
movement varied between countries. It depended on their level of
industrial development, the class consciousness of workers and the
freedom of association.
The ideology: socialism.
Paradoxically, the first supporters of the labour movement were wealthy
middle class intellectuals. They were the first ones to denounce the
exploitation of workers, and set out the need to improve living conditions
of the working class.
The schools of thought that mobilised the proletariat the most were
Marxism and anarchism.
MARXISM:
Marxist socialism was so called after the name of the German philosopher
Karl Marx. He studied the industrialization and the social inequalities it
caused. In The Communist Manifesto, he and Engels wrote that the
revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against the wealthy middle class
would result in the triumph of the working class and the creation of a
communist society where there would be no state, social classes and
private property.
The principles of Marxism were:
● Historical Materialism: Economic theory based on ownership of the
means of production. So, those who do not own the means of
production, only posses the power of their labour and are exploited.
● The class struggle: Society is divided into economical unequal
classes: The oppressors and the oppressed. Workers fight against
their exploitation through revolutions.
● Social change: The revolutionary struggle of workers will cause the
oppressive class (the wealthy middle class) to disappear and a
“dictatorship of proletariat” will be implemented. So, the working
class will control the state and will be the only owner of the means
of production.
ANARCHISM (See book page 84)
LABOUR MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION (See book page 85)
4. SPAIN'S INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
In the 19th century, Spain continued to be a primarily agricultural
society with little industrial development in comparison to other
European countries. However, in the last quarter of the 19th century
there was a series of political, social and economic changes that laid
the foundations for economic modernization during the 20th
century.
4.1 Demographic changes: Spain´s population grew less than in the
other countries due to wars, famines, and epidemics of diseases.
Life expectancy was very low (35 years in 1900)
Most of working population was employed in the primary sector,
indicating a low level of industrialization. However, industrial
development was beginning in regions such as Catalonia.
Many Spaniards emigrated to America and there was a rural exodus
as well. The rural population emigrated to areas where
industrialization had begun, such as Catalonia and Basque Country,
and to administrative centres such as Madrid. They did not always
find work in the cities and many became beggars.
Many others continued to survive through subsistence farming, and
there was no workforce available for the industrial sector. Besides,
demand did not increase and there was no market for a national
industrial sector.
4.2 Agricultural changes:
 Agricultural was the most important sector during the 19th century
in Spain. The production of some grows such as olive, grape and
citrus fruit was modernised. Production increased thanks to
exportation, some technological advances, such as the use of
chemical fertilizers or expansion of irrigation techniques.
Most land continued to be owned by the aristocracy.
4.3 Industrial changes:
In Spain the industrial revolution was later than in other european
countries because of:
➢ the low demand for industrial products.
➢ Technological backwardness.
➢ Lack of capital.
➢ Lack of raw materials.
Two important industrial centres developed: Catalonia (textile industry
and metallurgy) and the Basque Country (metallurgy)
There was also some industrial development in Madrid.

4.4 Changes in transport:

The main aim of the liberal politicians of the 19th century was to build and
extend the railways to make products available anywhere in the country
and to promote the national market so that the industrial production
could be stimulated.
Planning of the railway network began with the Ley de Ferrocarriles of
1855. Using foreign capital, a radial network was built in Madrid at its
centre.
Trains reduced transport costs and facilitated national trade, which
gradually replaced local trade.
Because of its dependence on foreign capital, Spain gradually accumulated
more debt and public funds were quickly depleted.
4.5. Financial changes:
In order for the economy to grow, financial institutions (banks, credit
associations) were required to provide capital and loans to business. Most
of them were created using foreign capital because Spain did not have
enough of its own financial resources because of constant wars and the
independence of the colonies.
4.6. Social changes:
Political and economic changes resulted in changes to the structure of
Spanish society. Thanks to liberalism, all citizens were considered equal
before the law, so privileges were lost.
The new social classes were based on wealth. Society was divided into:
The ruling class: They were the richest members of society. That means
the landowning aristocracy of the Old Regime and the wealthy middle
class. They held the nation´s political power and they led a very luxurious
lifestyle.

The middle class: It´s political participation was restricted based on income
until 1890. It was a very diverse social class consisting of two main groups:
➢ Upper middle class: consisted of liberal professionals, teachers, and
those with mid-level ecclesiastical and military positions. Their
political views were normally moderated.
➢ Lower middle class: Consisted of owners of workshops and shops.
They had progressive political ideas.
The working class: It was most of Spanish population. There were two
groups:
➢ Rural working class: This was the largest social group in 19th century
in Spain. They lived in miserable conditions. As a result of this, there
were important peasants revolts.
➢ Urban working class: Consisted of servants, workshops employees
and salaried employees who worked in the tertiary sector
(transport, communications, and trade). As industrialization slowly
progressed, the small number of industrial workers began to
increase. The urban working class worked very long days for very
low wages and they lived in great poverty in poor districts. They
used to support radical urban uprisings.