Industrial Revolution – Presentation Notes

The New Middle Class

• Professionals – political influence expanded exponentially

throughout the nineteenth century.
• Shopkeepers prided themselves on not doing manual work and
owning property, even though their income level was far below
that of other middle-class people.
• Some of the middle class expanded their enterprises and
prospered in the growing cities; others did not believe in the
industrialization and lost in the end because of their
unwillingness to work in cities and “get with the program”
• The middle class gained so much power that in the end, their
power was largely out of proportion to their population

Decline of Aristocracy

• Stimulated growth in wealth and population of middle class

• From 1750-1850, bourgeoisie “created more massive and more
colossal productive forces than had been produced by all
generations put together” – Karl Marx
• Placed middle class into position of power because of economic
growth
• Wealth generated by new productive forces placed bourgeoisie
into commanding position, enabled leaders to assert significant
amount of power

Middle Class Drive for Power

• Britain, France, and Low Countries – middle class gained power of

government by 1830s and 1840s
 • Central Europe – industrialization was slower, middle class did
not gain power until later in the century
• Middle class drive for power was unstoppable, all European
leaders had to recognize them either by granting political
representation or changing laws in their favor

Nonconformity of Artisans

• Artisans do not fit perfectly into any one social group; they are
neither lower nor middle class
• Artisans possessed specific traditional skills, which resulted from
long apprenticeships and enforcement of high standards of
workmanship by artisan guilds
• Normally carried productive operation by themselves or with
other artisans
• Differed from regular factory workers in that they prided
themselves on being able to complete an entire product, not just
contribute one step toward final product

Displacement of Artisans

• Many artisans were unaffected by the Industrial Revolution

○ In 1850, there were as many artisans as factory workers in
Britain
○ In France, many people were opposed to mass-producing
goods
○ Artisans remained an important group
• In some instances, the process of industrialization competed with
the artisans’ skills
• Sometimes, the artisans could not compete with the efficiency of
machines
○ Some were forced to work long hours at home
○ Others gave up and worked in factories
 • Some of the riots and revolutions during the first half of the
nineteenth century in Europe were started by artisans

Rhythm of Work

• In Britain by 1850, only about 20% of population was employed

in agriculture – dramatic decline from 80-90% that was typical in
1750
• Steady shift of population from countryside to cities
• Work schedules were governed by the clock instead of by the
sun and seasons
• Employers controlled their workers and efficiency by strict time-
keeping
• Middle class employees carried pocket watches to help follow
increasingly time-regulated schedules
• Time itself became standardized – Greenwich Mean Time was
adopted as a universal base zone for the entire globe in 1884

The Advent of Railways

• Europeans viewed railways and locomotives with a sense of

wonder and fear
• “Some authors speculated about the medical risks posed by
travel at the previously unheard of speeds of fifteen or twenty
miles per hour.”
• King Frederick William III of Prussia initially worried about the
“democratic” effects of railway travel, but eventually began
using trains himself because of their speed and efficiency

New Inventions

• The 1851 Great Exhibition was held in London

○ Showcased Britain’s technological and economic
advancements
 • It was held in the Crystal Palace, a huge iron and glass building
covering 19 acres and reaching a height of 108 feet at its peak
• Over 14 months, more than 14,000 exhibitors displayed more
than 100,000 objects from Britain, its empire, and other parts of
the world
• More than 6 million visitors of all classes attended from all over
Europe, and many of them traveled by means of… you guessed
it, the new network of railroads

Alleviation of Famine

• Industrialization helped mitigate hunger and famine

• In the pre-industrial age, European countries suffered from
famine due to crop failures
• In 1847, Prussia and Germany suffered from widespread
malnutrition because of poor harvests
• Between 1845 and 1851, a more serious famine occurred in
Ireland, where a potato failure led to about a million deaths and
caused about 2 million people to move away
• Since the 1850s, Europe has been mostly free of famine because
of two major factors:
○ Increase in overall prosperity
○ Improvement of transportation networks
• The fact that most Europeans have enough food to feed
themselves generously, even in times of rapid population growth,
is testimony to the long-term benefits of the Industrial Revolution