Essay On The Industrial Revolution In Great Britain

The industrial revolution in Great Britain

The industrial revolution took place all around the world, from the 17th century to the late 19th. It changed the usual rural society into a modern and industrial one. The first country where the industrial revolution began was the Great Britain, as it has the legal conditions for this movement to take off. One of the most important reasons was the population rising. It doubled in less than one century. Even if it wasn’t the unique country with population growth, it was the place in the best position to meet this crowd’s demands. Secondly, it has all of the raw materials required for this kind of revolution, like coal, iron, wool, and cotton, which came mostly from the colonies (Britain was the greatest colonial power in the 1850s). On the other hand, there was the political cause: because of the war with France, the British island was cut off from the rest of Europe. Accordingly, the population had to learn how to manufacture the goods that they needed themselves, and even to find new trade routes. These …show more content…
All these changes transformed the lifestyle of the population, from the richer ones to those who were very poor. The greatest improvement in their lifestyle touched particularly the middle and upper classes. Cities became more developed, and networks of ships, canals and railroads were built. But the poor people, the ones who worked in the factories weren’t so happy. People had to work too many hours, for too little remuneration and all this in horrible conditions. Managers tended to recruit children and women because they could be hired for low wages. For example, one-fifth of workers was kids under 15 years. Hopefully, by the late 1800s conditions started to improve thanks to the governmental new labor reforms that limited the allowing number of working hours and obliged recruiters to pay a decent