Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution Between 1750 and 1850, the development of power-driven machines transformed the lives of people first in Britain and then other European countries and the United States. This period is known as the Industrial Revolution.
Burning the coal to produce steam to power the machines produced choking smoke
Child labor Children as young as six years old worked in the factories, until 1833 when kids under nine were banned. They worked up to 12 or 14 hours a day with few breaks. Sometimes, they were injured or even killed by the machinery.
W O W ! Before the revolution, most people worked as farmers in the fields. Spinning and weaving were done at home. The invention of machines changed this. Thousands of workers seeking more pay moved into the towns to work in the newly built factories, which housed these big machines.
▲ FACTORIES From the 1790s, steam power replaced the previously waterpowered machines. Inside the factories, the noise of the machines was deafening. Outside, the towns were dirty and unhealthy places.
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The Industrial Revolution caused a lot of unrest, especially from the skilled textiles workers angered by the introduction of looms that could be used by unskilled workers for low wages, forcing them out of jobs. One group, known as the Luddites, destroyed the machines in cotton and woolen mills.
Cotton gin The US became the world’s leading cotton producer thanks to the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. This machine could quickly separate the cotton fibers from the seeds, which used to take ages to do by hand.
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Canals were built to transport the heavy loads to and from the factories. The boat lifts on the Canal du Centre, Wallonia, in Belgium show the amazing engineering feats of this age.
Railroad mania In 1804, Richard Trevithick added wheels to his steam engine so it could run along tracks. Within thirty years, a network of railroads for transporting raw materials, goods, and people by steam locomotives was constructed. Traveling now became much quicker.
WHO’S WHO?
■ James Watt (1736–1819) A Scottish engineer who made improvements to the steam engine in 1769 so that machines could be powered without water. ■ Eli Whitney (1765–1825) An American inventor who designed the cotton gin while staying on a plantation in the southern states.
■ Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817) An American merchant who established the first textile mill in the United States.
■ George Stephenson (1781–1848) An English engineer who built the first public railroad line in the world.
■ Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) A British engineer who designed many tunnels, bridges, railroad lines, and ships.

TIMELINE OF INDUSTRIAL INVENTIONS

1712 Thomas Newcomen built the first commercially successful steam engine. It was used to pump water out of mines.
1764 James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny— a mechanized spinning wheel that could spin eight threads at once.
1779 Samuel Crompton’s water- powered, spinning “mule” was bought by many factory owners.
1785 Textile weaving could be done much faster by Edmund Cartwright’s power loom.
1793 The world’s first all-steam passenger railroad opened in Britain.
Raw cotton could be produced much faster with Eli Whitney’s cotton gin.
1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard’s loom was the first machine to be controlled by punched cards— an idea later used in computing.
1830 The world’s first all-steam passenger railroad opened in Britain.
World War I
At the beginning of the 1900s, military and political tensions existed between some of the countries of Europe. The assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was the spark needed to fire up a war that involved the world.
MILITARY TRANSPORTATION
■ Aircraft: Biplanes and triplanes were used to fly over enemy lines to observe their movements and take photographs.
■ Vehicles: Horse-drawn vehicles were gradually replaced by mechanical ones to transport men and supplies to and from the front line.
■ Tanks: The first tanks used in 1916 were not very reliable, but a year later they were leading the way across to the enemy trenches, shielding the troops.
■ Warships: Fleets of warships were used to protect supply ships from attacks by the German U-boats.
World at war Although most of the fighting took place in Europe, there was also fighting in the Middle East, in Africa, and in the German colonies in China and the Pacific Ocean.
WHO’S WHO?
■ Two main groups battled each other— the Allies led by the British, French, and Russian armies, and the Central Powers led by the German, Austria-Hungary, and Turkish armies.
■ The British and French armies included many recruits from their colonies and territories around the world.
■ In total, nearly 30 countries were drawn in to take part in the fighting. ■ The US joined the war in 1917.
THE FRONT LINE
By the end of 1914, a network of trenches zigzagged from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border, forming the Western Front. From these positions, the Allied troops tried to push back the advancing German army, but neither side made much progress. Under fire from machine guns, the strip of land between each other’s trenches was impossible to cross.
▶ CROSSING NO-MAN’S-LAND Most attempts to advance occurred at dawn or dusk.