Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is a period of history that is generally considered to cover the latter decades of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The period is imprecise, as is the identification of the Second Industrial Revolution which followed it.

In brief, an industrial revolution (uncapitalised) is the transition from an agrarian economy where the majority of the population is geared towards subsistence to an industrial economy with a greater focus on manufacturing. The Industrial Revolution is the name applied to the transition in Great Britain when the combination of mercantile activity with overseas colonies supported by energetic inventors and entrepreneurs harnessed the natural resources of coal, iron and water to create a manufacturing industry that was dominant in the western world. The British Industrial Revolution was closely followed by industrial revolutions in continental Europe, and in the newly fledged United States, with the United States and the newly federated Germany being the major players in the Second Industrial Revolution.

Revolution in context

In the western world, the 18th century saw the revolutionary overthrow of political establishments in America (1775-1783) and France (1789-1799). There were some attempts to foment political revolution in Great Britain following these examples, however Gareth Stedman Jones traces the origin of 'industrial revolution' to French sources (la révolution industrielle), before Arnold Toynbee's lectures (1881) and subsequent book sealed the phrase in the English language.

Dating of the Industrial Revolution is fraught: the effects were not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s according to Eric Hobsbawm, who felt that it 'broke out' in the 1780s, while T.S. Ashton places it roughly between 1760 and 1830.

The case has also been made that the 1769 patent of James Watt's condensing steam engine marks the start, with the patent for the Richard Arkwright water frame falling in the same year.