idustry essays

idustry essays The European scene at the beginning of the eighteenth century is much different than it is today. Densely populated cities in countries such as England and France were merely farm towns two hundred years ago. What caused what used to be cultivated open fields to turn into populous towns? These question can all be answered and explained by the Industrial Revolution. The word revolution implies a suddenness of change that is not, in fact, characteristic of economic processes. But the phrase Industrial Revolution has long been used by historians and has become embedded in common speech (Ashton 2). A revolution implied by historians is just a change of the old way, not necessarily a fast change, or a violent overthrow. Englands Industrial Revolution does not have set dates. It is said that Englands Industrial Revolution began around 1780 with Britains prosperous colonies and expanding Atlantic economy. Some critics claim that there wasnt an industrial revolution, and some challenge the naming of the period. In Phyllis Deanes book, The First Industrial Revolution, she outlines three main points in which an economy which experienced an industrial revolution differs from its pre-industrialized counterpart. This essay will use Deanes three main points and prove that there was a revolution and the timing and naming are all appropriate. In Deanes book, the first point is industrial and social structure. In spite of the urban development associated with commerce and industry, the population of Europe was still predominantly rural in 1750. Agriculture was the chief occupation of the overwhelming majority of the people. Each family raised their own food and the materials for their clothing, such as wool, linen, and leather, and secured materials for building, furniture, and fuel from the communal waste or forest (Dietz 12). By 1850, Britain was certainly industrialized in ...