Industrial Revolution: Key Concepts and Terms

Posted on Mar 6, 2025 in History

1. The Agricultural Revolution

1. What was the agricultural revolution? – Changes in agricultural production

2. Cultivation System

2. What new cultivation system is shown in the graph on the right? – Norfolk system

3. Definition Exercise

3. Ejercicio de definir:

  • fallow: land that has been left unseeded
  • fodder: food for livestock
  • furrow: a groove made in the ground
  • harvest: gathering of crops
  • plough: a tool used in farming
  • reap: to cut (wheat, rye, etc.)
  • thresh: to separate the grains or seeds by some mechanical means
  • weed: a valueless plant growing wild

4. Capitalist Company

4. Describe como funciona una empresa capitalista…..

The anonymous capital of a company is divided into actions, which are in possession of the shareholders who have proportional vote in the board of directors and who receive part of the benefits.

5. Complete the Sentences

5. Completa las frases:

  1. There were no labour laws to regulate working conditions or wages
  2. Women and children worked under the same conditions as men
  3. If a worker was ill, he was not paid

6. Multiple Choice Test

6. Tipo test:

  1. It was made up of business owners: a) high bourgeoisie
  2. It was made of … – b)
  3. It consisted of employees – c)
  4. It was the new ruling class – a)
  5. Their living conditions… – c)
  6. They replaced… – a)

7. Text Completion Exercise

6. Ejercicio de completar un texto:

  • demographic revolution
  • grasses, food
  • The imputmens famines
  • defined, grew
  • life expectancies, 50 years
  • Great Britain
  • Europe, 140 m., 187 millions

8. Alison’s Questions

7. Preguntas de Alison:

  1. How were the labour conditions…? – Tough
  2. When did boys and girls of working…? – 7-8 years
  3. How long did the work last? – 12-14
  4. When did the Industrial Revolutions…? – 1760
  5. Why was the expansion…? – technological innovations, development of trade, rise of business
  6. Why did the agricultural workers…? – Agricultural productivity improved
  7. Who were the Luddites? – Workers who destroyed machines
  8. What was the role of relief? – They helped workers in the event of illness or unemployment
  9. When was the first workers…? – 1824
  10. When was the Gran National…? – 1834. Tasks: right of association, improvement of wages, reduction of the working day
  11. What were they requesting? – Right of association, minimum wage rates
  12. What arguments did they use? – Wages are declining
  13. In which economic system…? – Capitalism
  14. Which thinker is considered…? – Adam Smith
  15. What are the basic principles of…? – Private property, free initiative of individuals, etc.
  16. What does economic liberalism…? – Minimal intervention

9. Industrial Revolution Overview

8. a) What was the Industrial Revolution? What changes took place…?

Change based on the mechanization of production

Changes: agricultural revolution, demographic revolution, technical innovations

b) What are mechanization and the factory system?

Mechanization: use of machinery

Factory system: workers were concentrated in factories

First sectors: textile and iron

c) What changes took place in transport?

Invention of railways and steamboats

d) What is capitalism? And class society?

Capitalism: economic system based on private property, free initiative, etc.

Class society: society organized into two groups (bourgeoisie and proletariat), based on wealth

e) What new models of society did Marxists…?

Marxists: workers state a communist society

Anarchists: abolition of the state

10. Definition Exercise

9. Ejercicio de definir:

  • Norfolk system: it was based on a combination of cereal and fodder crops
  • Urbanization: urban explosion because of the industrial revolution
  • Trade union: workers united to defend their rights
  • Enclosure Acts: laws that concentrated the land ownership
  • Anarchism: it advocated the abolition of the state
  • Suez Canal: canal that facilitated trade with India

11. Differentiating Concepts

10. Ejercicio de diferenciar:

  • High bourgeoisie / petty bourgeoisie: factory owners, the wealthiest / artisans, the poorest bourgeois
  • Capitalism / Marxism: Marxism wanted the destruction of capitalism
  • First International / Second International: anarchist and Marxist international / Marxist international