Industrial Revolutions and Societal Shifts: 18th-20th Centuries

Posted on Dec 20, 2024 in Geography

First Industrial Revolution: Technical Improvements

The replacement of human and animal force mechanics was made possible by a series of technical innovations. The main areas in which there were technical innovations were energy (Watt’s steam engine), textiles (cotton spinning and weaving), metallurgy (blast furnaces, etc.), and finally, transport (Stephenson’s locomotive). The division of labor resulted in a significant increase in productivity and lower manufacturing costs, resulting in turn in lower prices and a growing number of consumers.

Textiles

The cotton industry was the engine of the First Industrial Revolution after incorporating important innovations into the processes of spinning and weaving, shifting in magnitude to that of wool. In 1733, Kay invented the flying shuttle loom. Later, the spinning sector saw the introduction of the Spinning Jenny by Hargreaves (1765) and Arkwright’s Water Frame (1767). In 1779, Crompton invented the Mule Jenny, a fusion between the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame. Three events contributed to this success:

  1. The ban on imports of cotton fabrics from India, the main competitor of England.
  2. The existence of large cotton plantations in North America.

The Ironworks Sector

It played a less significant role than textiles at the beginning of industrialization. The iron industry was closely linked with coal mining. It was this mineral (coal, coke) which replaced wood as fuel. The steel industry had settled where there were coal mines. Some innovations include Thomas’ kiln, lamination, and puddling.

Commercial Expansion

It intervened in the growth of a population that increased demand for goods, improving transport and communication channels (river channels, roads, and later, railways) and the abolition of internal customs barriers.

Second Industrial Revolution: Electricity

Electrical energy was very important because it prevented many types of industries from having to be linked to the coal mines. Electricity is clean, powerful, easy to transport, and could be used in many fields (lighting, machinery, communications, etc.). It also enabled a revolution in communications, with the telephone, telegraph, and radio. The cinema and photography were developed. In the field of transport, electricity was used as an energy source for the tram and metro, besides being used to enlighten people in their work. Power was distributed to street lighting and some affluent homes. Little by little, it was extending its use to transport, to factories, and for commercial uses, while beginning its inclusion in every household.

Crude oil was used in lighting before the development of the internal combustion engine, with tires that led to the car. The massive use of oil and its derivatives had an enormous economic and political impact, since the Europeans started to use an energy source that they did not have in their own territory. That prompted them to expand their commercial and political interests to other continents where there was oil (Colonialism). Therefore, from the beginning, oil was an oligopoly. The use of refining and petroleum products was increasingly intense, especially since 1890. This was due to the invention of the diesel engine and the explosion engine.

Transport

The railway also remained the most used terrestrial media. For their part, the Europeans built railroads in those colonies from which they wanted to get raw materials (e.g., India). In the mid-nineteenth century, the Spanish railway network also began to be built. The railroads helped to link the production areas. The development of naval transport was also very notable, but more important was the systematic application of steam turbines and metal hull vessels. The huge transatlantic metal vessels moved by steam power revolutionized freight and passenger traffic, making it quicker and cheaper.

Old Regime

It is the set of political, legal, social, and economic features that marked Europe and its colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries. It is characterized as an era dominated by a feudal economy based on agriculture, where the government is an absolute monarchy and society is governed by a class system.

Enlightened Absolutism

This constituted a way of government trying to reconcile absolutism with the new ideas of the Enlightenment. It developed during the second half of the eighteenth century. To carry it out, a series of reforms were implemented that somehow sought to modernize economic, administrative, educational, judicial, and military structures in their respective states. This, however, respected the essence of the absolutist regime and the class division of society.

The Enlightenment

This was a philosophical movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that criticized the Old Regime and tried to introduce new thinking whose characteristics are as follows:

  1. Reason is the only way to get to the truth. The author who criticized intolerance and fanaticism in the religion of his time even harder was Voltaire.
  2. Progress allows the advancement of humanity in an evolutionary and indefinite manner.
  3. Nature is the source of all that is genuine, real, and authentic.
  4. Happiness is a commodity to which every man has a right and is an end in itself.

Demographic Revolution

It is mainly due to two causes:

  1. Maintaining high rates of birth.
  2. The decline of catastrophic mortality.

Two factors contributed to this:

  1. The increased availability of food and the elimination of subsistence crises due to increasing productivity.
  2. Hygienic, health, and medical advances.

Agricultural Revolution

Improvements in agriculture are mainly due to two changes:

  1. Open fields are replaced by enclosures.
  2. The application of the “Norfolk system,” which is a four-year crop rotation (wheat, barley, turnips, and clover).

Other changes that improved agriculture were the introduction of new tools (seed drill or machine-iron plow).

Economic Liberalism

The principles of economic liberalism were set out by British authors and expanded upon by nineteenth-century scholars. The most important representative was Adam Smith, who published the essay “On the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” Adam Smith argued that:

  1. Society is composed of individuals, not estates or classes.
  2. Personal interest is the engine of all economic activity, identified for the most direct and natural interest with the general interest.
  3. Various individual interests are balanced in the market thanks to the mechanism of prices; supply automatically adapts to demand.
  4. Nothing should impede the free play of individual activities and the natural mechanisms of the economy. The state should refrain from intervention and eliminate protectionist barriers and monopolies that hamper the development of free trade.

Capitalism

Eighteenth-century capitalism is a system in which the instruments of production (factories, machinery, and property stocks) are predominantly private property. The majority of the population, the proletariat, has no property and must sell its labor force for a salary to live. Capitalist property requires workers to produce more than they earn. Capitalism is, according to liberal principles, a free enterprise system with the objective of seeking maximum individual benefit. Individual interests concur in the market, regulated only by supply and demand. Competition between employers to conquer the market leads to a real race to reduce costs and prices, providing the incentive for constant technological renewal.

The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

The bourgeoisie emerged as the ruling class of this new society, instead of the old privileged, after a series of revolutionary waves that occurred throughout the nineteenth century and which enabled it to impose its values and ways of life. The economic doctrine that underpinned such prosperity was liberalism. The proletariat (without property and therefore needing to sell their labor power in exchange for a salary) was subjected to overexploitation, which enabled employers to build up huge fortunes.

French Revolution (Causes)

A-Economic:

  1. Price increases in greater proportion than salaries.
  2. Grain shortages.
  3. Unemployment and beggary.
  4. Popular resistance to tithe.
  5. Difficulties of the nobility to maintain its high standard of living.

B-Social:

  1. Revolt of the nobility.
  2. Discontent of the Third Estate.

C-Political crisis

Phases of the French Revolution

1 – The Revolt of the Privileged

The protagonists were the aristocracy and clergy who opposed the proposals of the minister of Louis XVI. To avoid bankruptcy of the Treasury, he projected a fiscal reform that incorporated the privileged as contributors. The two groups opposed the king and requested the convening of the Estates-General, an assembly in which the common people also had representation.

2 – The Estates-General (1789)

They met at Versailles on May 5, 1789, in order to solve the financial problem. The common people requested reforms through notebooks called Cahiers de Doléances. The common people argued that the vote should be done individually, to which both the nobility and the clergy refused. Faced with such rejection, the representatives of the Third Estate chose to meet separately, which they did via the National Assembly.

3 – The National Assembly (1789-1791)

Faced with pressure to dissolve the National Assembly, on June 20, 1789, the members vowed not to separate until they had drawn up a constitution for France. From that moment, the National Assembly became the Constituent Assembly. The people of Paris supported this with the Storming of the Bastille (July 14). The riots quickly spread throughout France.

4 – The Constituent Assembly

  1. Abolished the privileges of the estate-based society.
  2. Abolished feudal rights.
  3. Stated the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, national sovereignty, liberty, and equality.
  4. Drafted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
  5. Promulgated the Constitution of 1791, which established national sovereignty, the division of powers, and census suffrage.

5 – The Legislative Assembly (1791-1792)

Economic weakness internally. Counterrevolution externally. Start of the war with Austria and Prussia, supporting Louis XVI. Assault on the Tuileries. Elections are held for a new government.

6 – The National Convention (1792-1794)

The Legislative Assembly was replaced by universal suffrage for the National Convention. It abolished the monarchy and established a Republic. Two stages:

1 – The Gironde (September 1792-June 1793). While it lasted, the Convention was dominated by the moderate Girondins. They defeated the Prussians (Valmy), but the pressure from the radical Jacobins forced the execution of the King (January 1793), boosting the European offensive, led by England.

2 – The Jacobin (June 1793-July 1794). At this stage, the most excited seized power, ousting the Girondins, who were persecuted and many killed. Among the new leaders stood the figure of Robespierre. Through a Revolutionary Tribunal, a terror regime was established during which more than 16,000 people were guillotined, including even moderate leaders like Danton or Hébert. In July, a coup led by the centrist deputies (the Plain) deposed Robespierre and had him executed. The revolutionary rise of France was disrupted and delved into a moderate stage.

7 – The Directory (1795-1799) and Napoleon Bonaparte

Following the execution of Robespierre and other Jacobin elements, the revolution entered a moderate phase. A new constitution was drafted in 1795, and the formula of the Directory was tested. A military man of prestige, Napoleon Bonaparte, prepared a criminal, civil, and commercial code, defended equality before the law and the right of ownership.

Political Liberalism

  1. Liberals are opposed to absolute power.
  2. They are in favor of a parliamentary system, the separation of powers, and national sovereignty represented by the courts or parliament.
  3. The constitution is the fundamental rule and defines the basic principles related to individuals, society, and the state.

Anarchism

It defends the freedom of the individual as an antithesis to all that represents authority, the destruction of the state and the army, and a model where individuals associate freely. It also defends equality, opposes the existence of private property of the means of production, advocates for community property, and organizes society into communes.

Marxism

Karl Marx presents the history of mankind as a process of some classes holding power over others. Alienation is a concept that characterizes both the process and outcomes of transforming, under certain historical conditions, the products of human activity. Man is primarily a social being, that is, he is defined as a producer, a transformer of nature.

First International

It was founded in London in 1864 but soon disappeared, mainly because of the persecution suffered by governments. Finally, the anarchists were expelled from the International. Responsible for formulating its statutes was Karl Marx.

Second International

It was founded in Paris in 1889. Their main demand was to get the working day of 8 hours, and May 1 was established as an international day of protest. It soon disappeared, eventually leading to World War I, which saw the failure of the International. It adopted a clear socialist Marxist ideology.

The Economic Exploitation of the Colonies

From 1870, the Second Industrial Revolution took place, which caused countries to:

a) Seek new markets for their products.

b) Require plenty of raw materials for industry at low prices.

c) Want to invest their capital where they can get more profit.

As a result: Countries with more development took to occupying and controlling Africa and Asia in particular (colonialism). Colonizing countries included Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the USA, and Japan.

Other Causes of Colonialism

a) Demographic causes: Excessive population. The colony allows emigration of a sector of the population in search of a better life in the metropolis, which avoids social conflicts (work stoppages, protests, etc.).

b) Strategic causes: They want to control certain areas of the planet, strategic locations for trade or political-military domination.

c) For reasons of prestige: Powers embarked on this colonial policy to enhance their prestige and develop their national pride.

The Consequences of Colonialism

1. For the metropolis:

a) Despite the large investments that have to be made, they are positive because they send the surplus population and avoid social conflicts.

b) It is a guaranteed source of raw materials (it keeps industrial development going and prevents the crisis of overproduction) and a secure market.

2. For the colonies: There will be positive and negative consequences.

a) Impact on the geographic context: ports, roads, and railway networks begin to be built.

Types of Colonial Organization

1-Colonies of exploitation: (They did not have autonomy in their government)

  • The settlers appropriated land dedicated to large monoculture plantations (coffee, sugar, cocoa) or to exploit its mineral wealth.
  • The labor force was made up of Indians who were in a situation of slavery.
  • The metropolis had the exclusive right to exploit the resources and market them.
  • The administration was carried out by a governor, military personnel, and officials of European origin.

2-Colonies of settlement: (They had autonomy in their government) Populated by people from the metropolis, they were granted some autonomy in their government.

3-Protectorates: (Territories controlled by military personnel and civil servants) Territories where indigenous authorities remained, controlled by military personnel and civil servants.

Racial Segregation

The European and indigenous populations lived in separate quarters. Mixed marriages were forbidden. In some cases, such as South Africa, legal segregation of different ethnic groups was applied (apartheid).

The Treaty of Versailles

Of the five treaties that ended the war, the Treaty of Versailles, which regulated peace with Germany, is the most important. The different positions of the allies on the treatment that should be given to Germany raised controversy. On the one hand, France, part of whose territory had been ravaged and had suffered great losses, wanted to secure its borders and was in favor of imposing very severe conditions on Germany. On the other hand, the United Kingdom, which wanted to prevent French hegemony in Europe, insisted on improving the German political and economic situation. Finally, France gave up some of its demands in return for Wilson and Lloyd George defending a treaty that was unfavorable to Germany.

Scramble for Africa

Bismarck convened the Conference of Berlin. One of the agreements was that countries with more settlements would have preference to conquer militarily inland and give formal communication. Germany had fewer possessions because it arrived late, but as a great industrial power, it needed them.

Causes of World War I

1. The policy of alliances, led by Germany to promote the creation of two opposing blocs (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente) and eventually lead to a period known as the Armed Peace, where the various powers were rearming for a war that did not yet exist.

2. The competition for the search for markets for their industrial products. During the period before the war, fighting to get colonies was very frequent. The last of them, and one that convulsed the situation, was the Moroccan problem.

3. The rivalry for influence zones.

4. Opposition to their political systems: Austria and Germany had authoritarian rule, while Britain and France had democratic rule.

5. The desire for liberation of nationalities under the dominion of the great empires.

6. The press: few people wanted a war except certain sensationalist writers who slowly began to forge the idea that sooner or later war would break out, so some of the statesmen of some countries were willing to unleash it.

7. The crises in Morocco and the Balkans, particularly the latter, would be the trigger for the situation.