Britain

The Industrial Revolution that began in Great Britain marked a distinct break with the continuity of economic life that had dominated the Western world for centuries. In the early 18th century, Great Britain’s economy was similar to that of other nations in Europe, characterized by a heavy reliance on an agricultural system supplemented by basic handicrafts and localized commerce and mercantile activity. Spurred by a combination of favorable conditions, within the space of one century (1750-1850), Great Britain had erased the long-standing era of agrarian dominance and replaced it with a modern industrial and urban society. By 1850 Great Britain had become the wealthiest nation on earth and achieved a position of power and influence that no other country could rival. The booming cotton textiles, mining, and iron-producing industries brought about the transition, and new energy sources of coal and steam powered machines that were increasingly sophisticated replaced the age-old reliance on man, animal, wind, and water power. Great Britain’s labor-intensive agrarian society gave way to a capital-intensive economy that was dominated by machine manufacturing, new arrangements to perform labor, and industry characterized by the factory system. These changes had enormous consequences and not only fundamentally altered the way the British people worked and sustained themselves but also changed Great Britain’s physical landscape, political and social institutions, and the nation’s outlook and relationship with the wider world. Indeed, the Great Britain of the mid-19th century had developed its own special setting and bore little resemblance to the nation of just a few generations earlier.