The Industrial Revolution

2. What were the reasons that the Industrial Revolution came to England first?

2. Some reasons the Industrial Revolution came to England first was because of the Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century. The changes in the methods of farming and stock breeding that characterized this agricultural transformation led to a significant increase in food production. Also, the rapid population growth in the second half of the 18th century provided a pool of surplus labor for the new factories of the emerging British Industry.

3. What English manufacturing products were most in demand? Why? What were they most in demand?

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4. What were "cotton industries" and how were they effected by the Industrial Revolution?

4. The "cottage Industry" is a system of textiles manufacturing in which spinners and weavers worked at home in their cottages using raw materials supplied to them by capitalist entrepreneurs. Cottage Industries were effected by the revolution because the factories demanded a new, rigorous discipline geared to the requirements of the machines. The people who worked out of their homes were losing business because of the new factories.

1. In what ways was the Industrial Revolution revolutionary?

1. The Industrial Revolution was revolutionary because it transformed the economic and social structure of Europe. The revolution called for new ways of organizing human labor and to maximize the benefits and profits from the new machines. The new source of energy power is now coal and steam which replaced wind and water to run machines.

5. Why would European industrialized nations deliberately seek to stop Industry from coming to their colonies?

5. European industrialized nations deliberately seeked to stop industry from coming to their colonies because they did not share some of the advantages that had made Britain's Industrial Revolution possible. The lack of good roads and problems with river transit made transportation difficult. Global entrepreneurs were generally less enthusiastic than British counterparts and tended to follow traditional business attitudes. Corporation restrictions were also more common.

6. Why was the potato critical to the Irish? What was the cause of the "Potato Famine" in Ireland. What were the results of the "Potato Famine?"

6. The potato was so critical to the Irish because at the time, the Irish were living in poverty and the potato is a nutritious and relatively easy food to grow that produced three times as much food acer acre as grain. This was a basic essential that enabled them to survive and even expand in numbers. About an acre or two could feed a family, which influenced the Irish to get married and have children earlier than usual. In the summer of 1845, the potato crop in Ireland was struck by blight due to a fungus that turned the potatoes black. After this, more than a million people died of starvation and disease, and almost 2 million emigrated to the United States and Britain.