The Second Industrial Revolution, 1820 - 1900

steam engine

A power source that burned coal and produced steam pressure. First used in the early eighteenth century to pump water out of coal mines, it came to be used to drive machinery as diverse as the bellows of iron forges, looms for textile manufacture, and mills for grain, and, in the nineteenth century, as a source of locomotive power.

Bessemer Process

A process, invented in the 1850s by the English engineer Henry Bessemer,that allowed steel to be produced more cheaply and in larger quantities.

factory system

A system of production created in order to better supervise labor. In the factory system, workers came to a central location and worked with the machines under the supervision of managers.

division of labor

A technique whereby formerly complex tasks that required knowledge and skill were broken down into a series of simple tasks, aided by machines.

internal combustion engine

Developed in 1886 by two German engineers, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, it burned petroleum as fuel and, when mounted on a carriage, was used to create the automobile.

railway boom

The rapid development of a railway system, beginning in Britain in the 1830s. The development of railway systems further spurred the development of heavy industries, as railroads facilitated the speedy transportation of iron and steel while simultaneously consuming large quantities of both.

Second Industrial Revolution

The second phase of industrialization, lasting from roughly 1820 to 1900, was characterized by the advent of large-scale iron and steel production, the application of the steam engine, and the development of a railway system.

class consciousness

The sense of belonging to a "working class" that developed among European workers during the Second Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century; a result of their working together in factories and living together in isolated slums.