INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1750-1850)

1) Causes
2) Social effects, pros and cons

First at all, the industrial revolution started in England and it was a period from 1750 to 1850 which marks a turning point on the history of humankind as a consequence of all changes which were produced in terms of agriculture, transporting, mining, and literature too.

Causes

These changes were a result of all the studies and researches in different fields of the science. I would like to remind you that for more than 1500 years the Catholic Church established the rules under the wing of God, that is, people were taught with this whole idea of the fear of god (or the king, remember that the king was a kind of gods agent) and those who didnt follow this ideal, were considered heretics (many of them died burning at the stake).During the XVI century, when the renaissance showed up finally the develop of the science started, so, that is the reason which humankind took so long to step forward. Well, as I said before, the industrial revolution was a result of a lot of researchers made by men like Da vinci or Newton. Therefore, using this knowledge, suddenly new inventions and machines came up; one of them was the vapor train whose invention allowed to connect long distant places, for instance, the trade between cities or countries became closer and powerful. Along with that the French revolution made their part too, changing a whole vision of the world (people chose their governments, not god)

Social effects (Pros and cons)

Before the industry period, youll probably know that the production was made by artisans (shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, etc) who trespass their job from father to son, or master to apprentice. Well, when the mass production took place as a consequence of the factories, their job was considered obsolete (it doesnt mean that factories ended it, in fact still now we have people who made shoes). Then, the modern capitalism appeared and this concept of supply and demand also came at the same time. (Something interesting to point out is that some craft workers who lost their jobs attacked factories with the objective to destroy them, these attacks were called luddities named by Ned Ludd, a folkloric figure)

However, the main problem is that no matter how big or how impressing these machines were, they couldnt work by themselves, they needed to be operated by human and not only one, but many people sometimes. So, the owners of the factories looked for workers so that the industries could develop the products.

In order to look for a best quality of life, lots of people were tempted to start a new life, especially those who lived on the countryside who moved from there to the cities. A new class was born, the middle class.

On the other hand, the industrialization brought with them some problems too which became the B side of this called progress. Many of the employers took advantage of those who were trying to find better life conditions and they offer some jobs but low payment, long journeys and very poor conditions of working. So, the people who worked in factories were treated like robots without rights. Due to this and the population increase, the fathers salary werent enough to feed an all family. Therefore, the other members of the family had to work too. In fact, some businessman didnt discriminate about the age and they employ children too, so the child labor was a constant, and the payment was even lower than the money that an adult could earn for the same work (Children were cheaper than adults). 5 year children worked as hard as an adult. In summary, the industrial revolution didnt put an end to the poverty and the diseases like tuberculosis which spread among the third class people.