industrial revolution paper

7/27/2019 Industrial Revolution Paper

1/5

1

We have Britain to thank for starting the Industrial Revolution, and all its many effects.

This is because Britain had all the necessary requirements for such a feat; a good supply of

natural resources, strategic sea location and good transport network, a relatively strong bank and

limited liability business practice, a market monopoly, and so many more other reasons. It also

did not hurt that Britain had been one of the safest places for the Scientific Revolution to occur,

and so was open to more innovation. It then eventually spread throughout the Western

Hemisphere and the United States and led to long-lasting ripples of political liberalism

(originating in France) and economic liberalism (from Britain) in one way or the other

throughout the world. It also led to Western domination of the world by the end of the nineteenth

century.

It is my impression that although the intent was to encourage economic liberalism, once

situations did not work out in their favor, the more industrialized countries resorted to

rearranging and monopolizing their new markets. India is a perfect example of this situation.

Britain had already been its imperial power before the Industrial Revolution through the British

East India Company, so it made sense that it would want to sell its finished products like cotton

cloth in Indias large market. Turns out that India, not only produced it, but was also one of the

largest exporters of cotton cloth in the world, and that was a problem. Britain then brought in less

expensive cloth from its factories, lowered demand for Indian cloth among Indians, and led to

the decline of the Indian textile industry. The now unemployed Indian workers resorted to

working farms, harvesting raw materials like cotton, and Britain benefitted from that too by

exporting home.

Latin Americans resented the Spanish and Portuguese rule they were subjected to because

powers drained them of their economic resources, and dominated their trade. Haiti was the first


2/5

1

successful rebellion towards freedom. In Mexico, January 1861, when President Benito Juarez

rose to power, he realized is because the treasury was practically empty, and so decided to

suspend all payments for a two year period to the foreign investors in his country; Britain, Spain

and France. Spanish, British and French troops landed in Vera Cruz. Spain and Britain were

there to protect their financial interests, and France had conquest in mind. The French troops

fought for two years, eventually captured Mexico City in June 1863, and placed Archduke

Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican throne. This takeover had been facilitated because North

America had been involved in the Civil War, and so could not practice the Monroe Doctrine, but

by 1865, it got involved. The effect was that it scared the French troops off, leaving Emperor

Maximilian in Mexico to fend for himself. He got killed and the people of Mexico returned to

liberal nationalism.

Once more, we return to the economic-turned-political issue between Britain and India.

The problem this time around was how to maximize revenue with the most minimal cost, and

Britain decided that for that to happen, India would have to be westernized so they craved British

goods even more than before. That too, turned out to be costly, and in order to fill the revenue

gap, they made India grow opium, a very addictive drug, and it was sent to China for sale.

Chinese officials asked Queen Victoria to stop supplying the illegal drug to its people, and when

that did not work, the Chinese government set out aggressive measures to punish whoever was

involved in the trade, including British subjects. Britain then used that as an excuse to start the

Opium wars (1839-1842) against China. Once they won, the British got China to open up five

trading ports for them, limit tariffs on imported British goods, and cover a substantial amount of

the wars cost. The British also got the island of Hong Kong, and nothing changed concerning the

sale of opium in Chinai. Despite their overwhelming success against China, Britain woefully lost


3/5

1

all but one of its men in the Afghan wars (1839-1842), and this, among other religious reasons

inspired the Indian mutiny of 1857. This was quickly contained in the North of the country, and

British reinforcements arrived quickly, and triumphed against the Indians. The British then

decided to take complete control of India from the British East India Company.

Politically, the period after Waterloo also led to the creation of political factions and

ideologies in Europe. For examples, two groups of conservatives arose; there were the

reactionary conservatives who feared the changes that nationalism and liberalism were bringing;

they wanted to go back to the old system. A good representative of this group was Prince

Klemens von Metternich, Austrian foreign minister, who was a leader at the Congress of Vienna,

and later, the Concert of Europe. On the other hand, there were the moderate conservatives

(especially in Britain), who disliked the bloodshed of the French Revolution, and wanted

changes to happen slowly. Edmund Burke was a big supporter of this. As far as liberalism goes,

both moderate and radical liberalists believed in the protection of civil rights, religious toleration

for all, separation of Church and State, universal male suffrage, and a laissez-faire economy. On

the other hand, Nationalism was simply a desire for each people to obtain their own state, bring

unity to it, and then be in unity with other states. This desire threatened the existing political

order and led to a few revolts; Belgium revolted against the Dutch Republic to establish a

constitutional monarchy in 1815. In France, this resulted in the overthrow of the Bourbon

dynasty, and the creation of a constitutional monarchy under Louis-Philippe (1830-1848). When

his government did not make changes appropriate with their current economic situation, the

French overthrew him, created a new constitution, and elected Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as

their President. This turned out to be a bad move because four short years later; he converted


4/5


5/5

1

and there were a lot of revolts as countries such as Germany, Italy, Hungary, and the Hapsburgs

of Prussia fought either among themselves, or their imperial controllers for political stability.

End Notes

i William Duiker, Jackson Speilvogel, World History Volume II: Since 1500, 649

iiWilliam Duiker, Jackson Speilvogel, World History Volume II: Since 1500, 739

industrial revolution paper

Documents