Industrialization and Its Consequences: The Modern

Revolution

c. 1750 to c. 1900

Autocatalysis

• Over the course of human society, change became “autocatalytic”.

• A catalyst is a person or thing that precipitates a change. Autocatalysis occurs when one kind of change precipitates by itself the need for other kinds of changes.

• Since 1750, we have seen steadily pyramiding sequences of changes in political, economic, technological, cultural and environmental interactions.

• Ever since, global changes have become self-perpetuating and ever-accelerating.

Six interacting developments

1) Human use of energy2) The world’s population growth3) Industrial transformation4) Communications and transport5) Democratic revolutions6) The rise of new colonial empires

1 Human use of energy

• Fossil fuels• Coals contains much higher levels of energy

than wood (biomass)• Coal output per year was less than 10 million

metric tons around 1750-thanks to steam powered pumps it was 130 million tons of coal by 1860.

• 1900: 1 billion tons (90% of the world’s energy consumption.

2 The world’s population

• 1700: 603.4 million• 1913: 1.79 billion• At first, most of the change was in Western

Europe. 1700: 81.4 million; 1913: 261 million• Asia (excluding Japan) grew from 374.8 million

in 1700 to 925.9 million in 1913.

World Population Trends in Millions

1700 1870 1913

Western Europe 81.4 187.5 261.0

Asia 374.8 730.6 925.9

Africa 61.0 90.4 124.7

Latin America 12.0 40.0 80.5

United States 1.0 40.2 97.6

World 603.4 1,270.0 1791.0

Effects of population growth

• In some isolated regions like Siberia, Australia, Pacific Islands, indigenous populations declined.

• Epidemics sometimes were catastrophic. A pestilence on the Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka carried off as many as 75 percent of the local inhabitants.

• Urbanization increased: In 1800, only nine cities had a population of 1 million or more; by 1900, twenty-seven cities had more than 1 million.

• The proportion of the world’s people who lived in cities increased from 2 percent in 1800 to 10 percent in 1900.

3 Industrial transformation: Patterns of Migration

• 50 million people migrated from Europe (includes Russia). Two-thirds of them permanently. (Steamships and railroads)

• Temperate Zones: US, Canada, Algeria, Siberia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand

• Indigenous peoples resisted newcomers.• 1.7 million Africans were moved involuntarily,

most to Brazil or the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations.

3 Industrial transformation: Patterns of Migration

• Asian laborers: Between 1830 and 1913, some 30 to 40 million Indians and about 15 million Chinese left their countries to seek work in mines or on plantations in European colonies and Latin American countries, as well as Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Africa.

• Overall, 100 million people world-wide were involved in long-distance migrations.

• Internal migrations were also common in India, China, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Africa and L. America.

Issues

• Despite advances, famine was an issue.• 1846-1849, blights ruined potato harvests in

Ireland and Eastern Europe. • 1876-1902, Africa, Asia and Latin America

millions died and/or were reduced to poverty.

Victims of famine in India

Photo courtesy of Mike Davis

4 Democratic Revolutions

• Concept Liberalism: The terms does not apply to the concept of liberal that applies today. During this era, it referred to those who favored individual rights, free markets, representative government, and progress.

• The Atlantic Revolutions

5 The Rise of New Colonial Powers

• Economic Trends1750-1840: coal and steam drove industry,

railroads were important (US, Russia)After 1840: steam-generated electricity

powered the machines*Divisions of labor developedAfter 1800, sugar was the most important cropAfter 1830s, cotton was key

5 New Colonial Powers: economic advantage

• Opium War (1839-1842)• Most Asian nations did not want to import

goods. The British used naval force to compel the Chinese government to open its markets to opium growth in India (colony).

• The British saw it as practical liberal reform, but it led to a large flow of silver out of China and weakened their economy and opium addicts.

5 New Colonial Powers

• Following 1849 gold rushes, the establishment of the gold standard fixed the value of all currencies in terms of gold.

• Between 1880 and 1914, the world economy underwent a second major wave of expansion. Technologies led to major economic consolidation. (Trusts, cartels)

5 New Colonial Powers• Revolutions• Republics• Abolition of slavery• Economic power and poverty• Colonial Rule: S. Asia-Britain; Before 1870s-SE Asia-Dutch

(Indonesia), Africa-Algeria (France) and South Africa (Dutch, Boer)

• From 1870s to 1914: Africa-all but Ethiopia and Liberia was ruled by Europe. Asia- Britain in Burma, France in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Netherlands in Indonesia

• By 1914: Europeans controlled 88 percent of the land (up from 35 percent in 1800).

Factors that led to industrial production

1) Europe’s location on the Atlantic Ocean

2) The geographical distribution of coal, iron and timber.

3) European demographic changes

4) Urbanization5) Improved agricultural

productivity

6) Legal protection of private property

7) An abundance of rivers and canals

8) Access to foreign resources

9) The accumulation of capital

Culture, religion and thought• Darwin: Origins of the Species• Secularization• Social Darwinism• Imperialism• Growth of major faiths• Millennium: Ghost Dance, Tai’ping Rebellion, Mahdi• Political thought: Declaration of Independence• Karl Marx: Communist Manifesto• Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations• Nationalism

Why study this period?The global forces unleashed in the second half of the 18th century continue

to play themselves out at the end of the 20th century. Students will understand the “isms” that have absorbed contemporary society--industrialism, capitalism, nationalism, liberalism, socialism, communism, imperialism, colonialism and so on--by investigating them within the historical context of the 18th and 19th centuries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Western nations enjoyed a dominance in world affairs that they no longer possess. By studying this era students may address some of the fundamental questions of the modern age: How did a relatively few states achieve such hegemony over most of the world? In what ways was Western domination limited or inconsequential? Why was it not to endure?

The history of the United States, in this era, was not self-contained but fully embedded in the context of global change. To understand the role of the United States on the global scene, students must be able to relate it to world history.