The politics and the economy of Britain since the Industrial Revolution : from the workshop of the world to economic liberalism

The politics and the economy of Britain since the Industrial Revolution : from the workshop of the world to economic liberalism

the industrial revolution started in Britain the middle of the 18th century comprising of a variety of rapid social and economic changes that saw Britain going from an agrarian economy to the premises of a modern industrial society

The word revolution is used not to signify a violent turn of events but rather the fact that the changes in mindsets in work methods etc were quite sweeping.

The five factors of the success of the industrial revolution in Britain are often summarised as the 5 Ms ( Manpower , Money , Machines , Materials , Mindsets )

Manpower

The first aspect of the 5 Ms is Manpower referring to the demographic changes that occurred in Britain starting from the mid 18th century

During this period the rates of fecundity ( babies per woman ) were extremely high contributing to the large population growth despite the high rate of infant mortality and Britain saw its population soar exponentially going from 7.5 million in 1750 attaining 11 million in 1801 to surpass 23 millions in 1861

This dramatic growth had its implications of course like the symmetrical growth in demand ( notably in subsistence goods ) which meant a larger overall market which in turn meant a boost in production to accommodate the market leading to higher economic activity

In order to produce more, the factories needed more manpower which meant that industrial urban centres and cities began to draw more population growing exponentially and cities in the industrial midlands e.g. Staffordshire Lancashire Birmingham etc. became very attractive due to the abundance of employment

These cities developed not only because of the number of factories but also due to their proximity to sources of natural resources such as coal and iron deposits and kept on spreading geographically absorbing and engulfing in their way small towns and villages on their fringes and consequently forming great Metropolitan zones such as greater Manchester ; greater London etc.

Nonetheless, the major proportion of the population lived in poverty although during the Industrial Revolution an emerging middle class began to appear

In the year 1800, 50 years into the Industrial Revolution the proportion of people living in towns with more than 20000 people was 17%, 50 years later it had doubled but then in 1900 most people lived in towns

The summarise the first m the Industrial Revolution saw the population of Great Britain leave its former agrarian lifestyle to settle in in large urban centres industrial centres