Summary

The Industrial Revolution was a positive time in Britain. But in the beginning, the Industrial Revolution seemed to bring no benefits to the country. Living conditions in cities were unsanitary and unsafe. Men, women and even children had to work in the factories for low wages. they received harsh punishments, and were not protected from dangerous machinery. The production of coal polluted the atmosphere and people’s lungs. The conditions in the coalmines were not much better than in factories, the workers suffered immensely. Food was too expensive for poor, low class workers, so they could only afford to eat rotten meats, fatty fried foods, and stale bread. This also led to extreme malnutrition and sickness in cities. 

However, the positive outcomes of the Industrial Revolution rivaled the damage of its more negative effects. Britain gained much money from trading with other countries (for example, industrial machinery). In Europe, Britain had the strongest economy, and powerful manufacturing factories. As the economy grew stronger, it gave people chances to move up the social structure with statuses. The Industrial Revolution brought new advances in medicine, which improved the people of Britain's health. Stronger steel became cheaper to produce, because of new scientific discoveries. This helped make new buildings that would now be safer from fires and other safety hazards. Electricity was now being used instead of gas to light street lights, which also decreased the dangers of gas lamps. With better lit cities, criminals could also be caught easier, which made the society feel safer at night. Transportation was better with new electric engines, and decreased the amount of pollution being produced. And to solve the problems I mentioned before, a new sewage system was introduced, which provided clean running water in homes. There was now public education so not just the upper classes could read and write, lower classes could as well. 

Another huge benefit was that with mass production, items and goods were cheaper, so more people purchased them. The factories were now earning more money, so they could pay their workers higher wages and better working conditions. Also, newer, safer machinery was invented, so peoples lives were no longer at risk. There was a new labour code made, saying that a worker was now only required to work eight hours, compared to the twelve to sixteen hour shifts they had to work before. 

Due to Britain's economical, social, and political state, I believe they were ready for a change. And this is why they flourished so well. The Industrial Revolution allowed the people of Britain to stop living in the past, and look hopefully into the feature, without fear. They became more modernized, and realized that the improvements they made through the revolution would last for upcoming years, and their new found forward thinking would benefit them greatly in a revolutionary way.

Pollution

Pollution was one of the biggest disadvantages from the Industrial Revolution. Smoke from chimneys, bridges and factories blocked out most of the light in the towns during the Industrial Revolution. There was a layer of dirty smoke often covering the streets like a  filthy blanket of depression. This smoke came from the factories that used steam to power their machines. The steam was made by burning coal to heat water, creating lots of dirty, black smoke. This caused the deaths of thousands, and many developed respiratory diseases. "The Great Smog of London" in 1952 killed more than four thousand people.


But it wasn't just the smoke that posed harm to the society, water did also. Water was used to run the machines in the factories. At this time, there was no system of sewage disposal, so the toxic industrial waste would be dumped into bodies of water that were also the same sources of water people used in their homes. The result of this was water-borne illnesses such as cholera and typhoid epidemics that killed many members of the population, who mainly belonged to the working class.

Social Reforms

The Industrial Revolution also benefited others in the idea of social reforms. The goals of social reform were: temperance, education, peace, treatment of criminals, rights of women, slavery and the care of the poor, the handicapped and the mentally ill.

Education Reform: centered on the effort to produce a system of universal public education.

Temperance: excessive use of alcohol was more responsible for crime, disorder, and poverty than any other factor in society.

Other social reforms included:

Feminist movement: the movement aimed at equal rights for women

Early antislavery movement: centered on the concept of colonization

Urbanization: the movement of people to the cities (caused by Industrial Revolution) urbanization came from population explosion and a high demand for workers.

Negative changes from the Industrial Revolution

On the other hand, there were many negatives during the Industrial Revolution. The living conditions were very poor, and the working class was not clean or hygienic. Families suffered immensely because mothers were taken away from their children to work in the factories, and sometimes the children themselves had to work as well. The families struggled because they had to get by on very low wages, that were not nearly enough to support a growing family. And as if this wasn't enough, if a new member was brought into the family, mothers were required to return to work three days after they gave birth to their newborn child.

The factories were full of dangerous machinery and equipment, and the poor working conditions sometimes led to labor strikes. But the factory owners would not stand for this, and the poor workers were at the hands of the wealthy factory owners, who mistreated them with harsh punishments and unrealistic working hours and schedules. Children who worked in factories often died and lost limbs due to the dangerous conditions of the factory.

During the Industrial Revolution, people were largely upset because the ideas of the enlightenment and revolution were not being expressed. Also people felt they were not receiving the rights they deserved and had worked had for to earn.

Positive changes that came from the Insustrial Revolution

I do believe that the Industrial Revolution benefited some because many new inventions were created and it renewed interest in scientific discovery. It also strengthened the economy and forever changed city life, (for example, the invention of cars made transportation easier, also the cars were more affordable when they were mass produced) and the social class structure (ex. workers worked in the factories for many hours a day, upper class did little, but enjoyed all the benefits). The production of machinery led to technology being viewed in a whole new way. People learned that things that were once thought impossible, were being made possible. Like the cars, many goods were widely available because they were being mass produced, which made the prices drop because the more of an item that is available, the less valuable it is, therefore it costs less. Also education became free, there were more health benefits available to those who needed it (children and workers), transportation improved, and pensions were introduced. All these things made people happier, and the government was safer from rebellion.

Child Labor

When it comes to the Industrial Revolution, I believe the biggest downfall would be child labor. Children were mistreated, and died at a far too young age. Child labor only benefited factory workers who could pay them ridiculously low wages. They could also be controlled easier, and if they didn't do as the were told, the owners used violent beatings to get them to follow their rules. Kids also had smaller hands so they could reach into the machines and fix problems that adults hands would be too large to do so. Children also adapted to the new methods better than the adults, and the were not as prone to question the owners intentions. Children worked in dangerous factories, sometimes for more than 12 hours a day (kids could be forced to work up to 18 hours a day, as young as age 8). Some child workers died in the factory, while other died from having the black lung from working in the mines. Kids growth was also stunted, and they became very sick. Child labor did not only affect the children physically, but also mentally. Child labor led to the breakdown of the family unit since the kids and parents would be at work for most of the day, they spent little time together. Women and children were sent out to work, making up seventy-five percent of early workers. Kids got very little education, and they grew up maladjusted because they never learned how to behave properly. The living conditions were horrible, but children were even more sensitive because of their weak immune systems and poor health. Infant mortality skyrocketed, and fifty percent of infants died before the age of two.

The video attached to this video hit me hard from an emotional perspective. I'm sure everyone knows someone around the ages of these children shown. Imagine what it would be like if someone you knew at this age, was forced into child labor. They would have to grow up faster than anyone would ever want to, or be able to. Imagine how confusing this would be for a child. To have to understand the concept of working, that takes many of us nowadays years to get used to. These children did not have years, they did not have enough time. Enough time to grow and enjoy their lives.Many young kids died, way before their time. The title of this video "Beyond their years" is simply what I mean above. This kids did work beyond their abilities, beyond what they should be asked to do. They were doing the work of adults. And it was extremely dangerous.

Investigative Question

The Investigative Question for this assignment is "Britain went through many changes during the Industrial Revolution and these changes brought benefits for everyone." I do not fully agree with this statement, nor do I fully disagree with this statement. Do I think the Industrial Revolution benefited everyone? Yes and no. I believe in the long run, it benefited most, but not if you died while working in the factories or the mines. Yes, I agree, in the end there were many good outcomes were created from the Industrial Revolution. But my question is: were the short term hardships worth the long term benefits? And how can we know? For example, how can we determine the value of ones life compared to another? Would the life of one from a working class be equal to one from a upper class? No? What about two workers for one upper class member? Who has the right to put the labels on ones life? I believe that every person is equal, no matter what their rank is. I don't think it would be right to kill a lower class person, just to help benefit someone from a higher class. With that in mind, would the sacrifice of many workers lives during the Industrial Revolution be okay because it largely benefited Britain?