2.Industrial Revolution

In the second half of the 18th century，the great economic and social changes were taking place in Britain.Agricultural and home-based trades and industries gradually gave way to factory-based industries with complex machinery.This great change was commonly called the industrial revolution.Britain was the first country to start the revolution.There were several causes for her initiation.

England at the beginning of the 18th century was already agreat trading nation with much private capital ready for investment.Not only was trade free to move throughout the British Isles，but there was considerable freedom of movement between the social classes.English middle class religion laid emphasis on the individual conscience as the guide to conduct，and also on the moral excellence of sober and industrious employment；these values encouraged self-reliance and enterprising initiative.Although some of the middle class were barred from political power，and parliament，controlled by the aristocracy，was far from truly representative，the political leaders of the country were extremely interested in commerce，which they were ready to participate in and profit from.The tendency of the whole nation，from the days of Francis Bacon⁴ in early 17th century，had been increasingly practical，and the steadily growing population provided a market that induced exploitation by various methods of improved production.Agriculture also contributed to industrial growth：the landowners were zealous farmers，and their improved methods of cultivation not only freed much labour，which then became available for employment in the town factories，but increased the food supplies available for the town.Finally，the 18th century，in contrast to the 17th，was a time of peace and stability.All these domestic conditions together with her permanent foreign plunder，especially with her newly acquired wealth after the Seven Years’War，enabled Britain to take the lead in the Industrial Revolution.

Kay’s Flying Shuttle

Watt’s Steam Engine

The Industrial Revolution in Britain first began in the textile industry，which was accelerated by important mechanical inventions，such as Kay’s flying shuttle（1733），Hargreaves’spinning jenny（1764），Arkwright’s water frame（1769），Compton’s mule（1779）and Cartwright’s power loom（1785）.Most important of all，in 1769James Watt patented an adaptation of his steam engine to the machines used in the textile industry.This consequently ceased to depend on waterpower，and concentrated itself in the north of England to be near the coalfields.An important result was the immense expansion in manufacture of cotton cloth.In the iron industry，the improved methods of smelting by coal were discovered，and ironmasters set up their blast furnaces in the neighborhood of the coalfields in the north midlands and north of England.An extensive system of canals was constructed in the 18th century for the transport of goods and fuel，and the modern methods of road and bridge building were introduced，but the decisive advance in communications was the invention of the steam rail locomotive by George Stephenson（1814）.By 1850arailway system covered Britain.Another important result of the introduction of steam power and large scale iron-making was the application of machinery to the manufacture of machinery.The lathe，the grinder，and the milling cutter for working metals made machines the breeders of more machines and help to explain how the Industrial Revolution expanded with great rapidity after a start had been made.

As a result of the growth of industry，population was more and more concentrated in towns and cities.Many new cities sprang up.Manchester，Leeds，Birmingham and Sheffield were notable examples.By 1850the urban population was half of the total population of England.

As the Industrial Revolution proceeded，the power and influence of the industrial capitalists grew ever greater，and it was they who exploited the working people severely and cruelly.With more and more impoverished people herded into the labor market，the capitalists fixed as low a wage as possible and were more inclined to employ child or woman labor.To earn their daily bread，these slaves of labor had to work more than 12hours a day and live in crowded and dirty tenements，the slums.As for the jobless people，they had no other choice but to go to the workhouses where they were brutally treated and were forced to do various kinds of hard work.In the novels of Charles Dickens，he gave a vivid picture of the lower middle class of England.The English literature of this period was mainly characterized by the exposure and criticism of the society，it is therefore called the period of critical realism.

The Industrial Revolution gave birth to a new social-economic class，the proletariat，and it also led to the organization of workers into unions that enabled them to use the power of collective action to improve their conditions.