Industrial Revolution

Part One - What was the Industrial Revolution?

1820 - England - similar to life for 800 years

Work on a farm
Pull your own cart or have a cow or horse
No running water- village pump
No electricity
Cook in pots over fire
Wash clothes by hand in tubs or river
Think of time as how close to morning or night it is
Messenger pigeons

1920- England

Most people don't work on farms
(Shops, transport, mining, factories)
Measure time in minutes
Cars and tractors exsist. Trains run everywhere. Most people have electricity.
Radios exist, sending messages through the air. People cooked over stoves. Some people have refrigerators. Clean drinking water came into your house through pipes. People now had machines to wash their clothes. The telegram could cross the Atlantic in minutes.

What was the industrial Revolution?

The industrial Revolution is defined as a time in history where production of goods increased dramatically. This increase was caused by new inventions harnessing new power sources.

Originally, clothing was made by hand, spending days making the same shirt. With new inventions people became able to make the same shirt in an hour.

https://youtu.be/zhL5DCizj5c - first 4mins

https://youtu.be/8kojxeSaqq0

Part Two - Why Britain? & STEM

Why Britain?

Why was the industrial Revolution led by Great Britain? Firstly, Great Britain always had the advantage of being an island. It didn't need a standing army to defend against neighboring countries because of the English channel.

After centuries of religious infighting, Great Britain had become one of the freest countries in Europe. It tolerated the presence of other religions and opinions.

England fostered scientific thinking. Francis Bacon in the 17th century had made popular the scientific method of forming predictions and performing tests. The Royal Society, (a membership of scientists which was founded in 1660 as a membership of natural philosophers) The Royal Society encouraged scientific investigation and Isaac Newton was one of their first leaders.

The free and encouraged festering of new ideas and technology was the match. The kindling was the availability of materials. Great Britain had possibly the greatest navy in the world and they traded from the Americas to India and China. Meanwhile, at home fuel sources were plentiful and easily accessible. Coal and lead deposits near the surface. Britain had been mined since Roman times. The coal was cheap and affordable.

Great Britain was relatively flat and had several rivers that made it easier to transport goods to the middle of the country. They built canals to connect rivers through cities. The flatness made building railways fairly easy. These railways connected materials to the whole country. Previously getting from London to Edinburgh took about 17 days by horse. After the railways were invented it took only 2 days. The master engineer behind the Great British Railway was Ismbard Kingdom Brunel.

Therefore, rather than the British being smarter or more developed much of the reason Great Britain came down to favorable geography.

Ismbard Kingdom Brunel

Bridge building challenge
Ship building challenge 

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