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3.3c The Spread of the Industrial Revolution
Some attempts were made in France to introduce the machine industry as early as Napoleon’s time. However, the factory system was not widely established during the time of Louis Philippe (1830-48). It expanded under the reign of Napoleon III (1852-70). Germany was not industrialized in the modern sense till the German Empire was established in 1871. As far as Russia was concerned this movement was introduced in Russia only in the last decade of the 19th century. The United States became a great industrial country mainly after the victory of the industrial north in the civil war.
3.3d The Main effects of Industrial Revolution
The main effects seen in the European countries were as in these areas:
Exhibit 3.3
An artist’s view of Industrial England
i. Factory System
The Industrial Revolution had far-reaching economic
and social effects. The immediate result was the pre-dominance of
the factory system in the industrial organization. Industry was
previously organized as a domestic system in which the artisan worked
in his own cottage home and with his own implements. But now the
domestic system was replaced by the factory system of production.
A large number of workmen coming from different parts of the country
were concentrated in big factories and these places developed into
towns. Goods were now manufactured on a large scale. The workers
now lost the independent status and came to depend upon his employer.
ii. Effects in Political areas
The effects of the Industrial Revolution on politics were also far-reaching. It brought into the political arena new doctrines like Laissez-faire, Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy, etc. Socialism is an extreme form of reaction against the evils of capitalism and is opposed to Laissez-Faire or an extreme form of individualism. Karl Marx, the greatest exponent of Socialism interpreted history as a conflict between two classes, the exploiters and exploited and contended that socialism would cure all the evils of the working classes. Even today, no solution has been found between the two warring ideologies of Communism and Capitalism.
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