Definition:
Describes an economic and cultural shift from home-based production and traditional agriculture to a system of factory-based manufacturing including modern technologies, other energy sources and developments in transportation.
First Industrial Revolution (the 1700s-1800s): production in factories
Second Industrial Revolution (the 1800s-1900s): large factories and companies using modern technologies for mass production at the production line.
For example, agriculture changed with farmers benefiting from new agricultural techniques. Besides economic innovations, the British people made scientific progress. . The access to new knowledge created a largely educated population. Moreover, the population doubled in the 18th century and therefore more people could work in factories. Industrialisation was also furthered/advanced through new means of transport [dt.: Transportmittel] which brought natural resources like coal and iron straight to the factories. The most popular means of transport was the steam engine, which brought coal to factories to power them.
The table below depicts the former traditions in Great Britain and the inventions that also caused changes in society.
To sum up, as described above, production increased through new technologies and industrialisation. In conjunction with this high productivity, the need for raw materials increased. Since Great Britain’s raw materials were limited, raw materials from other countries and colonies were used. Since African countries were not at the same level of technological sophistication [dt.: Erfahrung] yet, Great Britain was able to force colonies to trade raw materials. This was a great advantage to Great Britain’s economic situation. Also, since the demand for manufactured clothes was limited in Great Britain, marketing was expanded over the borders to the colonies. In the colonies, local markets were dominated by British goods. This destroyed local trades but brought positive growth for the British economy.
Industrialisation in Great Britain played a very important role in the continued success of the British Empire. The desire to be more productive and the resulting need for raw materials led to increased colonisation efforts.
| Tradition | Change | Changes in society |
| Most people working as farmers. Only few did different work | Most people were workers in factories, less farming | Jobs entailed social change |
| Self-sufficiency | Impoverishment (poor working and living conditions) | Social and cultural change |
| Work executed through humans | Work executed through machines | Huge economic profit brought economic change |
No communication over distance (except letters) Transport by horses or other animals | Telegram Steam engine | Modern and fast communication Modern and fast transportation of raw materials and people Social and economic change |