Notes

the first Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-18th century to about 1830 and was mostly confined to Britain. The second Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century and took place in Britain, continental Europe, North America, and Japan.

New machines, new power sources, and new ways of organizing work made existing industries more productive and efficient.

The Industrial Revolution increased the overall amount of wealth and distributed it more widely than had been, helping to enlarge the middle class. however, the replacement of the domestic system of industrial production, with the factory system and mass production consigned large numbers of people, including women and children, to long hours of tedious and often dangerous work at subsistence wages. Most worked on the land, rose at dawn, retired at dusk, and did hard physical labour. Starvation was an ever-present threat, and subsistence depended on adequate harvests. A bad year could be fatal. Life expectancy was low, diets were poor and disease was rampant.

Important inventions of the Industrial Revolution included the steam engine, used to power steam locomotives, steamboats, steamships, and machines in factories; electric generators and electric motors; the incandescent lamp (light bulb); the telegraph and telephone; and the internal-combustion engine and automobile, whose mass production was perfected by Henry Ford in the early 20th century.