Industrial Revolution & the steam engine Flashcards
What were the causes of the industrial revolution? (7)
Rising population, transport revolution, profits from trade, agricultural revolution, manufacturing inventions, coal and iron ore.
One of the most important causes was the invention of the steam engine in the 18th and 19th centuries.
What was the background of the industrial society of the 18th and 19th centuries?
From 1750, Britain changed from a mainly agricultural country into the beginnings of an industrial country. Over the next hundred years, Britain became the first country to go through an industrial revolution. Goods were now made in factories and it became the richest country in the world. It also experienced social changes. New towns and cities grew up. By 1850 more than half of the people in Britain lived in cities.
These changes were partially due to technological change which also affected crime and punishment, health and medicine.
Explain in a brief paragraph steam power.
It was the most important invention of the industrial revolution.
steam engines built by Thomas Newcomen were first used to pump water out of mines. James Watt made improvements to the early steam engine and he added a flywheel which installed a rotary (turning) motion in the machine/engine. Steam engines could now be used with belts to power other machines. They were now used to power factories.
What was the steam engine used for in factories? what did this result in?
The steam engine was used to power new inventions for making thread and cloth, these inventions spead up the manufacture of cloth. The new machines were also bigger than the old spinning wheel and handloom. These bigger machines were powered by waterwheels, and later by steam engines.
Mills and factories could use steam engines but not houses. This led to the growth of factories in cities in Britain.
How is the steam engine connected with historical change? (4)
Coal mines: more coal needed to power steam engines.
Transport: Steam engines used in railways.
Factories: More coal needed, steam engines drove machines, growth of cities.
Iron industry: Steam engines made of Iron.
What was the transport revolution? How is the steam engine connected to this?
How did this age begin?
The invention of the steam engine sped up the transport revolution. The development of the railway changed Britains dependency on carts and canals for transporting goods to railroads.
Railroads were built to haul coal from coal mines. They used huge stationary steam engines.
When Richard Trevithick designed a small engine on wheels, the railway age had begun.
In 1825, the first goods train was ran. It was built by George Stephenson. Five years later, the first passenger train was built.
What were the impacts of the railway? (5)
Faster, cheaper and more comfortable transport.
The decline of coaches and canals.
Growth of industry- more coal, iron and engines.
Growth of towns and cities- more people came to shop; people lived in suburbs.
Growth of tourism- day trips to seaside resorts.
What was crime and punishment like in the 19th century industrial society?
Britain experienced great social changes from the late 18th century through the 19th century.
The population increased dramatically from 7 million in 1750 to 42 million in 1900. More people lived in towns and cities.
The rich went to live in the suburbs and the poor lived in overcrowded conditions in the city centres.
There was an increase in crime, drunkenness and violence.
Who made the laws?
The government looked at punishment as a deterrent to stop people from committing crimes. This was the time of the bloody code when more crimes were punished by execution. Many crimes were now capital offences that were punishable by death.
This was not working as the crime rate continued to rise so the government changed its laws. Sir Robert Peel, who would later become Prime Minister, began these new changes. He had overcome resistance by members of parliament to the changes.
Who enforced the laws?
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel founded the first professional police force in London. They were first called Peelers. They were only armed with a baton or truncheon. Their main job was to patrol the streets to prevent crime. This example spread to all parts of Britain. Later, specialist detective sections were set up to solve crimes.
What were the crimes?
New crimes developed in this rapidly changing society. These included bank robbery as more banks were set up or thefts from the workplace as more goods were being traded.
There was also white-collar crimes of corruption and cheating. The close living conditions of the time resulted in petty theft being the most common crime.
What were the punishments?
People believed punishment should match the crime. They thought that capital punishment (hanging, execution) was too severe except for the most serious crimes. They believed that punishment should improve the offender. This led to the ending of the bloody code, and new forms of punishment being tried.
Transportation was one of the new forms of punishment. The first criminals were transported to Australia in 1787. Criminals worked for the settlers for seven years, providing free labour in return for food and board.
This ended because people in Australia didn’t want to see any more criminals. Britain prisons became the new alternative to transportation.
What were prisons like?
Robert peel began the process of prison reform with his Gaol act 1823. This act separated prisoners by gender and category of crime. The act also said gaolers should be paid and the prisoners should not be held in chains.
later, the improvements included the building of 90 new prisons between 1842 and 1877. Prisons were run on the separate system, that is, all prisoners were kept separate in their own cells. Prisons were also run by the silent system, which was hard labour in silence- ‘hard labour, hard fare and hard board’.
What were health and medicine like?
What were the most significant discoveries?
Doctors knew much more about disease and its origins, how to prevent its spread and how to cure patients.
The most significant discovery was by Louis Pasteur who discovered that germs caused disease.
In Germany, Robert Koch (1878) learned how to grow bacteria and he was able to distinguish which bacteria caused certain disease (e.g. TB and Cholera).
Another important discovery was the existence of viruses which also caused disease.
What were the cures and remedies of the century?
Medical discoveries were improved by better diagnosis. This was helped by the use of microscopes. stethoscopes, and by the discovery of the x-ray.
The use of inoculation to prevent disease was a major discovery. Doctors could inject a weaker strain of the disease into patients and this provided immunity against the full disease. Louis Pasteur developed the use of inoculation to combat rabies, a deadly virus transmitted through dog bites.
However, some cures were not successful so people still relied on medicines sold in bottles that had no effect.
