Industrial Revolution

Acceleration of technical and economic development that took place in Britain in the second half of the 18th century. The traditional agricultural economy was replaced by one dominated by machinery and manufacturing, made possible through technical advances such as the steam engine. This transferred the balance of political power from the landowner to the industrial capitalist (for example, a factory owner) and created an urban working class. As the first country to have an industrial revolution, Britain for a while was the ‘workshop of the world’. The Industrial Revolution, therefore, became the basis of 19th-century British world power and the British Empire. From 1830 to the early 20th century, the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Europe and the USA, and to Japan and the various colonial empires.

The term ‘Industrial Revolution’ has been criticized on the grounds that it implies a sudden and dramatic change, whereas the process of industrialization was long-drawn-out, erratic, and varied from industry to industry and from region to region.