"I give you some pretty obvious examples of reasons for the Industrial Revolution first coming to England: the location of resources, particularly coal; a country in which nowhere is more than seventy-five miles away from the sea; precocious canals and roads; banking systems; fluidity between classes and a very large and increasingly larger proletariat; agricultural revolution, etc.
So, by the end of the century the kind of traditional view that one would have of the Industrial Revolution has really arrived, where factory production and above all, in the textile industry. The textile industry is the leading edge of the Industrial Revolution.
First of all, and this is another reason why the Industrial Revolution starts in England. You can't have an industrial revolution without an agricultural revolution. What the agricultural revolution does is increases the amount of food produced that's going to feed your burgeoning proletariat, your labor force. This is a place, all of Europe increases in population.
But the Industrial Revolution depends on the agricultural revolution for an increase in food supply. This makes possible the increase in urban population, thus also increasing the demand for food.
These three things, Industrial Revolution, agricultural revolution, and the growth of cities, are very much tied together."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
So, by the end of the century the kind of traditional view that one would have of the Industrial Revolution has really arrived, where factory production and above all, in the textile industry. The textile industry is the leading edge of the Industrial Revolution.
First of all, and this is another reason why the Industrial Revolution starts in England. You can't have an industrial revolution without an agricultural revolution. What the agricultural revolution does is increases the amount of food produced that's going to feed your burgeoning proletariat, your labor force. This is a place, all of Europe increases in population.
But the Industrial Revolution depends on the agricultural revolution for an increase in food supply. This makes possible the increase in urban population, thus also increasing the demand for food.
These three things, Industrial Revolution, agricultural revolution, and the growth of cities, are very much tied together."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
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