I am analysing an extract from The Industrial Revolution by A. Toynbee whose title is The Chief Features of the Industrial Revolution.

The main focus of the period called The Industrial Revolution is the great change from the Medieval system to the development of a new phase which significantly marked the history of the United Kingdom and Europe as well. In detail, the period witnessed the substitution of competition for the previous Medieval regulations which had controlled both production and distribution of wealth.

Competition is a very complex concept which summarizes many theories, places, people, and periods: in brief, it is an economic system in which there are many companies which sell the same product/s. It is customer's responsibility or choice to opt for a certain product: as a matter of fact, the final user chooses the product having the best quality at the lowest price. This forces the companies to compete among them to sometimes improve the quality and "always" to have the maximum benefit.

During the period under examination, two great systems of thought rise: Economic science and Socialism. Four main important landmarks are connected with the name of an economists: the first is Adam Smith who wrote Wealth of Nations, the second is Malthus' Essay on Population, the third is Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, and the fourth is Mill's Principles of Political Economy.

Let's now turn to the analysis of the major facts and events of the Industrial Revolution. The first two striking facts are population growth in some areas (while in other areas it declined) and the agrarian revolution. The causes of the decline in rural population are the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation: the enclosures, on a large scale, of common and waste lands; the consolidation of small farms into large. The period also registers another agricultural advance which is due to a more scientific approach which implies the improvement of cattle breeding, crops rotation, and more importantly the invention of the steam-plough. Thus, agricultural societies are instituted.

Another important fact occurred during this period is the growth of industry which can be explained with many mechanical inventions and discoveries of new uses for old machines and instruments. There are four fundamental inventions which greatly modified the nature of the cotton manufacture: the spinning-jenny, the water-frame, Crompton's mule, and the self acting mule. However the three greatest creations of the time are the steam-engine, the power-loom, and the pit-coal.

A further fact which marks this period is the expansion of means of transport, namely more roads, railways, canal system and turnpike roads were built.

All these events bring about extraordinary results: increase in commerce and substitution of factory system for domestic system.

The Industrial Revolution is a great period even for a new distribution of wealth. There is a considerable rise in rents which is caused by money invested in improvements, effect of the enclosure system, consolidation of farms, high price of corn. These facts show that wealth is re-distributed.

This period witnesses the birth of a new social class, the great capitalists, who obviously gain enormous quantities of money, though they do not work in factories of farms located in their lands. This situation causes a widespread misery for many people because there is a deep fall in wages, a rise in prices (especially the price of bread and corn), and fluctuation of trade.

The conclusion one may draw from all this is that free competition may produce wealth without automatically produce well-being.