THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution is an historical process which brought such radical changes in nineteenth century England and in the western world. It implied the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth.

It led to the growth of two systems of thought: Economic science and socialism. The main landmarks of Economic science were four English economists: Adam Smith, Malthons, Ricardo and John Stuart Mill.

The main facts of the Industrial Revolution were the growth of population and the decline in the agricultural population.

The main causes of the decrease in rural population were the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation, the enclosure of common and waste lands and the consolidation of small farms into large ones.

In addition, agricultural advance was due to different causes like the breed of cattle, the rotation of crops, the steam-plough which all together brought to the birth of agricultural societies.

At the same a growth of the industry was recorded, due to new mechanical inventions in the textile industry such as the spinning-jenny, the water-frame, Crompton's mule and the self-acting mule.

However the most important inventions were the steam-engine and the power-loom.

What's more a mechanical revolution was recorded in the iron industry thank to smelting by pit-coal and steam-engine to blast furnaces.

A great advance was also made in means of communication like the Gran Trunk Canal, Turnpike and the first railroad.

The results of such improvements brought to an extraordinary increase of commerce and the substitution of factory system for domestic system.

Such growth of industry caused a revolution in distribution of wealth. It included a rise in rents caused by money invested in improvements, enclosure system, consolidation of farms and high price of corns; and social changes in country life.

It also brought to social changes in manufacturing world: the new class of great capitalist employers made enormous fortunes. The consequences were: the old relations between masters and men disappeared, a "cash nexus" was substituted for the human tie and class conflict.

The misery of working people which came out in the period was caused by conditions of labours under the factory system, rise of prices and fluctuations of trade.

The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.