The Industrial Revolution was a crucial turning point in history. A turning point is a point in time when a decisive change occurs. It began in Britain, from about 1750 to 1850. The changes that began in Western Europe 250 years ago have spread around the globe. The revolution transformed traditional ways of life. Major changes resulted from this turning point. I believe the Industrial Revolution had a positive impact on human history. .
Society before the turning point occurred was very simple. During the mid-1700s, most people lived and worked in small farming villages. Most people were farmers and made their own clothes and grew their own food. They worked the land using simple hand tools. Not many people traveled. As a result, they did not know much about the outside world. The Industrial Revolution changed their rural ways of life.
As a result of the Revolution, the small villages grew into industrial towns and cities. Many changes in agriculture enabled Western Europe to industrialize more easily. Document 1 lists the farming methods that improved farming dramatically. For example, the enclosure movement and the new methods of crop rotation. During the enclosure movement, wealthy landowners fenced off their land. In the 1700s, Jethro Tull invented a mechanical device, the seed drill, to aid farmers. The seed drill planted seeds in straight lines rather than scattering them wastefully over the land. .
As stated in Document 3, the new inventions and scientific experiments made during the Industrial Revolution not only changed the working styles and conditions for people, but it also transformed the way they lived. Communicating became faster and more efficient with the use of the telegraph wires. Also, people were able to travel from place to place more rapidly with trains or steamships, instead of by foot or horse-drawn carts. As shown in Document 5, between 1750 and 1913, world trade increased dramatically.
