The iron industry then came to be concentrated in specific regions as integrated. Explain.

1. England was fortunate in that coal and iron ore, the staple materials for mechanisation, were plentifully available, as were other minerals-lead, copper and tin-that were used in industry. However, until the eighteenth century, there was a scarcity of usable iron. Iron is drawn out from ore as pure liquid metal by a process called smelting.
For centuries, charcoal (from burnt timber) was used for the smelting process. This had several problems : charcoal was too fragile to transport across long distances; its impurities produced poor-quality iron; it was in short supply because forests had been destroyed for timber; and it could not generate high temperatures.The iron industry then came to be concentrated in specific regions as integrated. Explain.

Fig. Britain : The Iron Industry

2. The solution to this problem had been sought for years before it was solved by a family of iron-masters, the Darbys of Shropshire. In the course of half a century, three generations of this family-grandfather, father and son, all called Abraham Darby-brought about a revolution in the metallurgical industry.
It began with an invention in 1709 by the first Abraham Darby (1677-1717). This was a blast furnace that would use coke, which could generate high temperatures; coke was derived from coal by removing the sulphur and impurities.
This invention meant that furnaces no longer had to depend on charcoal. The melted iron that emerged from these furnaces permitted finer and larger castings than before.

3. The process was further refined by more inventions. The second Darby (1711-68) developed wrought-iron (which was less brittle) from pig-iron. Henry Cort (1740-1823) designed the puddling furnace (in which molten iron could be rid of impurities) and the rolling mill, which used steam power to roll purified iron into bars.
It now became possible to produce a broader range of iron products. The durability of iron made it a better material than wood for everyday items and for machinery. Unlike wood, which could burn or splinter, the physical and chemical properties of iron could be controlled. In the 1770s, John Wilkinson (1728-1808) made the first iron chairs, vats for breweries and distilleries, and iron pipes of all sizes.
In 1779, the third Darby (1750-91) built the first iron bridge in the world, in Coalbrookdale, spanning the river Severn. Wilkinson used cast iron for the first time to make water pipes (40 miles of it for the water supply of Paris).

4. The iron industry then came to be concentrated in specific regions as integrated units of coal mining and iron smelting. Britain was lucky in possessing excellent cooking coal and high-grade iron ore in the same basins or even the same seams.
These basins were also close to ports; there were five coastal coalfields which could deliver their products almost straight into ships. Since the coalfields were near the coast, shipbuilding increased, as did the shipping trade.

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For whom the term Old Corruption was used?


This term was used for privileges linked to the monarchy and Parliament.

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What is the economic system that arose in Europe after the Industrial Revolution ? Discuss the ideas and movements which arose in Europe against that system.

1. The economic system that arose in Europe after the Industrial Revolution : The new economic system that arose in Europe after the industrial revolution is known as capitalism as a result of the setting up of factories and industries the major portion of the national capital get accumulated in the hands of a few persons. These people are the big capitalists who grew richer and richer day by day.
Many craftsmen were rendered jobless as their goods were costly and the customer did not purchase them. So, they were forced to work as laborers in the different factories. The laborers had to work 12 to 16 hours a day and their wages were very small. So, they become poorer and poorer day by day.
Moreover, the working conditions in the factories were also unsatisfactory. This fall led to the conflict between the factory owners and the workers.

2. Ideas and movements which arose in Europe against the Capitalism : Slowly and slowly capitalism came under sever criticism in Europe. The ideas and movements of socialism and communism arose against this system. This philosophers like Karl Marx and Angles began to say that capitalism is the root cause of all social evils.
Therefore, it should be thrown away. All the means of production should be taken over by the Government or the society. The communist philosophy, advocated even the use of force and violence for doing away with capitalism and for bringing socialism.

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 (V. Imp.)
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The realisation that steam could generate tremendous power was decisive to large-scale industrialisation. Explain.


1. Water as hydraulic power had been the prime source of energy for centuries, but it had been limited to certain areas, seasons and by the speed of flow of the water. Now it was used differently. Steam power provided pressure at high temperatures that enabled the use of a broad range of machinery. This meant that steam power was the only source of energy that was reliable and inexpensive enough to manufacture machinery itself.

The realisation that steam could generate tremendous power was decisive to large-scale industrialisation. Explain.

2. Steam power was first used in mining industries. As the demand for coal and metals expanded, efforts to obtain them from ever-deeper mines intensified. Flooding in mines was a serious problem.
Thomas Savery (1650-1715) built a model steam-engine called the Miner's Friend in 1698 to drain mines. These engines worked slowly, in shallow depths, and the boiler burst under too much pressure.

3. Another steam-engine was built by Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) in 1712. This had the major defect of losing energy due to continuous cooling of the condensing cylinder.

4. The steam-engine had been used only in coal mines until James Watt (1736-1819) developed his machine in 1796. Watt's invention converted the steam engine from being a mere pump into a prime mover capable of providing energy to power machines in factories. Backed by the wealthy manufacturer Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), Watt created the Soho Foundry in Birmingham in 1775.
From this foundry Watt's steam engines were produced in steadily growing numbers. By the end of the eighteenth century, Watt's steam engine was beginning to replace hydraulic power.

5. After 1800, steam engine technology was further developed with the use of ligter, stronger metals, the manufacture of more accurate machine tools and the spread of better scientific knowledge. In 1840, British steam engines were generating more than 70 per cent of all European horsepower.

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Why the term industrial revolution was challenged ? What were the grounds against it ?


1. Industrialisation had actually been too gradual to be considered a revolution. It carried processes that already existed towards new levels. Thus, there was a relatively greater concentration of workers in factories, and a wider use of money.

2. Until well into the nineteenth century, large regions of England remained untouched by factories or mines and therefore the term industrial revoltuion was regarded as inaccurate : England had changed in a regional manner, prominently around the cities of London, Manchester, Brimingham or Newcastle, rather than throughout the country.

3.Could the growth in the cotton or iron industries or in foreign trade from the 1780s to the 1820s be called revolutionary. The impressive growth of cotton textiles, based on new machinery, was in an industry that relied on a non-British raw material, on sales abroad (especially India), on non-metallic machinery, and with few links to other branches of industry. Metallic machinery and steam power was rare until much later in the nineteenth century.
The rapid growth in British imports and exports from the 1780s occurred because of the resumption of trade with North America that the War of American Independence had interrupted. This growth was recorded as being sharp only because it started from a low point.

4. Indicators of economic change occurring before and after 1815-20 suggest that sustained industrialisation was to be seen after rather than before these dates. The decades after 1793 had experienced the disruptive effects of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Industrilisation is associated with a growing investment of the country's wealth in capital formation, or building infrastructure and installing new machines, and with raising productivity.
Productive investment, in these senses, grew steadily only after 1820, as did levels of productivity. The cotton, iron and engineering industries had accounted for less than half of the industrial output until the 1840s. Technical progress was not limited to these branches, but was visible in other branches too, like agricultural processing and pottery.

5. The word industrial used with the word revolution is too limited. The transformation extended beyond the economic or industrial sphere and into society and gave prominence to two classes : the bourgeoisie and the new class of proletarian labourers in towns and in the countryside.

6. In 1851, visitors thronged the Great Exhibition at the specially constructed Crystal Palace in London to view the achievements of British industry. At that time, half the population was living in towns, but of the workers in towns as many were in handicraft units as in factories.
From the 1850s, the proportion of people living in urban areas went up dramatically, and most of these were workers in industry - the working class. Only 20 per cent of Britains workforce now lived in rural areas. This was a far more rapid rate of industrilisation than had been witnessed in other European countries.

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