In today’s episode we tackle the Industrial Revolution. So up until this point in time in our class we have seen different areas of the world that possessed a successful economy. The prerequisites for these developed economies were a significant agricultural surplus that resulted in a highly specialized, and comparatively urban society. They also had something of a relatively developed infrastructure, usually involving canal systems, which allowed for the facilitation of agricultural produce and goods throughout the land. These economies also had more developed economic institutions that helped promote trade. So what comes to mind? China? Western Europe? India? The Americas? If you’re thinking as I would be, you are thinking “how could it not be China?” But, I’m sure you’re already aware, the Industrial Revolution is going to begin in Western Europe, so let’s figure out why.

Complicating the Narrative

Washington Post Article: “Why the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen in China”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/28/why-the-industrial-revolution-didnt-happen-in-china/?utm_term=.c2c723c017b2

BBC In Our Time: The Industrial Revolution

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wqdc7

Document in Focus

Engels’ The Condition of the Working-Class in England (excerpt is on page 16 of the .pdf file)

http://www.c3teachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NewYork_10_Industrialization.pdf

The Great Exhibition (a.k.a. the Cyrstal Palace Exhbition) of 1851 that took place in London

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_-_interior.jpg

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