Muscle-power replaced by other forms of energy.

Not a one-time jump in productivity and wealth, but the beginning of a process of ever-increasing change.

What events in the Early Modern period made this possible?

One common approach is to look at the history of great (British) inventions of the 18th c.

1. In textiles:
   • Flying shuttle (speeded up weaving; John Kay, 1738)
   • Spinning jenny (produced more thread per worker; James Hargreaves, 1760s)
   • Water frame (spinning device operated by water; Richard Arkwright, 1760s)
   • Power loom and spinning mule (1780s)

     These allowed Britain to take over global market for cotton cloth (dominated before by India). Led to modern factory organization.

2. Steam power to drive machinery (from mine pumping devices in 17th c. to the motors invented by James Watt, 1782)

3. Iron and Steel production which made large-scale mechanization possible
   • Use of coal instead of expensive charcoal
   • Coal used to make cast iron (Alexander Darby)
   • Wrought iron (Henry Cort, 1780s)
   • Improvements by John Wilkinson which made wrought iron more useful in making machinery

This is a valid approach to studying the Industrial Revolution, but we should also ask: Were there long-term processes that made possible this short-term revolution?

Necessary factors for creating an industrial society:

1. Technical know-how, not restricted to a few geniuses, but shared by a fair number.
2. Interest in industrial development among those who have money.
3. Realistic expectation of profit from innovation.
4. Access to agricultural surplus to feed industrial workers and customers of industry (variant on #3).

Technical barrier maybe the least important. There are always ingenious people. There is not always continuity of technique from one genius to the next.

However, in the later Middle Ages, technical innovation slowly grew. Especially important the development of clockwork. By the 18th century, clocks and even watches were commonplace. Some famous 18th century inventors were clockmakers (Kay) or technicians (Watt, for the U. of Glasgow).

Continuity of technique aided by printing press.

The barrier created by lack of spare resources. Poverty as a restriction on innovation, and market for innovation.

Natural and artificial barriers to trade.

Barriers created by attitudes of the wealthy. Aristocrats have often showed only a sporadic interest in production, a greater interest in luxury consumption. For instance, in 18th c. France, it was more common to invest in titles and privileges than in business.

Nevertheless, progress made on all fronts in Early Modern period.

Access to resources.

• Immanuel Wallerstein's concept of Europe's "ghost acres" added through colonial exploitation -- and the colonial contribution was growing.
• New crops and new techniques in European agriculture.
  • Potato and turnips less vulnerable to bad weather
  • Improvements in fodder crops and rise in meat production (England)
• Coal as fuel
• Fire resistant materials (brick and tile) produced by coal heat: led to a drop in disastrous fires in cities -- and a saving in resources needed for rebuilding.
• Institutional methods of avoiding wastage
  • Insurance
  • Government stockpiling of food surplus (Prussia very successful at this)
  • Quarantine measures: Eastern European barriers eliminated plague after 1720.

A bigger non-European market also accessible.

Government institutions made a difference: a corrupt French government was less effective in encouraging growth than new dictatorships in Prussia and Austria.

But Britain (esp. England) had the best combination of resources, access to markets, and institutions.

• An island, more secure from invasion, and more open to overseas markets.
• Pioneering efforts in agriculture paid off.
• Coal plentiful (What if the Dutch had had coal?)

• Government cheap and not threatening to property owners, since they had a big role in government.
• British society not a mad dash for privilege, since meaningful legal privileges not an important factor.
• Many prosperous people were involved in productive economic activity. Enterprise was respectable in Britain.
• Likewise intellectual initiative was respectable -- lack of censorship as an indication.

Britain was the place where:

• One innovation could spark off another
• Money to develop innovations could be easily borrowed
• There was a relatively well-fed workforce
• Products of new factories could be sold at home or easily shipped abroad.

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