AP European History
AP European History
The Industrial Revolution resulted first and foremost in the increased production and increased availability of goods. Manufactured goods were cheaper than the goods of pre-Industrial Europe, and, therefore, more people were able to afford them. A large market and able, willing consumers meant increased wealth for the entrepreneurs who produced these articles. The increased consumption also led to an increase in the number of available jobs. Because cities tended to grow up around the industrial area, the jobs were in the cities. Eager to work, entire families flocked to the cities by the thousands. The workers, especially the women and children, endured deplorable conditions in the factories, including extended hours with little or no breaks and dangerous machinery. As if that weren’t bad enough, conditions where the workers lived were even worse. The houses and apartments were crowded, and the conditions were incredibly unsanitary. Human waste of ten leaked into basements and into the streets because of poor sewage and water systems. The streets were crowded with people who unwittingly carried and spread germs everywhere they went. These conditions led to cholera outbreaks as well as other diseases that were related to unsanitary conditions.
Some people embraced the new technology despite the poor living and working conditions that accompanied industrialization. Others, however, despised the new technology and the new problems it caused. Many people lost their jobs and were simply replaced by machines. One group, known as the Luddites, firmly believed that the new machines would take their jobs from them and of ten tried to destroy the machines in the factories. Another group of opponents of the new factories protested in an entirely different way. The Romantics, including such poets as William Blake (1757-1827) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850), wrote of the destruction of the countryside and the terrible conditions of the workers.
When laborers decided they could not deal with the new problems on their own, they began co join together as societies. These societies were the forerunners of unions. In the mid-nineteenth century, workers organized unions that lobbied for better wages and better working conditions. In 1834, after an earlier attempt at forming a union failed, Robert Owen (1771-1858) helped organize the Grand National Consolidated Trades. Eventually, laborers from many different fields were forming labor unions all over Europe. Many Europeans embraced the new unions, while others believed unions did not go far enough co help the workers. For those who sought a better solution than unions, socialism appeared co be the answer. Socialism was a political and economic system that encouraged the nationalization of resources, capital, and industry. The most influential of the socialists was Karl Marx (1818~1883). Marx believed that the history of society was a history full of class struggles. He believed that the capitalists were exploiting the workers of the world, the proletariat. Marx, along with Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), published The Communist Manifesto, a document in which their socialist ideas were explained. Marx argued that the workers would rise up and overthrow the capitalists in a violent struggle. Eventually, society would develop into one of communism, a classless society with no private property. Marx wanted to unite the workers of the world by creating socialist parries. In the late nineteenth century, the First International and the Second International were created as parties co unite socialists everywhere. Socialism grew into a powerful force across Europe, and its effects are still evident around the world today.