Some attempts were made in France to introduce the machine industry as early as Napoleon’s time. However, the factory system was not widely established during the time of Louis Philippe (1830-48). It expanded under the reign of Napoleon III (1852-70). Germany was not industrialized in the modern sense till the German Empire was established in 1871. As far as Russia was concerned this movement was introduced in Russia only in the last decade of the 19th century. The United States became a great industrial country mainly after the victory of the industrial north in the civil war.

The main effects seen in the European countries were as in these areas:

Exhibit 3.3
An artist’s view of Industrial England

The Industrial Revolution had far-reaching economic and social effects. The immediate result was the pre-dominance of the factory system in the industrial organization. Industry was previously organized as a domestic system in which the artisan worked in his own cottage home and with his own implements. But now the domestic system was replaced by the factory system of production. A large number of workmen coming from different parts of the country were concentrated in big factories and these places developed into towns. Goods were now manufactured on a large scale. The workers now lost the independent status and came to depend upon his employer.

The effects of the Industrial Revolution on politics were also far-reaching. It brought into the political arena new doctrines like Laissez-faire, Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy, etc. Socialism is an extreme form of reaction against the evils of capitalism and is opposed to Laissez-Faire or an extreme form of individualism. Karl Marx, the greatest exponent of Socialism interpreted history as a conflict between two classes, the exploiters and exploited and contended that socialism would cure all the evils of the working classes. Even today, no solution has been found between the two warring ideologies of Communism and Capitalism.

Index

3.0 - Introduction
3.1 The Seven Years' War
3.2 Catherine the Great
3.3 The Industrial Revolution
3.4 The French Revolution
3.5 France as a Republic (1795 - 1799)
3.6 Napolean Bonaparte
3.7 Points to Remember

Chapter 4