Cause Of The Industrial Revolution

Video Discussion –

They say every invention starts as an idea. However, it seems that ideas result from the materials. The materials inspire an idea within the mind of someone trying to improve a situation to meet a demand. These inventors and inventions are typically thought and created by people who question theories as the world and society around them evolves. What I’m getting at is that I don’t believe that there is one cause for the Industrial Revolution. After reviewing the resources presented, it seems that there is a sequence of events that leads to any revolution. However, speaking with the Industrial Revolution in mind, the elements that appear to have contributed most to the Industrial Revolution are the increasing population,
Merriman writes, “Europe’s population grew from an estimated 187 million in 1800 to about 266 million in 1850, an increase of 43 percent” (Merriman p. 515). With the population increasing by such a large margin, the demand for goods and services increased. As the demand increases, more raw materials such as coal for example, must be harvested to supply the production machines with the necessary energy to produce the goods and supply to population. Based on this logic and reasoning, it seems that the population growth is the starting point of the revolution. Population growth can be attributed to longer lifespans that were aided by new inventions such as certain vaccinations and increasing sanitary measures. According to Merriman, “Sand filters and iron pipes helped make water more pure. Improvements in reservoirs, the first of which was built in 1806 increased the availability of clean water (Merriman p. 516). While I’m aware that infant mortality rates remained high within certain regions of Europe, I’ve pointed out the inventions for water sanitation to lead me into what I believe to be the next element that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution, that being the role of inventors and inventions and how they were impacted by the shift in scientific
The increasing amount of land would be hard to manage without the proper tools. In comes the inventor with an idea to make more farming land out of hard to manage grounds. Merriman explains, “Capital-intensive production (larger-scale and market-orientated farming) underlay the agricultural revolution. More land gradually came under cultivation as marshes, brambles, bogs, and heaths gave way to the plow” (Merriman p. 518). As a result of increasingly large crops, agricultural productivity increased. While the agricultural sector was experiencing its own revolution, eventually, more improvements were necessary in order to increase the production of goods and services. New ideas were being thought up by inventors that would progress European society and result in a new way of life for both laborers and the