Why Did The British Empire Become The Most Powerful Nation?

The Industrial Revolution started in Europe in the eighteenth century where Britain is considered the most powerful nation. How did the British Empire became the most powerful nation? They discover a new fuel source called coal that replace wood because the wood is only getting expensive. There is a large amount of coal underground, so it is cheaper and coal is more efficient for fuel than wood. However, the problem about extracting coal is water flooding into the caverns, so the workers need a way to extract the water quickly in order to dig for more coal. So, the first steam machine was built to pump water from the mines by a bunch of scientists coming together, sharing ideas. The Industrial Enlightenment is where a bunch of intellectual, scientists and entrepreneurs, come together to share ideas. These scientific ideas is what spurred the Industrial Revolution and when many things were discovered. Gravity was discovered by Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle stated that air and gas have physical properties, and later Uranus was discovered by a man looking through a telescope. The Age of Reasons is where the Christianic views are challenged by scientific views. Many scientists try to create something more with the steam engine. Erasmus Darwin, related to Charles Darwin, was fascinated by the steam engine. He created sketches and drawings of
inventions like a moving chariot or other kind of equipment. James Watt, however, want to understand the mechanics of the steam engine, and want to make a better and more efficient steam engine. He came up with a design, but he is unable to build it because he didn’t have the skills or expertise to be able to. So, James Watt went to a workshop staffed with skilled engineers to build it for him. The invention worked wonderfully and it is eighty percent more efficient than the old steam engine. However, the French tried to steal Watts’ design and try to make a better version of it, but they failed to the extreme because they didn’t do the same thing that the British did, which is the Industrial Enlightenment. Even if the French did try their own Industrial Enlightenment, they did not have enough political stability to help scientific breakthroughs. Many manufacturing plants are being built around the world. Soho is the first steam-powered manufacturing plant in the world was built. Thanks to the new manufacturing plants, men, women, and children no longer produce goods in their homes and work in production lines in great amount of labor. Workers’ lives were transformed by the steam-powered manufacturing plants. Entrepreneurs started producing large variety of goods more cheaper than they were before. A man named Harvey sold the finest swords, while Harris sold portable toasting forks, and Betts offered saws in every type and style. There are also weighing sheets, missure snuff boxes, vinaigrette a lot more small items that are used for personal adorement. The British wasn’t only having a large scientific boost, but they also have a large military boost.
They built the largest navy in the world that lasted until the second World War called the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy played a vital role in the trade empire as they protect and encourage private traders that went to many different areas like the West Indies, North America, China, Africa, and India. Forts in the West Indies are established the protect the English Harbor, a British Naval base. British ships dock at the harbor to repair from any rots and damage, and they’re also protected from hurricanes and other natural
storms. The British government supported free trade, allowing the merchants to buy anything they want, and that includes slaves. Slave traders bought a large number of slaves from African rulers who were all too willing to sell them for transportation across the Atlantic. Slaves were treated as natural resource to be used and exhausted in the quest for maximum profit once they reached the Caribbeans. The slaves’ conditions were unbearable that they were only able to live three years at the most. It is estimated that two and a half million slaves were transported by the British across the Atlantic during the eighteenth century. The slaves were forced to harvest sugar cane that became the British’s leading import.
Valuable commodities like tobacco and rice poured into London which generated billions of wealth. However, the wealth became capital into investing British industries. At the end of the eighteenth century, the British produced two and a half million wealth of goods and exploited them across the world. The explosion of wealth caused it’s own financial revolution. Banks and the stock exchange was established which allow people to invest to newly founded businesses. This improved the life of the British population, allowing people to have extra money to spend for the first time. This increased the middle-class population dramatically.
Josiah Wedgwood is considered a genius when he made a pottery business after buying a family of potters to create and satisfy consumers’ demand, making him the richest man in the country. He understood the opportunities by the growing consumer market. He only inherited twenty pounds by his father. He is the father of advertising and marketing. He built the first showroom for his products. He made his pots known by adding unique designs and golden gilded patterns. The golden gilded patterns are actually honey and not gold. He made pots for many of noble and rich people, including the Queen of England herself.
Increase of consumer demands increased, allowing for a larger trade, however there is a problem for the traders. The road system was very bad, causing a nightmare for travelers. An act allow local businessmen to build and run permanent-termed roads. They can charge travelers and merchants a toll for using the road and use the money to maintain the road. The British built a large road foundation in its empire, connecting to mostly commercial areas while the France’s foundations was made from the government for military transportation other than commercial.
Private entrepreneurs lead a way to the canals, bringing a new way to transport goods. Wedgwood noticed that the coal transportation cost is reduced by half when using the canals. He thought that connecting a canal between the location where he gets raw resources to the factory. Wedgwood persuade the Parliament to build the Trent and Mersey Canal. The problem is that the canal lead to hills which requires a tunnel to be made there that became the longest tunnel at the time, reaching up to two miles in a straight path. Canals were built across Britain, linking coasts and navigable rivers and transforming the British industry’s profit.
The European Industrial Revolution caused a large amount of change in the world. It brought new technology and inventions that people used as an advantage to make a profit. It also brought new views to philosophers and intellectual people, giving the people a universe to study and understand. Coal mining prevented wood from being used more than it should, thus it ended deforestations, which is very nice. The scientific views were started by Christians, and didn’t even threaten the belief of God at all, it is just a different view. The large British navy is actually a thrilling part of this, because having a large fleet to control a whole ocean shows that you’re not joking around and that you want the world to know that you are the strongest nation around. The English Harbor is in the most strategic spot ever seen at the time, protecting against storms and forts set up to fight the ships in the sea.