THE 2ND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The industrial Revolution

• The Second Industrial Revolution, also known the Technlogical Revolution, is generally dated between 1870 and 1914 (the beginning of World War I).

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and had two phases: • The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1850), saw the birth of textile machines, steam machines, and the use of coal as a main resource. Workers moved from the countries to the factories in the cities, because it was easier to find a job.

Under the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) the British Empire had its highest expansion thanks to the foundation of new colonies, such as India, Australia, New Zealand, parts of China, Africa and South East Asia. On 1 May 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in London and showed the rest of the world the newly acquired industrial, economic and military superiority of Britain. It was intended as an international fair of new technologies and foreign goods, but in fact it was the celebration of the British Empire. Visitors came mainly to see the machinery at work.

The Second Revolution was characterized by:

• the development of the railway network

• large-scale iron and steel production

• widespread use of machinery in manufacturing

• greatly increased use of steam power

• widespread use of the telegraph

• use of petroleum and the beginning of electrification.

The most important discoveries regarded: - Petroleum, which led to the production of plastic and the invention of the first motor car in 1886 by Karl Benz; - Electricity, which led to the invention of incandescent light bulbs by Joseph Swan (UK) and Thomas Edison (US).

The production process in factories became faster and cheaper thanks to the assembly line, used for the first time in in Henry Ford’s car factory. Unfortunately, this new technique created a sense of alienation among the workers, because they had to do a single repetitive task for several hours a day.

Transportation was revolutionized by the invention of the first flight machine . Communication extended thanks to the invention of the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, and the cinema. Also medicine took a step forward with the invention of the vaccine against chicken cholera and rabies by Louis Pasteur. In the field of chemistry, Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium. During WWI she promoted the use of X-rays. Alfred Nobel invented the dynamite in 1867.