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THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION / WORLD WAR 1 / THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Updated: Mar 15, 2019



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IS THE 2ND MAJOR TRANSFORMATIVE

WORLD REVOLUTION


1. THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

2. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

3. THE DIGITAL INFORMATION REVOLUTION


1. From the 176O's to 186O there was a major transition in manufacturing goods in England. This was brought about by improved engineering ( new technology from the science of the Enlightenment) and the invention of machinery in factories.


2. This 1OO year period moved England into an industrial age from an agricultural / artisan economy.



3. Colonies in the British Empire supplied England with the raw materials for manufacturing.


4. Many new inventions came online



The steam engine (invented by James Watt)



The Steam Locomotive expanded connection between cities



THE KEY PRIMARY SOURCE OF FUEL FOR THE STEAM ENGINE WAS

COAL WHICH WAS MINED IN ABUNDANCE IN THE UK



COAL IS FORMED FROM DEAD PLANT MATTER IT IS A SOLID FOSSIL FUEL


THE 3 MAJOR GLOBAL REVOLUTIONS DEPENDING ON 3 SOURCE INGRIDIENTS

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION - WHEAT

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - COAL (CARBON)

INFORMATION (DIGITAL ) REVOLUTION - THE COMPUTER CHIP (SILICON)



WORKING CONDITIONS WERE HARSH AND CHILDREN WERE OFTEN EMPLOYED AS MINERS

IN COAL FUELED INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES IT IS A MAJOR SOURCE OF AIR POLLUTION

The Electic Light Bulb (Thomas Edison) replaced gas lighting in the streets



Textile Manufacturing for cloth for new clothes





Mass produced T model Ford motor cars in the US




The Telegraph extended communication


The rise of the wealthy industrialist class became a challenge to the economic power of the aristocracy


While there were many positive effects of this rapid industrialization there were negative effects especially in the cities -




A cheap labour force was needed for factories and for the coal mines - child labour was often used - work days were 12 - 14 hrs with very little pay



Pollution from the factories was extemely bad


Workers began to fight back against the bad labour conditions - this led to the rise of UNIONS to negociate better conditions in the factories for employment




This inevitable confrontation was brought about by, on the one hand factory owners wanting to make a profit on their manufactured goods by keeping wages low, and the workers demanding that they be paid a fare price for their labour.


By the beginning of the 2Oth century conditions had improved, but were not totally equitable - there would always be confrontation between workers unions and the bosses who owned the factories.


This economic power difference was articulated by the German philosopher sociologist Karl Marx 1818 - 1883.



His Communist Manifesto eventually became the economic and political philosophy of behind the Russian Revolution of 1917.



Industrialisation also led to incresed production of armaments for the military




The areoplane had been invented by the Wright brothers in 19O3


Weaponised planes soon revolutionised warfare with the evolution of the Airforce


Because of the Industrial Revolution and mechanisation at the beginning of the 2Oth Century we now have much more powerful military weapons to fight wars.



----------------------------------


WORLD WAR I 1914 - 1918


Map of EUROPE 1914






In brief the background causes of WW1 are


1. IMPERIALISM


2. ALLIANCES

The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (1882)

The Triple Entente of Britain, Russia and France (1907)


3. MILITARY INDUSTRIALISATION


4. NATIONALISM / rivalries

1. Germany against France over Alsace. This division made an alliance between both countries impossible.

2. Russia against Austria over the Balkans.

3. Britain against Germany over their navies and economic power.

- (The unification of Germany in 1871 happened after victory in the FRANCO PRUSSIAN WAR)


5. TRIGGER POINT

This crisis was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by the Bosnian-Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip who had been supported by a nationalist organization in Serbia

Bosnian Crisis

In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilized its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilized its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.



Estimates of between 15 million to 19 million deaths from WW1 and up to 2O million wounded.





SCENE FROM 'PATHS OF GLORY' DIRECTED BY STANLEY KUBRICK


CONCLUSION

AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR


1. The abdication of the Tsar in Russia

2. A Communist revolution in Russia

3. The fall of the Kaiser's regime in Germany

4. The collapse of Austria-Hungary

5. The end of the Turkish Empire.


-----------------------------------------


THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION




Tzar Nicholas II (and his family) ruled Russia at this time - the Tzarsist families had controlled the Russian Empire for 3OO years. Russia did not have an industrial revolution to the extent that England did in the 19th century, the country was mostly agricultural worked by poor peasants. Tzar Nicholas was the last absolute in Europe.


Nearly 2 million Russian soldiers were killed in WWI and nearly 5 million were wounded. This took a great toll on the Russian people who were poor and starving. Again we see a ruler disconnected from his people. Resentment grew for the wealthy Romanovs the Tzarist royal family who had ruled Russia from the beginning of the 17 century.


Protests began in the streets of PETROGRAD and spread to Moscow then in March of 1917 the TZAR Nicholas abdicated realising that the country was against him.


2 political groups, the new Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks quickly tried to take control of the leaderless country.


The BOLSHVIKS eventually won a 2 year civil war beginning in October 1917 - Vladimir Lenin became the new head of state, now called the


UNION OF SOVIET SOCILIST RUPUBLICS - THE USSR




Lenin's party adopted the communism ideology for the state, as a way of redistributing wealth within the country. The oppressed people were quick to embrace this system. In 1918 Tzar Nickolas and his whole family were executed. Thus ended the last absolute (monarchy) in Europe. The power of the USSR will continue to grow during the whole of the 2Oth century


After Lenin's death in 1924 Joseph Stalin became the head of the country - he was a ruthless dictator and ruled the USSR until his death 1953. He will play a key role in the 2nd World War and its aftermath - the Cold War.



This experiment with communism eventually ended in 1991 just after the fall of the BERLIN WALL. But before that a second WORLD WAR will break out in 1939 with the rise of Hilter and the Nazi party in Germany.


RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Who was Karl Marx ?

and what was his contribution to the formation of the USSR.?


1. MARX observed that all industrialised societies had an emergent ECONOMIC BASE to which a culture depended on for future progress.

2. In Industrial cultures what was emerging was a CAPITALIST ECONOMY. Marx could see that in the pursuit of PROFIT wealth was not evenly distributed. The rich get richer the poor get poorer.

3. A capitalist system encourages people to pursue wealth, while nothing is wrong with this it favours individuality, competitiveness and consumption as a measure of success.

4. He saw 2 classes of people emerge from this system the BOURGEOISIE the business owners and owners of MEDIA and the PROLETARIAT the workers.

5. He predicted that there would be tension between these 2 classes eventually resulting in a REVOLUTION. He saw factory workers alienated from the fruits of their labour. He saw owners alienated from their workers.

6. After such a workers revolution he advocated a system of COMMUNISM to replace the economic base.

7. In this system there would be no private ownership of business or property. The workers would own the factories (the means of production) and wealth would be evenly redistributed.

8. The state would control all business, media & religion with a MARXIST IDEOLOGY

9. WORK & BENEFITS was now stated as :

'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.'

1O. Countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba have tried versions of this Marxist ideology with varying degrees of success and failure.


Currently CAPITALISM is the most successful economic base for a progressive society to implement.

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