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Why The Industrial Revolution Happened Here

Professor Jeremy Black examines one of the most extraordinary periods in British history: the Industrial Revolution. He explains the unique economic, social and political conditions that by the 19th century, led to Britain becoming the richest, most powerful nation on Earth. It was a time that transformed the way people think, work and play forever.

He traces the unprecedented explosion of new ideas and technological inventions that transformed Britain’s agricultural society into an increasingly industrial and urbanised one. Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here explores two fascinating questions – why did the industrial revolution happen when it did, and why did it happen in Britain?

Professor Black discusses the reasons behind this transformation; from Britain’s coal reserves, which gave it a seemingly inexhaustible source of power, to the ascendency of political liberalism, with engineers and industrialists able to meet and share ideas and inventions. He explains the influence that geniuses like Josiah Wedgewood had on the consumer revolution and travels to Antigua to examine the impact Britain’s empire had on this extraordinary period of growth.

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  1. hotmail‘s name cleverly combined “HTML” (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and “mail,” emblematic of its web-based functionality.

  2. things bout to get tragic

  3. Funny how they say ‘got wealth’, speak the truth when talking about Britain history – looted wealth from rest of the world!

    Free trade!? Funny how taking Tobacco from America , spices and Tea from East- notoriously, Churchill diverting staple food-rice from India causing one of the worst bengal famine killing more people than Hitler did in Nazi germany.

  4. I was fascinated by this film and in general I’m a big fan of the whole England thing, European culture is very interesting. I usually watch documentaries on the subject and at the same time use promo code for 5 dollar deposit https://mustangsbigolgrill.ca/5-dollar-deposit/ for this great casino, everyone is advised.

  5. your story in documentary about The Ancient World — Alexandria — comes across as crass anti-religion lies in the bit about Cyril and the mob and Alexandria. Compare
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  6. 这波我在大气层

  7. Very good documentary. Explains the roots of industrial revolution in XVIII century Britain. Of course it’s a british documentary so England is glorified(except the talk about slave trade) and France criticized.

    • I do not like how the narrator pinned the slavery on free trade!! Geez, slavery existed since ancient times!! Does anyone honestly think with controlled trade, the transportation of slaves would have been difficult?? Lol……Look at nazi germany and how it transported millions of people across europe either to massacre or work as a slave laborer!!! Also, the profit motive is good but the way those slave traders went to make profit, that was the fault!!

      • Your neoliberal take on slavery is rooted, as all neoliberal thought is, in emotion. It’s obvious your entire world view depends on a market economy being just which is just hilarious.

      • It is not wrong to state that free trade resulted in more slavery. Think of it this way: there are 3 types of slavery. 1) Racial slavery, most notably in the United States, 2) slaves for money, early slave trades, most notably across Africa, and 3) “ancient” slavery, which was often through military conquest and debts. #1 and #2 are perpetuated and deepen due to market economy. Ancient forms of slavery were not necessarily the same, nor as pervasive. Also, sorry to bring up such an old post.

    • Geez, france is not criticized!!! The narrator merely contrasted the crucial difference between britain and france and explained why the industrial revolution was possible in the former but not the latter!!! Even that french historian also elucidated the difference lol…..And it was the british empire through its royal navy that discouraged the slave trade as early as 1804,1805 and it was the British empire that abolished the legal institution of slavery altogether in 1834. It was tge white men who first officially abolished slavery on record!!!

  8. At least the narrator had the decency to acknowledge the appalling use of slaves and their miserable short lives which helped fuel England’s “great” industrial revolution.
    The existence of ensuing coal pollution, the gap between industrial workers and their rich overlords wasn’t discussed.
    Yes, it is amazing how roadways, canals and steam engines made all of this mass production possible.
    I can’t help but wonder, if women had been treated as equals back then; and studied engineering and joined think tanks; like they do now; what else could have been accomplished?

    • In answer to your question about the effect that women might have had during the Industrial Revolution: I suspect that earlier actions would have been taken over the miserable lives of people in factories and mines and that England would have abolished slavery before it did.

    • Mass production is indeed amazing and a miracle!!!!!!!
      Ahhh and women began to be treated as equals and gradually gained rights and freedom only because of the industrial revolution, you absolute moron!!!!
      The first wave feminism that started in the western world in the 1850’s was only possible after the first industrial revolution that started from 1760 till 1840!!! And women gradually got voting rights in the 20th century!!! A liberalization only made possible by the industrial revolution and free market capitalism!!!!
      Ahhh, but I wonder why modern feminists never complain about the appalling treatment of women in the muslim world??? Huh???? How women are stoned and flagged in Iran and Indonesia et cetera??? Why today’s equally treated, feminist women never complain about that, I wonder??? Is not that amazing??????

    • It was the industrial revolution that minimized the absolute power of the overlords you seem to dislike, you idiot!!! Because the power of the hereditary aristocracy and barons declined from the 18 to 19th century!!! Got it??? You need a good education!!! It was a mass production only created by the industrial revolution that made the population explosion possible!!! It was the Industrial Revolution that brought 5 billion new human lives from 1804 to 1999 than all of human history before that combined!!!! Now, wrap your thick skull around that fact!!!!

    • If it was so much of a pollution to the environment, then how did the population manage to explode after the 19th century?? Men lived short, miserable, deprived lives in their natural environment before the industrial revolution!! Look at the life expectancy before and after the industrial revolution in the 20th century!! And slavery was largely abolished as a legal institution only in the 19th century and Britain was the first one to do so, you idiot!!!!
      Of course, that gap has always existed and always will, you unrealistic moron!!! How can there be a development if the labor is expensive?? How did Britain then manage to become a rich country and achieve a good living standard for majority of its population in the modern world??
      I wonder if you will complain about how feudal lords lived on the slave labor of their peasants and serfs who lived in sub-human conditions with absolutely no rights and freedom and according to the wishes and whims of their lords!!!!

    • Oh, please shut your fake trashy mouth!!! Appalling use of slaves and their miserable short lives?? Do you know the life span of an average English person before the industrial revolution?? It was just in their 20’s!!! They had miserable short lives tilling the soil from dawn till dusk for their barest subsistence!!!
      Slaves have been common for all of human history that in some places in thailand and burma, from 25 -33% of the population were slaves!! And why the industrial revolution never happened there, you stupid bitch????

    • You must be woman. Some things never change.

  9. thnaks admin nice post

  10. @ rowan: The docu also has a clear bias toward liberalism and its positive effects.

  11. The documentary has a clear bias toward the perceived virtue of industrialization, and fails to address its negative negative social and environmental effects. Its explanatory power is greatly weakened by its failure to address why industrialization happened in Europe rather then China which also had the perquisites for industrialization. The doco does provide some interesting facts.

    • China didn’t necessarily have all of the prerequisites. While earlier on it was definitely more advanced than the European powers, China eventually became stagnant and didn’t advance much. This led to it being unfortunately conquered by the British, which really made sure it wouldn’t have an industrial revolution before the British did.

    • What negative social and environmental effects??? It has brought much more positive social effect than negative one as far as I am concerned!!! Women’s rights, the decline and abolishment of hereditary aristocracy, the disappearance of absolute monarchy and political absolutism and the wave of liberalization that spanned the world from the 19th century!!! Individual rights, human rights, political freedom, the material explosion et cetera!!!
      The environment has always existed and always will!!! The dinosaurs and their fellow creatures vanished from this earth long before there was an industry lol…..
      As to why it happened in england and not in china is that china has always been a collectivist, totalitarian society!!! They never discovered the rights of a man, an individual and his fundamental right to life!!! And what stems from that is a freedom of thought, the right to think unshackled by traditional dogmas and doctrines!!! Industrial revolution happened in england and europe because of the Renaissance in the early modern era!!! That was the era of truly unprecedented creativity and achievement the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo!!!

    • Nice computer you left that comment with. Did you build it yourself?