9.1 The Second Industrial Revolution

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the technological innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution
• Describe the spread of industrialization beyond western and central Europe and the United States
• Explain the obstacles to industrialization facing countries in Asia, North Africa, and Latin America in the nineteenth century

Great Britain was the first nation to enter the Industrial Revolution, beginning to mechanize the production of goods in the eighteenth century. It was followed by the United States, France, Belgium, and, in the first half of the nineteenth century, by Germany. These nations harnessed the power first of water and then of steam and began the mass production of goods such as textiles, iron, and steel. Perhaps most significantly, they also manufactured machines that produced parts for other machines, such as spinning jennies and flying shuttles. Developments in transportation and communications technology, especially the locomotive, steamboat, and telegraph, transformed the way their citizens lived, traveled, and worked.

Between the middle of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, these nations embarked on a new phase of industrialization. European and U.S. industry was transformed again by new sources of power, technological innovations, new forms of transportation, and growing communications networks. This process is often called the Second Industrial Revolution. At the same time, industrialization began outside the United States and western and central Europe, especially in Russia and Japan.