Dbq Industrial Revolution

Christopher Goudas
Dr. Haller
AP World History
18 February 2023
The Industrial Revolution; The Consequences of Overfixation on Advancement The term, “Industrial Revolution” refers to a period of time in the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century that revolutionized human society as the industrial revolution brought mass technological and socio-economic changes. The Industrial Revolution is the biggest contributing historical event to modern-day life as the Industrial revolution brought factories, and urbanization and transformed the ways by which goods were produced and distributed. Due to these facts, the Industrial Revolution is widely considered to be the greatest advancement in human history, although, upon closer examination, the

On one side of the coin, the Industrial Revolution came with great benefits in terms of technological and socioeconomic advancements that revolutionized human society for the better. Suddenly, goods became more available and ores like iron and coal were being worked thus causing the economy of areas that were taking advantage of these natural resources to be expanded tremendously. This is supported by the graph shown in document eight which shows the growth of British iron production over the course of the industrial revolution. It shows that in the course of half a century, the British iron output would almost triple and thus the British economy would benefit greatly. In addition, economic advancement would not be the only advancement made

An example of this blatant disregard for consequences in advocation for industrial advancements is the mass exploitation of child workers during the Industrial Revolution. During this period, in advocation for industrialization and economic growth, many children were employed and forced to work up to sixteen hours a day in poor work conditions and were never given a proper education. In document one, in an interview with the Sadler committee in 1832, one of the victims of this child exploitation who had to work in a mill would state, “[I began working in the mills] when I was ten years of age… we began at five in the morning and stopped at nine at night…we were frequently strapped.” (A form of punishment by whipping.) In addition, when asked about his education, the worker would state, “We had no time to go to day school, I can read, but cannot write.” It’s clear from this interview alone that the abuse of child workers during this time was considered normal due to the demand for more industrialization in advocation for more conveniences and advancements; as a result, people would disregard the question of morality and the general impact of such child exploitation. Furthermore, with the general demand for industrialization,