Second Industrial Revolution Study Guide

2.6 The Second Industrial Revolution

The First Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation. Industrialization allowed cheap production of household items using economies of scale, while rapid population growth created sustained demand. Some industry and industrial technique developed for the wars was carried over, converted to peacetime purposes. The first industrial revolution was centered on textiles, iron and steam engine technologies, while the second industrial revolution revolved around steel, railroads, petroleum and chemicals and, finally, electricity.232

From 1815 to 1870

The new Russian Emperor Alexander II tried to recover Russia from the loss of the war by making radical reforms of his policies and administrations, including an attempt to not depend on a landed aristocracy controlling the poor, a move to developing Russia's natural resources. He built a great network of railways, partly for the purpose of developing the natural resources of the country, and partly for the purpose of increasing its power for defense and attack. His most important achievement was the emancipation of serfs in 1861, for which he became known as Alexander the Liberator. Following this emancipation, he sought to repay money to its landowners and borrowed 15 million pounds sterling from Rothschilds at 5% annually.241 After realizing difficulty of defending Alaska (1,518,800 km2) from British, he decided to sell it to a third party, the United States, in 1867 at $7.2 million, or about 2 cents per acre ($4.74/km2).241 The valuable minerals including gold and oil were discovered in Alaska beginning from 1880, thirteen years after the