The Industrial Revolutions

In 1848, the effects of the industrialization and financial modernization combined with the forces of burgeoning ideologies and class and national identities to create a year of revolutions. Uprisings against the existing order swept across Continental Europe – although these missions failed almost everywhere. It marked a turning point in world history – a flashpoint in the political and economic...

Telling the story of the Industrial Revolution would not be complete without spending some time on Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert. Her long reign came at the height of British power and, together with her hard-working husband, she forged a legacy that embraced change. Under her rule, the economy was modernized, the constitution became more democratic, and the country promoted new le...

The second of two episodes devoted to the cultural changes underway in the 18th and 19th Centuries, thanks (at least in part) to the Industrial Revolution. First we’ll explore the so-called Second Great Awakening, which spurred a diversity of religious traditions in the United States. Then we’ll discuss the impact of industrialization on fashion trends (and vice versa). Next, we’ll talk about the...

Support the Industrial Revolutions on Patreon: www. Patreon.com/indrevpod The first of two episodes devoted to the cultural changes underway in the 18th and 19th Centuries, thanks (at least in part) to the Industrial Revolution. In Part 1, we’ll be talking about how romance became a more important part of marriage and how sexual mores changed with economic growth, urbanization, and labor reform. I...

With the rise of capitalism, industrialization, and liberal economic policies, the relative power of the old, landed aristocracy was waning. And to fill their place was a nouveaux riche bourgeoisie. Check out the podcast “Physical Attraction” here: http://physicalattraction.libsyn.com/ Get exclusive access to the Industrial Revolutions footnotes and bonus episodes by becoming a patron at https://p...

This month we get to know the first wave of socialist thinkers – the Utopian socialists – including Robert Owen, Étienne Cabet, Jean Claude Leonard de Sismondi, Henri de Saint-Simone, Charles Fourier, and more. We also get to see how Radical associations in Britain – like the trade unions, co-ops, and Chartists – paved the way for a socialist movement.

Historians have generally had two very different takes on the Industrial Revolution. One take is that it left workers with a lot of grime, exploitation, and suffering. The other take is that it led to workers realizing greater material well-being, greater opportunity, and greater empowerment. Today we dig deeper into the lives of workers in the First Industrial Revolution – to tell the whole story...

From 1830 to 1848, a surge of liberalism swept through the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. It not only brought new political and economic reforms, it established the norms that still influence our politics and economic systems today.

At the tail-end of the First Industrial Revolution, a flurry of new goods and tools were invented by professional and hobbyist inventors alike, hoping to get rich in this new era of opportunity. Among the most significant of these breakthroughs were three tools I'm going to tell you about in this episode.

Advancements made in paper-making, printing, and lithography during the First Industrial Revolution led to many other developments. Among them: They set the foundation for modern advertising. This week we discuss some of the many characters from France, Great Britain, and the United States who gave rise to this new industry. HOLIDAY BONUS EPISODE COMING!Come back next week for the first Holiday Sp...

In 1839, inventors in England and France simultaneously introduced the world to photography, putting “a new force in the hands of man.” We’ll learn about the scientists who made it possible, the initial experiments, and the impact it has had from the 19th Century to today. Support the Industrial Revolutions on Patreon:  https://patreon.com/indrevpod

Without advancements in artificial light, much of the economic development and material improvement of the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t have been possible. So, in the days before electric lighting was possible, the people of the time needed to come up with alternatives. And innovators from Germany, France, the UK, and the modern-day US and Canada figured out other ways to illuminate the world ar...

This week, we discuss the development and impact of the electric telegraph – a new means of communicating through metal wires at the end of the First Industrial Revolution. This episode covers: The possibilities made by Alessandro Volta’s battery The early telegraph systems made by von Sömmerring, Ronalds, and Schilling The first functional telegraph made by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone Th...

This week we explore the lives and careers Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Cornelius Vanderbilt – two of industrial history’s most prolific individuals. One was from the UK, one was from the US. One cared little about profits, the other cared for nothing but profits. But both men had a major impact on the Transport Revolution, spreading railroads across their respective countries and steamships across...

At the start of the 19th Century, the U.S. economy was very similar to the cash-crop export economies of the soon-to-be-independent countries of Latin America. But a half century later, the U.S. was the second largest economy in the world, with industrial productivity on par with – or even greater than – Great Britain. How did it happen? This week, we discuss the causes and results of American ind...

This week, we’re stepping away from Europe and the United States to look at the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the rest of the world. Among other places, we’ll be visiting Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, India, China, and Australia. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indrevpod

This week we discuss how railroads rapidly spread across Great Britain, the United States, and Continental Europe between 1830 and 1848. In particular, we’ll focus on the unique ways railroads developed in each country, the civil engineers who built them, and the economic and social impacts of Railway Mania. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indrevpod

By the 1820s, canal transport could no longer keep pace with the efficiencies of mass production in British factories. It would take a new machine – built by impressive (and often colorful) characters – to move freight and passengers on railways at previously unimaginable speeds. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indrevpod

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain made the surprising success story of the Rothchilds possible. And the Rothschilds, in turn, made the Industrial Revolution possible across the rest of Europe. In this episode, we’ll cover: Mayer Amschel Rothschild’s business in the Frankfurt ghetto Nathan Rothschild’s activities in industrial Manchester The big gamble the Rothschilds made against Napoleon...

Please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon. Your support helps pay for the audio hosting service, the website, research materials, and other costs of delivering the podcast. Plus there are special perks available only to Patreon supporters, including footnotes, book reviews, special recognition, and more. Visit https://www.patreon.com/indrevpod today. Thank you! This week we discuss the so-ca...

Going back to the 1600s, the development of modern financial systems transformed life on planet earth. Debt markets and stock markets helped industrialization spread and remain ever-growing. They’ve also created a new phenomenon: The boom-and-bust cycle. And it seems that we, as a species, have decided that the key benefits of financial modernization – technological progress and mostly continuous...

The practice of slavery was as old as the written word. But in the age of Europe’s global empires, it took a racist and even more sinister turn. Then, in the years between 1807 and 1819, with the rise of liberalism and industrialization, western powers began to end the transatlantic slave trade as a first step to ending slavery. In this episode, we’ll discuss how it happened in France, Great Brita...

As chemistry advanced in the 18th Century, it was applied to perhaps the all-time greatest dream of humankind: Learning how to fly. In this episode, we meet the men who made it possible as “Balloonmania” took off in France, and then across the industrializing world. Support the Industrial Revolutions on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indrevpod

The Industrial Revolutions is on Patreon! Become a sustaining supporter today: https://patreon.com/indrevpodThe Industrial Revolutions store is live! Get your t-shirts or sticker here: https://industrialrevolutionspod.com/storeAs capitalists invested in machine technology, they put many of their traditional competitors out of business, forcing them into the factories as deskilled workers. Then, be...

One of the world’s first coal-powered factories was the Albion Mills, smack-dab in the heart of London. Built by Boulton & Watt, it put the competition out of business. Its eventual destruction was a source of inspiration, not only for a burgeoning labor movement, but for one of Britain’s most important poets – and England’s unofficial national anthem.