The Industrial Revolution Essay Example for Free

The Industrial Revolution Essay The Industrial Revolution (1750-1914) has been one of the most dramatic and far reaching events the history of mankind. It brought about a significant change, replacing the worker based environment with one that was machine led, bringing with it the start of mass production. As Peter Sterns (1998) observed, â€Å"Few aspects of human life escaped serious transformation over the course of the industrial revolution. † The revolution did slow down between 1815-1914. The probable cause of this was the lack of scientific research to back up developments, something that became more prevalent at a later date. At the time of slow growth it was know that things did or did not work, but there was little scientific research from which to understand the reasoning behind the workings, thus development was slow. Like all things in life the Industrial Revolution brought with it both benefits and problems. Two of the most significant benefits were experienced in Travel and energy. With the advent of the revolution and the construction of railways and canals for transporting goods, constructors soon saw the advantages of producing passenger bearing ships and railways. These opened up the world for citizens of all nations. However, possibly one of the greatest benefits of the revolution was the development and harnessing of energy for use in the home, workplace and all forms of transport. Some of the drawbacks and problems related to the Industrial Revolution are only being felt in modern times. For example, the overuse of fossil fuels. At the time of the revolution little thought was given to whether fossil fuels were a finite or infinite resource. It has proved to be the former and today we are facing a future of limited resources. The other major problem is emissions and their affect on the environment. The advent of Global warming has been the price of the Revolution References Sterns, Peter N. (1998) The Industrial Revolution in World History, rev. ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998 Teich, Mikulas and Porter, Roy eds. (1996) The Industrial Revolution in National Context: Europe and the USA. Cambridge University Press. Wikipedia contributors. (Last Revised 11 July 2006) Industrial Revolution. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 July 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title=Industrial_Revolutionoldid=63218352