Understand how the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain and the
world with this comprehensive flashcard deck covering its key terms,
inventions, social changes, and economic consequences. Learn how
innovations like the steam engine, spinning jenny,...
Understand how the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain and the
world with this comprehensive flashcard deck covering its key terms,
inventions, social changes, and economic consequences. Learn how
innovations like the steam engine, spinning jenny, and railways
shifted societies from rural agriculture to urban manufacturing —
and the human cost that came with it.
Topics include the factory system, child labor, the steam engine
and James Watt, coal and iron industries, urbanization, the Luddite
and Chartist movements, the Bessemer process, capitalism and socialism,
Karl Marx and The Communist Manifesto, the enclosure movement, and
the spread of industrialization to Europe and America. Ideal for
AP World History, GCSE History, and economics students.
Ready to test yourself?
Flip through all 25 cards in interactive study mode.
A period of rapid industrialization and technological change, beginning in Britain around 1760–1840, then spreading to Europe and North America. It transformed economies from agricultural to manufacturing.
In Britain during the 1760s, due to its coal and iron deposits, stable government, colonies providing raw materials, and a culture of invention.
A machine that converts steam into mechanical energy. James Watt significantly improved Thomas Newcomen's engine in 1769, making it efficient enough to power factories and locomotives.
Invented by James Hargreaves in 1764, it was a machine that could spin multiple threads of cotton simultaneously, dramatically increasing textile production.
Invented by Richard Arkwright in 1769, a water-powered machine for spinning cotton that led to the creation of large factories along rivers.
Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, it mechanically separated cotton fibers from seeds, massively increasing cotton production in the American South.
Coal powered steam engines, fueled iron and steel production, and heated homes and factories. Britain had abundant coal deposits, giving it an industrial advantage.
Iron and steel were essential for building machines, railways, bridges, and ships. Innovations like the Bessemer process (1856) made steel production faster and cheaper.
A method of manufacturing where workers gathered in a central factory with machinery, replacing the cottage industry where people produced goods at home.
Children as young as 5 worked in factories, coal mines, and textile mills for 12–16 hours a day in dangerous conditions for very little pay.
Extremely dangerous — long hours (12–16 hours/day), low wages, no holidays, no safety regulations, and risk of injury from unguarded machinery.
Overcrowded, unsanitary neighborhoods in industrial cities where workers lived. Poor sanitation led to outbreaks of cholera and typhoid.
The mass movement of people from rural areas to cities to find factory work. London's population grew from 1 million (1800) to 6.7 million (1900).
A movement (1811–1816) of British textile workers who destroyed machinery, fearing it would take their jobs. "Luddite" now means someone opposed to new technology.
A British working-class movement (1838–1857) demanding political rights for ordinary men, including the right to vote. It was one of the first mass working-class movements.
A Welsh social reformer and factory owner who improved conditions for his workers, providing decent housing, education for children, and shorter working hours — an early socialist.
Railways revolutionized transportation, allowing faster movement of goods and people. George Stephenson's locomotive (1825) launched the railway age, transforming trade and society.
Invented by Henry Bessemer in 1856, it was a cheap way to mass-produce steel by blasting air through molten iron, enabling the construction of steel railways and buildings.
A later phase of industrialization characterized by new industries including steel, chemicals, electricity (Thomas Edison), and petroleum, primarily in Germany, USA, and France.
Created a new urban working class (proletariat), led to the rise of capitalism, increased living standards over time, but also caused exploitation, pollution, and social inequality.
An economic system where private individuals own factories and means of production, competing in free markets for profit. The Industrial Revolution created modern capitalist economies.
The harsh conditions of industrial workers inspired thinkers like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to write The Communist Manifesto (1848), advocating worker ownership of industry.
The process of fencing off common land in Britain for private farming, which displaced rural workers and pushed them into cities to find factory work.
Women worked in factories and mines for lower wages than men. Over time, this experience outside the home contributed to growing demands for women's rights and suffrage.
From Britain, industrialization spread to Belgium, France, Germany, and the USA by the mid-19th century, then to Japan and Russia by the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
