What is this about?
How did industrialization spread from England to the rest of the world?
- From Britain, Industrial Revolution spread to France, Germany, and Belgium
Industrialization Around the World
United States
- Huge wave of European immigrants to US provided cheap labor to American factories
- Many fled due to political instability and poverty
- Were often Irish or Germans
- By 1909, US had become the leading industrial force in the world
Russia
- Industrialization heavily focused on railroads
- Trans-Siberian Railroad stretched from Moscow all the way to the Pacific Ocean
- Completed in 1916
- Led to significant increase in trade with East Asian states like China
- Russia also focused on steel production (which was needed for railroads) and by 1900 Russia had become the 4th largest producer of steel
- Despite these developments, Russia’s economy was overwhelmingly agricultural until after the Communists seized power in 1917
Japan
- Japan adopted process of defensive modernization
- Meaning they adopted technology and institutions developed in Europe and the United States in order protect its traditional culture
- Japan did not want its culture destroyed so it industrialized carefully but they also knew they needed to industrialize if they didn’t want to become dominated by Europeans
Shifts in Manufacturing
Middle Eastern and Asian countries continued to manufacture goods by hand rather than industrialize, resulting in the decline of their share in global manufacturing
Iron Works in India
- British destroyed India’s mineral industry
- Britain didn’t allow Indians to mine iron, and if it was mined it would be for the British
- For India, which was rich in minerals like iron, this was a big blow to their economy
Textile Production in India and Egypt
- Both Egypt and India had huge textile industries
- However, this undermined the textile industries in Britain
- So Britain undermined the profitability of the textile industries in India and Egypt by imposing harsh tariffs
- Hindered growth of textile industries of Egypt and India while giving rise to the ones in Britain