In this activity, you will examine images from before and after the Industrial Revolution, which should give you a sense of how quickly change accelerated once the Industrial Revolution began. Seeing these changes through image analysis will also help reinforce the specific impacts on communities, networks, and production and distribution.

In this activity, you will look at images from before and after the Industrial Revolution, and then answer questions about how these pictures can help us see changes in communities, networks, and production and distribution.

Start by looking at the images from Denis Diderot’s Encyclopédie. Diderot’s Encyclopédie was published from 1751 to 1772, and is famous for representing the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Diderot’s goal was to create an encyclopedia of knowledge that included intellectual topics as well as everyday themes, such as the tools people used in their work. In addition, he wanted to influence the way people thought and some of the entries on politics and religion were revolutionary for the time. When you look at the Encyclopédie images, what do you notice and what do you think each picture represents? Now, look at the images from after the Industrial Revolution. Try to get a sense of what each one is about, and how they are different from Diderot’s Encyclopédie illustrations.

Now, look at the images side by side, comparing pre- and post-industrialization. After you’ve looked at the pictures, answer the following question: When examining these images, what kinds of changes do you see happening rather quickly to communities, networks, and production and distribution as a result of industrialization? Note that this is really three questions, since you need to respond in relation to each of the frames. Also, in answering the question, you should refer back to the illustrations and the specifics of the images that influenced your answers. Once you’re done, be prepared to discuss your responses as a class.

Do you think one frame was more impacted than another, or was the change similar across all three? While we usually think about the frames separately, they do overlap, and it’s hard for one to grow and change without the others being impacted. Your teacher will either have you discuss this last question as a class, or, create a chalkboard splash. To do that, you’ll answer the question in 15 words or less. When you are ready, write your response on the board. This is a good way to share your thinking and see what your classmates are thinking, too.

This article explains the origins of the Industrial Revolution, and its impact on human communities and economic networks across the world. The Industrial Revolution began in 1750 when a shortage of wood and an abundance of coal deposits in Great Britain created a new reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooking. British engineers discovered that they could also burn coal to make steam to power machines, ships, and trains. Because fossil fuels are not distributed evenly across the world, some people benefitted from industrialization more than others, creating global inequalities that still shape our world today.

The purpose of this article is to help you begin to form an understanding of why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and not in another part of the world, like China. This reading is also intended to get you to think critically about the ways in which industrialization reshaped the movement of goods and people and transformed human communities and societies differently around the world throughout this era. Finally, this article asks you to consider the benefits and consequences of industrialization both in the past and today.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where do fossil fuels come from?
2. How did the existence of fossil fuels like coal make industrialization possible in Britain beginning in 1750, but not in other parts of the world, like China?
3. What were some of the global forces that influenced the development of industrialization in Britain?
4. Examine the chart “Percentage of Urban Population growth, 1600 to 2000 CE.” Based on data in the chart and information in the article, why do you think urbanization has been on the rise since 1600, and why have some areas of the world become more urbanized than others?
5. According to this article, what are some of the positive and negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How did the Industrial Revolution transform human communities in different ways throughout the world?
2. The Industrial Revolution transformed production and distribution all around the world. Look around the room you’re in. What elements of the room are made possible through the burning of fossil fuels?

The Industrial Revolution transformed life on Earth more than any event since the Agricultural Revolution. In this video, Nick Dennis explores how industrialization changed our lives and why it started in Britain. There are many reasons that industrialization took off in Britain, including its abundance of coal, its geography and environment, and its economy. Still, many believe British industrialization would have been impossible without resources extracted from its colonies.

The Era 6 problem deals with the engines of change that created our modern world. Industrialization and imperialism were two of the most important of these engines. In the long nineteenth century, Britain was the world’s most industrialized nation and its largest empire. This video provides evidence that will help you to understand the connections between Britain’s large empire and its early industrialization. As you watch, think about how the empire helped Britain industrialize and how Britain’s early industrialization helped them build their empire.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How did coal and other environmental factors help Britain industrialize first?
2. How did coal mining change over the course of the Industrial Revolution?
3. How did England’s pre-industrial wool industry help it industrialize?
4. How did Britain’s financial system help launch new industrial ventures?
5. How might high wages in Britain have contributed to industrialization there?
6. According to the video, what global factors may have fed Britain’s industrialization?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. This video provides a look at some of the possible causes of Britain’s early industrialization. Which factor do you think was the most important? Why?
2. Using evidence from this video, provide one impact of industrialization on networks, communities, and production and distribution in Britain.

This article asks where the Industrial Revolution started. But what do we mean by, “where”? First, the article examines the problem of scale—do we look for industrialization at the local, national, global, or some other scale? Most historians agree that the Industrial Revolution started in Britain. But a lot of them disagree on why it started there. Some argue local conditions caused it, while others think it was a result of larger, global processes. This article introduces both perspectives.

Building on the previous article on the Industrial Revolution, this article focuses on the scale of the Industrial Revolution. You’ll learn about an important historical debate about industrialization, which will take you from the local to the global scale. You’ll continue to develop your understanding of industrialization through activities, videos, and articles in this lesson, which will give you more regional and global evidence about industrialization. Understanding industrialization is vital for responding to the Era 6 Problem, which asks: What were the engines of change that created our “modern” world? This article also provides evidence you can use to evaluate all three of the frame narratives.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. According to the author, what geographic factors helped Britain industrialize?
2. What geographic factors held back early industrialization in China and Japan?
3. What social factors stimulated Britain to industrialize?
4. How might the institution of slavery have helped make industrialization possible?
5. Other than plantations, what global advantages did Britain have?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. The author concludes that the reasons for Britain’s industrialization were both local and global. But if you had to choose one scale (local or global) as the best explanation for Britain’s early industrialization, which would you choose? Which frame supports your choice the best: communities, networks, or production and distribution? Which frame challenges your choice?

This activity will introduce you to the concept of urbanization, both as a shift in demographics and as a shift in the physical environment resulting from the rise of industrialization. By providing a narrative glimpse of how one fictional village transformed over 150 years into a city, you’ll be drawn into the chaos of rapid urban growth. This will help you begin to see how the Industrial Revolution created significant changes in human communities, how humans produced and distributed goods, and how networks began to expand. In addition, you’ll see the impacts of industrialization on the environment. Finally, this activity serves as an introduction to the Industrial Revolution, which is the central theme of this lesson.

Causation, CCOT
By drawing the development of cities, you’ll be creating what is in many ways a causal map of the urbanization process. In particular, you’ll show the social and environmental effects of industrialization. In addition, you’ll identify both significant changes and continuities over that period, which will help prepare you for content and activities that develop these ideas later in the course.

This is a multipart activity that first asks you to analyze a passage from Thomas Carlyle’s “Signs of the Times,” an essay that appeared in The Edinburgh Review in 1829. Then, you’ll listen to portions of a narrative about how life changed in an English village from 1700 to 1850. As you listen to passages from different years, you’ll draw how the effects of industrialization significantly altered life in England. Finally, you’ll answer a series of follow-up questions as you examine the drawings that your group and others created. This will help you visualize how the Industrial Revolution changed almost all aspects of life for those living in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England and beyond.

Part 1

Your teacher will project the following excerpt from “Signs of the Times,” an essay by the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), published in The Edinburgh Review in 1829. Follow along as your teacher reads it.

“Were we required to characterise this age of ours by any single epithet [description], we should be tempted to call it, not an Heroical, Devotional, Philosophical, or Moral Age, but, above all others, the Mechanical Age. It is the Age of Machinery, in every outward and inward sense of that word; the age which, with its whole undivided might, forwards, teaches and practises the great art of adapting means to ends. Nothing is now done directly or by hand; all is by rule and calculated contrivance [plan]. For the simplest operation, some helps and accompaniments, some cunning abbreviating process is in readiness. On every hand, the living artisan is driven from his workshop, to make room for a speedier, inanimate one. The shuttle drops from the fingers of the weaver, and falls into iron fingers that ply it faster. The sailor furls his sail, and lays down his oar; and bids a strong, unwearied servant, on vaporous wings, bear him through the waters.”

Then, have a discussion about how Carlyle describes the changes that took place during his lifetime by answering the following questions.

• What was Thomas Carlyle’s point of view regarding life in Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century? What evidence did you use to arrive at that answer?
• Using the excerpt by Carlyle, how do you think life in Europe changed over time (politically, socially, and/or economically speaking) by the mid-nineteenth century?

Part 2

Your teacher will organize the class into pairs and pass out paper, markers, and a template to each pair. First, your teacher will read short narratives about life in a small English village from 1700 to 1850. After each narrative is read, you’ll draw various elements of the village, following your teacher’s directions and using the template to determine the size and shape of the icons used. These include dwellings, canals, roads, railroads, and schools, among others. Note that the template should be used for reference and you won’t be graded on your artistic abilities, we promise!

After your teacher has read all of the narratives and you’ve finished drawing, you’ll post your work on the board for everyone to see. Take note of any similarities that you see between your drawing and those of the rest of the class.

Part 3

To wrap up this activity, you’ll examine the board full of drawings and the lesson experience to define the term urbanization. Then, answer the following questions and be prepared to discuss them with the class.

• Define the term urbanization based on what you now know about industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
• Write three questions this activity raises about urbanization in England from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century.
• What can you now add to your list from before the activity about how life in Europe changed over time (politically, socially, and/or economically) by the mid-nineteenth century?
• What do you think the central themes of this unit will be?
• Why do you think the Industrial Revolution is considered a major turning point in world history? Explain your reasoning.

The Industrial Revolution was a drastic turning point in world history. It influenced nearly every aspect of human life, forged new connections between distant communities, and transformed modes of production. This article explains some of these changes and how their impacts—both positive and negative—were experienced differently across lines of class, gender, and race in different parts of the world.

In this short article you will learn about the many ways the Industrial Revolution influenced society, both in Britain where it began, and around the world. This article should help you begin to form an understanding of the ways in which the Industrial Revolution changed the nature of work, living conditions, and global connections.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How did the Industrial Revolution change family structures in Britain?
2. What role did women and children play in the industrial economy? Did they benefit from factory labor?
3. What kinds of benefits or opportunities did the Industrial Revolution create for people in Britain?
4. How did the Industrial Revolution affect the daily lives and labor of people outside of Europe such as enslaved Africans or colonial subjects?
5. In the article, the author cites historian Thomas Finger who argued that “wheat—as much as coal—powered England’s factories.” What does he mean by this? How did wheat power England’s factories, and how did the demand for wheat transform wheat-producing societies around the world?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. According to the author, the changes ushered in by the Industrial Revolution had a ripple effect around the world. Using the evidence surrounding either sugar, wheat, or copper provided in the article, trace and explain one of these ripples.
2. Imagine you are a new wage-laborer that recently moved from a rural farm community to an industrial city. Using information from the article, explain how your life has changed. What new hardships or opportunities might you face?

Railroads changed the world, and understanding how can really help you understand the Industrial Revolution as a whole. The thing is, before there were steam-powered trains, transportation needed muscle or wind power. Railroads made it possible to move across long distances quickly and easily. They made the world shrink—not literally, of course! But they truly revolutionized people’s habits and how they saw the world. For many people, it was their first experience with the big machines that characterized the Industrial Revolution.

You’ve been introduced to the Industrial Revolution in previous articles, but this video focuses specifically on railroads, which were a huge part of the Industrial Revolution. This will help you think about the Era 6 Problem, since trains were literally engines of change that created our “modern” world. It also gives you key information you can use to support, extend, or challenge the networks frame narrative.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How did railroads lead people to experience the Industrial Revolution? How was this different across different classes?
2. How did railroads change the physical environment? How did they change how people experienced time and space?
3. In what ways was travel by horse seen as superior to railroad travel, by some people?
4. What are some ways in which railroad travel impacted human interaction?
5. How did people’s attitudes toward railroads change over time?
6. In what ways is the Internet similar to the railroad?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. John Green argues that railroads were a technological revolution that changed everything from production to distribution to communities to networks. Could something similar be said about other elements of the Industrial Revolution, like factories or industrial cities? Make an argument for one of these, or another element.
2. How can evidence from this video help you evaluate the networks frame narrative?

In this comparison activity, you’ll compare how two different nations attempted to industrialize in the nineteenth century. This activity helps you practice and refine your comparison skills. This will help you differentiate between historical events and processes, and enable you to analyze those similarities and differences to generate a more meaningful understanding of history.

Reading, writing
In this activity, you’ll use your close-reading skills to pull out information from each of the articles to complete the Comparison Tool. In addition to practicing your reading skills, you’ll work on your writing by crafting a multi-paragraph response to answer a comparison prompt.

Industrialization began in Great Britain in the eighteenth century but soon spread to regions all over the world. By the nineteenth century, nations were attempting to industrialize quickly. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn’t. In this activity, you’ll look at two different nations that began industrializing in this era: Japan and Egypt. Then, you’ll evaluate the similarities and differences to craft a response to a comparison prompt.

First, can you think of any reasons why attempts at industrialization might have worked well in some nations and not so well in others? Be prepared to share your answers with the class.

Your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Comparison – Egypt and Japan worksheet. Then, working either in pairs or small groups, use the articles “Japan’s Industrial Revolution” and “Egypt’s Industrial Revolution” to answer the questions and complete Part 1: Identifying and Describing of the Comparison Tool, which is included in the worksheet.

After all sections in Part 1 of the tool have been answered, use the similarities and differences identified and described in Part 1 to complete Part 2 of the tool. In Part 2, you’ll write two thesis statements in response to the following prompts:

• What was the most significant similarity between Japan and Egypt’s industrial revolutions?
• What was the most significant difference between Japan and Egypt’s industrial revolutions?

Remember that you can use the acronym ADE (amount, depth, and endurance) to help determine historical significance. Consider if these similarities and differences affected most people in Japan and Egypt (amount); if people in Japan and Egypt were deeply affected by these similarities and differences (depth); or these similarities and differences were long lasting (endurance).

Finally, you’ll use your thesis statements to individually write a paragraph response that fully answers the following question: In what ways were Japan and Egypt’s industrial revolutions the most similar and the most different?

Your teacher will collect these responses to evaluate how your comparison skills are progressing.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, a new generation of political leaders in Japan sought to rapidly modernize the country in order to protect it from foreign invasion and control. Though they lacked the raw materials—like coal—that made industrialization possible elsewhere, the new government implemented drastic measures to train workers, build factories, and secure both natural resources and a broader consumer base beyond Japan’s borders.

The purpose of this reading is to provide you with one example of how the Industrial Revolution took shape in a region of the world that did not have access to raw materials like coal. Because Japan successfully industrialized and remains an industrial power today, it serves as a useful example of how particular political, social, and economic changes helped Japan overcome both environmental limitations and global forces.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were three key features of Japanese society before 1868?
2. What was the economic problem Japan faced when American warships sailed into Tokyo Bay?
3. Who were the Meiji, and what role did they plan in the industrialization of Japan?
4. What is defensive modernization, and how is it different from other industrialization processes you have read about?
5. Explain one aspect of industrialization in Japan that was similar to industrialization in Europe and the United States.

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. What does the author mean when he states that, “while Japan fits into the wider model of changes to production and distribution brought in by the Industrial Revolution, its particular place within this system is unique?”
2. Did this article change your understanding of how industrialization transformed production and distribution around the world? How?

During the nineteenth century, Egypt emerged as a promising industrial power. Under new political leadership, Egypt became a major producer of cotton. However, ultimately Egypt’s industrialization efforts failed. This article examines the rise and fall of industrialization in Egypt during this era.

In the previous article, you learned how Japan was able to successfully industrialize despite the threat of foreign interventions and without natural resources like coal. However, not all countries that sought to industrialize shared the same success. In this reading, you will learn about industrialization efforts in Egypt and the possible reasons why these efforts ultimately failed. This article should help you better understand how environmental factors and global forces shaped industrialization processes differently at a more local level.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who was Muhammad Ali, and how did he try to industrialize Egypt?
2. How did these economic changes affect the lives and labor practices of Egyptian peasants?
3. What were the three main reasons industrialization failed in Egypt?
4. How did Egypt’s economic decline reshape people’s ideas about industrialization and modernization? What were some of the solutions Egyptian scholars and leaders proposed for modernizing Egypt more effectively?
5. What role did foreign powers play in the aftermath of Egypt’s industrial collapse? How did these global forces impact Egyptian society?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How did industrialization transform human communities and labor practices in nineteenth-century Egypt?
2. According to the author of this article, “Egypt’s industrialization and actual independence had both been ended by 1882.” Comparing Egypt’s experience to that of Japan, how do you think industrialization changed political power across the world?

In this lesson, you’re introduced to the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution and the positive and negative impact industrialization had on different nations and communities within these nations. In this activity, you’ll use the Gapminder tool to assess how industrialization has led to increased income and longer life expectancy in most regions of the world. By examining the data from a variety of regions, you’ll be able to visually assess these changes and make connections across both time and space. In addition, you’ll compare the impact of industrialization on different nations and look at how industrialization shaped both global and local history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In this lesson, we learned that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and then moved to different areas of western Europe and across the Atlantic to the United States. We also learned about different regions such as Egypt and Japan that began to industrialize in the nineteenth century. This activity provides a visual introduction to this lesson while also incorporating data from a variety of regions of the world. This will help you see how industrialization often led to an increase in income and life expectancy in those regions that began to industrialize, but you'll also see that some regions industrialized much later than others.

First, your teacher will introduce you to the Gapminder tool and the different ways to visualize data using it. After this introduction, your teacher will have you work in pairs or small groups to use the Gapminder tool to compare data from the UK or the US with that of other nations. You’ll be assigned either the US or the UK to compare to one nation from each of the lists below. For each of these nations, you’ll be comparing “Income” and “Life Expectancy” between the UK or US and your other assigned nations.

Nations that industrialized later (those that did not begin industrializing until the mid-nineteenth to twentieth centuries):

1. Chile
2. China
3. Egypt
4. India
5. Japan
6. Mexico
7. South Korea
8. Uruguay

Least developed nations (defined by the United Nations as “low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development”).

1. Afghanistan
2. Bangladesh
3. Cambodia
4. Ethiopia
5. Sudan
6. Uganda
7. Vanuatu
8. Yemen

Now, you’ll compare your assigned nations from the “Industrialized Later” category, using “Income” for the y-axis, and then pressing Play to see the data that unfolds from 1800 to 2018. Then, you’ll do the same thing for your assigned nation but instead use “Life Expectancy” for the y-axis. After each comparison, answer the questions on the worksheet. Next, you’ll do the same thing to compare either the UK or the US and your assigned nation from the “Least Developed Nations” category for both “Income” and “Life Expectancy,” and answer the questions on the worksheet for this comparison.

Once all groups have finished completing the worksheet, each group will share out some of their findings. After all groups have shared out, think about any patterns that emerged. Why do you think some regions of the world industrialized later than others? What historical events or processes might have contributed to some regions becoming wealthier and more industrialized than others?

By the end of this activity, you should have a better idea of how those nations that industrialized first had (and continue to have) advantages over those that either took longer to do so or have not achieved industrialization on the scale seen in other regions of the world. You’ll also assess the reasons for the lack of growth in some regions of the world and become aware of how industrialized nations used resources from many of these lesser developed regions for their own success.