Industrial France And England Essay, Research Paper
Andrew Battaini 2/16/00
Industrial France and England
The impact Industrial Revolution was immense on the countries of France and England, which
caused large changes in the social classes. Another class of peoples emerged in England and France; they
were the middle classes. The middle class was made up of intelligent people who made their money
through their smarts and not how they were born. This was clearly proven in France when it’s middle class
emerged and being influenced by the philosophies filtered ideas of natural rights (life, liberty, and
property). This in turn created ideas of revolution in France which eventually overthrew the monarch and
set up there own government. Both of these countries however used the Industrial Revolution to there
advantage in terms of new inventions and bettering the economy. This essay will show the impact of the
Industrial Revolution on France and England.
England started its Industrial Revolution at its peak by first having the proper tools available at the
right time. One of the reasons England did so well before the Industrial Revolution was that it had a strong
merchant marine which got the materials that didn’t occur naturally on there island. This also allowed them
to gain news of technological advances and soon machines replaced the gape where workers couldn’t be
because of the limited work force. And due to England’s supremacy of the sea anything they couldn’t make
now they could trade for it. This led to a better economy, which fell into the time slot of the industrial
revolution. Through out all of this the classes remained the same except the small percent of peasants that
moved up to the middle class. Family life was very similar through out Europe and there was no exception
in England , the father was the head of the family and worked while the women stayed home and took care
of the children an did most of the household chores. Rural life did not change much but urban life did with
people moving to the cities to work in factories so population in cities grew gradually, but this sudden flood
of people made many of them homeless because there was not enough room for them ,so they ether walked
many miles to work or if lucky enough a person could find a room to live in. This view of the industrial
revolution in England shows that it was beneficial for the economy and upper class but it was horrid for
anyone else who worked in the upper classes factories.
France rather hurried into the industrial revolution by first having new farming methods which
increased the supply of food, but this in turn caused a population boom in the late 18th century. This
population boom urged philosophies to write about the time and inspire people, the largest group of people
inspired by the philosophies was the newly created middle class which had come from the lower class . But
now due to the industrial revolution the middle class in France took advantage of the lower class and
employed them in their factories and fields this increased the profit of the middle class and upper class but
none of these profits went to the lower class. The class structure was the same in France as it was in
England With the upper class and the middle class controlling everything and the lower class doing all the
work for them. But the middle class did filter the ideas of the philosophies to the lower class. The Rural life
of the peasant barley changed at all while many people moved to the cities to work in the factories and the
cities weren’t large enough to keep all these people so many people were homeless or had to walk many
miles to and from work each day. Heavy taxes and tithes also burdened these lower class people
and Feudal obligations, which kept them from saving any money and ultimately being left behind by
inflation, still eked by in a miserable existence. The family structure saw little change in the industrial
revolution as the father worked all day and the mother-stayed home to look after the children . This kind of
living was common during the industrial revolution until Frances final government that it has today was
formed.
In conclusion this essay has shown that the industrial revolution was beneficial for the economy of
these countries but its affects on the lower classes of these countries was horrible. During these times the
upper classes took advantage of the lower class and put many people to work in their factoriesand paid
them only enough so they could buy very little food and pay taxes. Therefore it is shown that the impact of
the industrial revolution was mostly good but had its darkish side in the way that it achieved its economic
and social goals.
References:
Encarta 99