Critically examine the different paths adopted by france,britain and germany towards industrialisation
Answers
The historiography of the British Industrial Revolution has moved away from viewing the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (particularly 1780-1815) as a unique turning point in economic and social development.
For example, A.E. Musson’s survey, The Growth of British Industry criticizes what he regards as ‘the general interpretation presented in most textbooks’, namely that ‘the industrial revolution had taken place by 1850, that the factory system had triumphed.
He stresses the extent to which consumer goods industries remained handicraft industries, located in small workshops; the degree to which, as shown in the 1851 Census, patterns of employment and occupational structure remained dominated by traditional craftsmen, labourers and domestic servants; and the very slow rate at which factories spread and steam power was diffused.
He argues that ‘There are good grounds for regarding the period 1850-1914 as that in which the Industrial Revolution really occurred, on a massive scale, transforming the whole economy and society much more deeply than the earlier changes had done.’