These things demonstrate that the period 1750-1900 was an era of progress because these things helped the world develop and improve and this is what progress means. They helped the world move forward by machinery helping farmers a great deal, getting the land farmed very quickly and making a lot more crops and so making profit for the farmers. The enclosure farming technique helped the world because it stopped many diseases being spread and so less animals and humans were dying from the diseases and also, less land was wasted and more crops were being produced.
Having said this, the changes in agriculture was not just progress as the poorer farmers could not afford to put fences or build walls around their land and also could not afford to buy the new machinery to help with farming the land. This meant that they were unable to produce as much crops as were needed. The poorer farmers had no other option than to give up their land and move to the city where there were more job opportunities because of the factories being built. However, the farm workers were also unhappy, as the new machines had taken their jobs or made they wages drop dramatically.
These events contributed to another topic that represents the era not being totally full of progress. The Luddites were the unhappy workers that had lost their jobs or their wages had been reduced because machines were being introduced. The Luddites showed their hatred for the machines by taking very dramatic actions. The actions started in Nottinghamshire in 1811 and quickly spread throughout the country. But what actions do we speak of? The Luddites went around the factories breaking machines so they could no longer be used until they were repaired. This would mean the Luddites would have to be re-employed or their wages increased. This shows us that it wasn’t all progress being made from 1750-1900.
Despite this, there are other areas of progress that you could say have been made during this time period. For example factories were developed. These were progress as more products could be made and traded with different countries. This meant that England would be making a lot of money from trading and also receiving products they could not get in their own country.
However you could also argue that these don’t show any signs of progress as trading could be bad as diseases could be carried over to England from other countries. This would lead to a lot of people dying and so a population decrease.
These changes lead to other changed in the towns. The towns in 1750 were not populated and were very different to where they were in 1900. In 1750 most people lived in the Countryside. This was because most people who lived in England in 1750 were farmers. By 1900 more people lived in the cities than countryside. This was because machines had been introduced into farming and so many workers had lost their jobs and factories were being built in the cities so more jobs were available. The appearance of towns also changed. In 1750 there were not many houses and shops but no factories. In 1900 many factories had been built in the cities and it had become more polluted and dirty. Also there were more houses because more people lived here. These changes were progress because factories were making new products and so life was moving on and new things were being developed, such as new recipes because new ingredients had been made in the factories.
Furthermore, there were changes in transport. In 1750 transport and the roads were very poor. Most average people could only travel on foot and the rich, by horse and carriage. Both ways were very slow. By 1900 transport was faster and more efficient. This was because railways and canals had been invented and at an affordable price many people could travel with ease. This shows that a lot of progress had been made in this time period for such a large invention to be invented and a useful one too.
During this time period people were unhappy, as the voting restrictions were deemed unfair and very much judged on social status. In 1750 only men with money and property rights were able to vote. No women or poor people were able to vote. By 1900 most men were able to vote but still no women were able to vote. There were demonstrations such as The National Union of Women’s Suffrage attempted to win the right to vote by signing petitions and wrote letters to the government and parliament. These were suffragists. Also, the Women’s Social and Political Unions attempted to win the right to vote. They did this in a very different way to the Suffragists. They were a lot more violent and they staged their demonstrations, threw themselves under moving horses and they staged hunger strikes.
Lastly, it was during this time period that Britain gained a vast population. This shows us signs of progress for Britain as more babies were surviving birth and more people were being cured from illnesses rather than dying. However, it also shows signs of a lack of progress as Britain became very polluted and dirty because of all these people. Also, more food was needed so there was a strain on the farmers in the countryside and there were not many of them as most people worked in factories by 1900.
Overall, I think that Britain made a lot of progress during this time period. I think the people living in 1900 had a much better quality of life than the people in 1750 as so many amazing inventions had been invented, this helped Britain develop further, making it an industrialised country. However, the people in 1900 still had work to do and they did work for better things to make our lives today as simple and enjoyable as possible.
