When transport in Britain got better, it made raw materials cheaper and it made the guarantee of the supply a lot more reliable, which encouraged places to buy the goods. The speed of the journeys by road increased rapidly in 130 years. To go from London to Manchester in 1700, it would take 98 hours or more, but then, 130 years later, once money had been put towards improvements, it would only take 12 hours. The depths of the industrial revolution also saw the first canal, The Bridgewater canal, be built in 1776. Canals were very useful as they could transport all the produce abroad.
The raw materials that Britain produced were a very important factor of the Industrial Revolution. We needed the materials to make iron and steel, which then went on to make machines and railways, which, considering the ever growing population, was important and needed. We also mined lots of coal, which drove the steam engines that powered the machinery in all the factories, this meaning, that because more machinery could be used, more jobs became available, encouraging more people to move to Britain.
One of, I believe, the most important factors, is the growth in population. However, if it wasn’t for other things like the raw materials and our trading and transport, then the population in Britain is unlikely to have increased massively. On the other hand, without the growth in population, other factors may not have happened, for example, if there was nobody to mine the coal then the steam engines couldn’t be powered, meaning that there wouldn’t be many jobs available. Having more people meant that jobs could be arranged and filled; more goods could be sold, etc. I believe, for that reason, that the increase in population in Britain is the heart of the Industrial revolution. Although, many people in Britain at that time were too poor to buy the produce anyway, which meant that peoples jobs were at risk, and if the item didn’t sell, then the business could easily go bust, sacrificing lots of jobs.
In amongst the many people that immigrated to and were born in Britain, there was several great inventors and industrialists that created many of the things that we, today, use in everyday life. The only problem with this was that a lot of money went into developing new inventions and if they weren’t popular, then a lot of money was wasted on inventing a failure. One of the most important inventions was the steam engine. This was run by coal, which meant that people needed to mine it. This enticed people looking for jobs to Britain.
In my opinion, I don’t see that anything specifically caused the Industrial revolution, but there was just several triggers that set the whole thing going, none necessarily more important or crucial than others, but all equal.
