The Industrial Revolution

1
The Industrial Revolution

• City Life

2
Medicine and Population

• Due to the declining death rate, the population
  of Europe more than doubled between 1800 and
  1900. This was partially due to medical advances
  and better sanitation.
• Since the 1600s, scientists had speculated that
  certain microbes, or microscopic organisms might
  cause infectious diseases. Most scientists
  laughed at the germ theory, but in 1870, Louis
  Pasteur proved the theory conclusively. He went
  on to develop vaccines against rabies and
  anthrax. He also developed the process of
  pasteurization, a way of killing disease-carrying
  microbes in milk.

3

• In the 1880s, Dr. Robert Koch identified the
  bacteria that caused tuberculosis, a disease that
  killed about 30 million people during the 1880s.
  However, a cure was not discovered for another 50
  years.
• By 1914, scientists had discovered that diseases
  such as malaria and yellow fever were carried by
  mosquitoes.
• As people began to understand how germs caused
  disease, they began to bathe and change their
  clothes more often. Better sanitation caused the
  death rate to drop even more.
• With the invention of anesthetics in the 1840s,
  doctors were able to experiment with operations
  that had never before been possible.

4

• Hospitals were still very dangerous places.
  Often, patients who survived operations died a
  few days later from infections caused by dirty
  instruments and operating rooms.
• Middle and upper class patients often insisted on
  treatment at home, but the poor had no choice.
• Florence Nightingale was a nursing pioneer. She
  said, The very first requirement in a hospital
  is that it should do the sick no harm. As an
  army nurse, she insisted on better hygiene in
  field hospitals. As a civilian, she introduced
  sanitary measures in British hospitals, and
  founded the first nursing school.
• Joseph Lister was an English surgeon who
  discovered that antiseptics prevented infection.
  He insisted that surgeons wash their hands before
  operations and sterilize their instruments.
• Eventually, deaths from infection began to
  decrease.

5
The Life of the Cities

• Growing wealth and industrialization altered the
  layout of cities, as city planners began to
  create new squares and boulevards. The city of
  Paris began a program of urban renewal, or
  rebuilding the poor areas of the city, in the
  1850s. The tangled medieval streets full of
  tenement houses were destroyed and replaced with
  wide boulevards and splendid public buildings.
  The project put people to work, decreasing unrest
  among the poor.

6

• Eventually, the rich moved to the outskirts of
  cities, while the poor lived in the center, near
  the factories. Trolleys made it possible to live
  in one part of the city and work in another.
• Paved streets and street lights made cities
  safer. Cities organized police forces and
  increased fire protection.
• Sewage systems helped to cut death rates, as they
  reduced the spread of cholera and tuberculosis.
• By 1900, architects were using steel to construct
  massive buildings. The Eiffel Tower became the
  symbol of Paris. Skyscrapers began to reshape
  the skylines of modern cities, and middle class
  families began to live in multistory apartment
  buildings rather than single family homes.

7

• Despite the improvements to city life, urban life
  was still quite harsh for the poor. Most lived
  in small, cramped row houses or tenements.
• In the worst tenements, entire families lived in
  one room. Unemployment or illness caused a loss
  in wages that could ruin a family. Alcoholism
  and crime were major problems.
• Despite the drawbacks, the cities attracted
  millions of people. They were exciting places to
  live or visit. Music halls, opera houses,
  theaters, museums, libraries, and sports events
  drew citizens of all classes.

8
Working-Class Struggles

• Workers tried to improve the harsh conditions of
  industrial life. They protested low wages, long
  hours, unsafe conditions, and the threat of
  unemployment. At first, business owners and
  governments tried to stop protests by banning
  labor unions and strikes, but by the mid-century,
  workers were making progress.
• Workers formed mutual-aid societies, or self-help
  groups to aid sick or injured workers. Men and
  women joined socialist parties or labor unions.

9

• By the late 1800s, most Western countries had
  granted all men the right to vote. Workers also
  had the right to organize unions in many nations.
• Labor unions provided the necessary pressure to
  get governments to pass laws to regulate working
  conditions. Over time, child labor was banned,
  and women were no longer allowed to work in
  mines.
• Laws regarding long working hours were also
  passed. By 1909, British coal-miners only had to
  work an 8-hour day. This set a standard for many
  other fields.
• Overall, reform efforts did cause the standard of
  living for workers to rise. The standard of
  living measures the quality and availability of
  necessities and comforts in a society. Families
  ate more varied diets, lived in better homes, and
  wore mass-produced clothing. Advances in
  medicine improved health. Eventually, some
  workers were able to move to the suburbs.