Industrial Revolution is understood to be the movement and change that the invention and application of machines to industry implied in the industrial and economic order. From that moment on, men's lives, social structures and international relations underwent a radical transformation. It was not an event that appeared suddenly or unexpectedly, on the contrary it involved a long process of many years. Its complete evolution lasted almost two centuries and its origins date back to the middle of the 18th century in England, then it went to Western Europe, beginning with the Netherlands and France, and later to Germany, Spain, Italy, the United States, among others.
Industrialization was a direct consequence of the development of the capitalist mode of production, once the possibilities of mercantilism had been exhausted. The concentration of large capital made it possible to make huge investments in the manufacture of the machines. Industrialization determined a complete breakdown of the previous economic system, based on agriculture, and the economy thus became dependent on manufacturing and industry. The search for greater profits in industrial companies materialized mainly in the invention of machines designed to simplify production processes and the exploitation of new, cheaper and more efficient sources of energy.
The new machines were first introduced in textile workshops (the flying shuttle, the spinning lathes, the power loom, the sewing machine), but soon they also spread to the steel industry, especially after the discovery of the steam engine., which in turn led to the invention of the railroad and ships powered by this form of energy. It was from 1830 on, that the steel industry achieved its great expansion with the use of mineral coal as fuel (reverberation furnaces, steam hammer) and by the huge amount of iron required for the construction of railways throughout Europe.
The industrial revolution brought as consequences the increase in national per capita income, the concentration of the means of production in the hands of a small group of society, the bourgeoisie, also tending to control the power of the State.
Also, it allowed the expansion of the population, the development of communications, and the elevation of the standard of living and work. However, in the early stages of industrialization there was a reduction in the purchasing power of workers and a loss of quality in their standard of living.
