Industrial Revolution – A Cause Analysis

Sir Arthur Louis has said that the prime cause of the Industrial Revolution in England was the accumulation of capital owing to agriculture surplus. It gave him a Nobel Prize. When Karl Marx declared the communist Manifesto, the whole of Europe expected a revolution in England, as it was an industrial country. Others thought Germany was the candidate. It occurred in neither, but came up in feudal Russia causing a surprise. A cause is not yet conclusively discovered. Society is a live organism and eludes in its behaviour many expectations, as subatomic particles change their movement by human observation. Historical events in many cases easily lend themselves to observation and analysis, as the borders of a nation that offer natural protection. There are others that cause an initial surprise but reveal on a little thinking, as the hegemony of USA is by its wealth, though it was not perceived till the end of the 2nd World War. No one expected a backward nation such as USSR to emerge as a superpower after 1945 which is now explained as the expansive ideology that was enabled by the utter secrecy at the expense of national prosperity. The world has endorsed this view, but, in the ultimate analysis, it may not be the real reason as Sir Arthur’s conclusion points. With the passing years, scholars question the accepted wisdom and try to arrive at a more compelling reason. Human thought so advances. America produced five times as much as Britain, the most industrialised nation and seven times as much as Germany but because of its primitive culture till 1993 even her name was not mentioned at Oxford and Cambridge. If USA produced three times as much as Britain and Germany combined, no wonder she was ready to dominate the world by her wealth. It is easy to comprehend, but the question arises why her wealth did not make her dominant for at least a hundred years. This is again another question we would like to research and study as in our view, a nation attains pre-eminence not by the wealth, though wealth contributes to that cause, but it is her political position that enables her to do so. Again, it is not so much the political significance as her being in the context of human evolution. Politically France was great since 1789 but it was Britain that ruled in the 19th and 20th centuries till the end of the wars. It was because she built the Empire that served the aim of humanity of one world. One may continue asking the question why it was Britain and not France that built the biggest empire, as France had a greater claim to empire building. The cause is sought in the Industrial Revolution that created excess products for marketing. So, the questions multiply and continue. They fall under various categories.

  1. Obvious causes that are true, as the protective borders.
  2. Man is oblivious of real causes but is easily led by appearances, as the wealth of USA was unobserved for decades almost to a century.
  3. Surprises, as the Russian Revolution.
  4. It was a great surprise that the Russian Revolution did not at once spread to other nations – Other nations fortified their political stability relaxing the hardship to labour.
  5. It was a surprise that the French Revolution did not spread to England – She underwent her turn in 1688, the Glorious Revolution.
  6. I am not sure whether scholars have unravelled the reason for tiny Britain successfully defeating Hitler in 1945.
  7. Scholars are more than confirmed now that the world population is being determined by the availability of food – its capacity of production of grains. Our theory has to confirm that view yet.
  8. The world that has been cursing the rising population now feels that population is a strength.
  9. It is now explained that in vast plains such as China and India, empires were built, but in smaller segments as we find in Europe, divided by rivers and mountains, what has evolved is democracy – A plausible cause.
  10. There are issues for which causes are yet to be ascertained 
  • Why did thought develop in Greece?
  • How the Roman Empire lasted for five centuries and why was it the turn of Rome to found an empire?
  • The cause of Jesus’s birth in Israel.
  • Agriculture is explained as riverbed civilization – can we confirm it?
  • Why Japan that has developed a clean culture of high honour is so tyrannical?
  • Why did the Chinese resort to torture in excess?
  • Why did Italy decline in the post war years?
  • Why did German chauvinism rise to ugly heights?
  • Why is Asia emotional and Europe mental?
  • Why was Protestantism born in Germany and not in prosperous England or intellectual France?
  • Why did the Spanish build an empire and how did they decline?
  • What caused the 1929 Depression?
  • Causes of World War I and II.
  • How did India become Free without an armed struggle?

We have taken up the analysis of the Industrial Revolution as part of this Quest. We have to explain what is a cause, as with every passing century different causes may be attributed to different events. A cause should be logically consistent and explain itself reasonably. It is not enough it is currently acceptable. If so, there must be a theory governing the process of social evolution. We have such a theory whose essentials are explained in thirty-two principles. Such causes must be compelling and carry an element of inevitability. A cause must be of value must be more and more confirmed with new information that comes to light. It may do it directly or in the reverse, as England can cherish FREEDOM by virtue of its thousand years of slavery.

Our view of Industrial Revolution is Man who is evolving from the physical body to mental thought brings the lower elements of Matter under the control of the higher Mind. Technology is a symbol of Mind ruling Matter. Mind is self-giving and generous. Matter is possessive. Agriculture enabled the Lord to collect and possess the results of hundreds of serfs while industry, the result of Mind flowering, gives its results to people and elevates their status so that the higher purchasing power will help industry survive. Ford reduced the cost of his car, raised the wages of workers so that they may buy his product. It is voluntary self-giving, the real evolutionary role of the Industrial Revolution. At its base, according to out reasoning, lies the development of Mind, which is made possible by certain level of literacy and numeracy. Should it be true that every country that entered the Industrial Revolution had attained that level of literacy, it can be laid down as one cause, as Sir Arthur ascribed the cause to capital accumulation. It was said no war could have been waged abroad without the without the birth of coinage. So, Money has a role in wars waged. To use money, literacy is needed. Scientific enquiry results in technology. If so, the spread of scientific quest in the population is one index of the Industrial Revolution. The extent of such small innovations and especially a quest for them is another index for this. Along with that goes the hold of superstition. Priests told their parishes not to eat grain winnowed by windmills, as only God could raise winds, not man. Industry, at the time of its birth, was the greatest organization Man had designed. So, for that to be possible, society must have shown tendencies to organize itself on other fields. The extent of ORGANISATION prevalent in the society is another index that can be either indicative, contributory of compelling. It is said that high literature is born when the society is at peace for long periods. It is equally true that for industry to be born, violence in the society must give way for cultured coexistence. The abolition of dueling, the birth of honour in transactions are indicative. We are initiating research to bring those distant surmises to compelling theoretical inevitability. Any small event if significant, will serve our purpose. There are agencies in the societies that harp on these themes. In 1946 the Royal Indian Navy ratings revolted on February 19. Attlee announced in the House of Commons the Cabinet Mission to India on Feb 20. The Communist Party of India was quick to point out that it was not Satyagraha but the armed revolt of the army that brought India Freedom.

The Mauryan capital was situated in the deep East as it is safest from the only vulnerable part of India’s borders, the Khyber Pass. The Sikhs have been distinguished soldiers, as it is Punjab that received all invasions into India. All the great philosophies – Adwaita, Dwaita, Vishishtathwaida – were born in the South that is far away from the vulnerable borders. The first Prime Ministers of India were all from Uttar Pradesh as the leadership of a nation is just physically behind the capital in times of war. Bombay pays 50% of Indian income tax, as she is a natural harbor on the West and has flourished by trade over the centuries. Already we have collected over a thousand pieces of apparently unconnected pieces of information.

A look at them will make you understand what we are looking for. Some examples:

  1. USA President Jackson opposed vehemently paper currency and closed a central bank – This is the superstitious resistance of the establishment of innovation.
  2. When Roosevelt was reelected in 1940, Churchill sent a congratulatory telegram to which no reply was sent – A clear indication that UK had lost its preeminence even in the beginning of the war.
  3. In 1929 on the eve of the Great Crash, the US economy was booming – an utter contradiction.
  4. The UN has been the greatest instrument for the spread of democracy after 1945. It is governed by Veto, an undemocratic strategy – contradictions always are present.
  5. Education spreads very fast in India today, as it is commercially beneficial – This confirms our principle that for any social movement or service to spread, it must be profitable.
  6. Industrialisation forced the pace of life and caused insanity in the early 19th century.
  7. Captain Berkeley walked 200 miles in a given period to win a bet of £2100 – shows the vigour of man of that period.
  8. The Greek government’s entire income in 1820 annually was £80,000 – shows the meager money resources of that period.
  9. During the war the efficiency of building a ship in a month was raised to 41/2 days – indicates the peaks of efficiency to which Man can rise in emergency.
  10. JP Morgan in 1907 avoided the economic crash by advising banks to lend money to industries in difficulties – shows the power of what one man can do it in two days.
  11. The Admiralty in England replied all its letters in one day.
  12. Cavalry was in existence even in 1920.
  13. A Roman Senator appointed his horse as a Senator.