1 The Second Industrial Revolution (cont.) In the Second Industrial - - PDF document

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The Second Industrial Revolution

In Western Europe, the introduction of electricity, chemicals, and petroleum triggered the Second Industrial Revolution, and a world economy began to develop.

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• In the Second Industrial Revolution there

was greater use of steel, chemicals, petroleum, and electricity.

• Electricity was a new form of energy that

gave way to many new inventions.

• In the United States Thomas Edison

created the light bulb, and homes, businesses, and factories used the affordable resource for convenience and productivity.

The Second Industrial Revolution (cont.)

• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the

telephone, and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sparked a revolution in communications.

• The internal-combustion engine

revolutionized transportation with the automobile, while the airplane made its appearance as well.

The Second Industrial Revolution (cont.)

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• Prices for produced goods decreased as a

result of lower production and transportation

• costs. The assembly line allowed for more

efficient mass production of goods.

The Second Industrial Revolution (cont.)

• By 1900, a true world economy was
• ccurring. Europe dominated this global

economy by the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Second Industrial Revolution (cont.) The Working Class

Industrialization gave some a higher standard of living, but struggling workers turned to trade unions or socialism to improve their lives.

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• The transition to an industrialized society

was hard on the workers, who often worked dangerous jobs for poor wages and lived in crowded slums.

• Some reformers of the capitalist society

wanted a better environment for the working

• class. More radical reformers wanted to

abolish capitalism in favor of socialism.

• Many socialist ideas were based on the

theory of the German Karl Marx.

The Working Class (cont.)

• The Communist Manifesto outlined Marx’s

beliefs that industrial capitalism was to blame for the problems besetting society.

• Marx believed that the proletariat would

violently overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish a classless society, run by a dictatorship form of government.

The Working Class (cont.)

• In many European nations, working-class

leaders formed socialist parties based on Marx’s ideas, but were divided on their goals.

• Pure Marxists wanted revolution to defeat

capitalism, while revisionists argued that political gains were the key to change.

• To improve their conditions, workers
• rganized into unions for better working

conditions and used strikes as their bargaining tool.

The Working Class (cont.)

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