The Second Industrial Revolution between 1870-1914 led to many technological innovations and changes in production. New energy sources like oil and electricity fueled new factories. Mass production techniques like Taylorism and Fordism standardized work and increased output. New materials, transportation methods, and communication technologies transformed society. While living standards rose for many, the period also saw increased migration, urbanization, labor organizing, and women's suffrage movements.

1. The Second
Industrial revolution,
and its
consequences

2. When did it
develop?
Approximately
between 1870 and
1914
Changes:
a) New sources of energy: oil and electricity.
b) New ways to organize the production of goods.
c) New materials (plastic, artificial fabrics...)
d) New inventions (radio, phonograph, telephone...)
e) New means of transportation
f) New infrastructures

3. New sources of energy
Coal continued being an important energy, but two new and
revolutionary sources of energy were used:
1. Oil was used to move engines in factories, and later applied to
cars. It was an important economic activity in the United
States. In 1870, Rockefeller established the Standard Oil
Company.
2. Electricity was used to illuminate houses and streets, and
soon became the first source of energy in factories.
The invention of the dynamo and the electricity
transformer were important inventions. Electricity can be
transported easily.
Thomas Alva Edison invented the first incandescent bulb.

4. Changes in work organisation
The increase in the demand of all kind of products, and the wish to obtain
higher profits promoted new ways of mass production.
Taylorism: In order to achieve
maximum work efficiency, the
procedures of making the different
tasks were strictly fixed as well as the
time needed to carry out each task.
Objective: not wasting any time or
effort.
Fordism: First applied by Henry Ford in his
automobile factory.
In an assembly line, one worker did only one
specific task without moving from the same
place
Charles Chaplin made a famous parody of
taylorism and fordism in his movie Modern times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfGs2Y5WJ14

5. Fordism: the product was placed on a conveyor belt
(it moved), and each worker performed his/her task
conveyor belt
Thanks to fordism and
taylorism, costs of
production decreased,
prices subsequently
went down, and sales
were incremented.

6. The leading industrial sectors
Metallurgy: the Bessemer converter used electricity, and converted
iron into steel. It was also used to obtain aluminum.
Chemical industries: Petrol was used to produce plastics, dyes,
pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibres (nylon, rayon, etc.), and explosives.
Mechanic industries produced bicycles, cars, locomotives, etc.
Food industries preserved food with the use of cans, and processed
foods started to be used frequently. Pasteurization was used in dairy,
and fresh products started to be freezed to last longer.

7. New means of transport and communication
• Electricity was applied to railways, trams and the underground.
First trip on the London underground (1863)A tram in Prague

8. The internal combustion engine by Benz
enabled the birth of the car, and the aviation
Wright brothers first flight (1903)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkFWd7UQWo4

9. New inventions...
Telephone: Meucci,
Graham Bell.
Phonograph: Edison
Radio: Tesla, and later Marconi
Cinema: Lumière brothers, 1895)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nj0vEO4Q6s

10. The Panama Canal
• It was built to connect the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific ocean faster.
• It was finished in 1914.
• The canal was controlled by the United States until 1999.

11. The Trans-Siberian railway connected Moscow
with Vladivostok in the Pacific (finished in 1904)
The railway is 9,288 km long

12. New forms of trade
• Department stores appeared, like Galeries Lafayette, in Paris. They
offered a wide variety of products in the same building.
Also, companies used
advertising to sell
their products in
markets which
became more and
more competitive

13. Old adverts from the 19th century

14. Postal service
The first stamps appeared in Britain.
Each country developed a postal service. This improved communications.
Also, products could also be bought by mail.
The black penny was the first
stamp ever used in the world
(1840)

15. Banking developed
• Banks financed the
creation of businesses
and industries.
• Banks became larger,
and more influential.

16. Protectionism
• As the world became more and more global, governments adopted
policies aimed to protect the national businesses and industries.
• In order to achieve this, countries established high import duties (a
tax collected on imports) so that the products manufactured in other
countries would not be imported, thus benefiting the national
businesses.
• This created tensions between the industrialized countries.
At the beginning of the 19th
century, the United States
and Germany surpassed the
industrial production of the
UK.

17. The social consequences of the Second Industrial Revolution

18. Population growth
• Thanks to the economic expansion, population grew in Europe
quickly, from 300 million inhabitants in 1870, to 440 million in 1914.
• Industrial and commercial cities particularly grew very fast. The main
European cities (London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Chicago, etc.)
changed: the streets were paved, electrical lamp posts were used,
trams and the underground facilitated transportation, and new
neighbourhoods for workers and bourgeoisie were constructed.
• There was an excess of population, so millions of people migrated
outside Europe.

19. Overseas migration
• Countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand,
Argentina and Brazil were the main
destinations. These countries were growing.
They needed new settlers, and workers for the
factories and the fields.
• The emigration abroad benefited from the
development of transportation.
• The main countries of origin were the UK,
Germany, Italy and Scandinavian countries.

20. The development of the labour movement
• Freedom of assembly and association was granted in most countries,
so the affiliations to trade unions increased.
• Labour parties emerged thanks to the extension of universal suffrage.
Social-democrat parties emerged in Spain (PSOE), Germany (SPD) and
the UK (Labour Party). They did not give up socialist revolution, but
thought that it was important to fight democratically first in order to
improve the worker’s conditions.
• The Second International took place in 1889 in Paris. The anarchists
did not participate. The Second International coordinated the efforts
of the different socialist parties, and condemned capitalism, war and
imperialism.

21. The progress of the proletariat
• Thanks to the efforts and struggle of
the workers, the situation of the
proletariat improved.
• Laws regulated the number of hours,
minimum wages, safety at work,
pensions, health, etc.
• Also, workers benefited from the low
prices. Thanks to the introduction of
new technologies and changes in the
production of goods, prices were
lower. This elevated the worker’s
capacity for consumption.

22. Women struggled to gain the right to vote
• Suffragists were women who advocated for the right of women to
vote in public elections.
• New Zealand was the first country to grant all women the right to
vote in 1893. Women in Britain over the age of 30, meeting certain
property qualifications, were given the right to vote in 1918.