Industrialisation

Industrialisation means the growth of industry and factory production. Coal provided energy for factories; steel was used to make ships, weapons and machinery; and railways carried goods and people between towns and cities. Germany also developed important chemical and electrical industries.

During c1700–c1900, industrialisation connected warfare to factories and new transport networks. Machine production allowed weapons to be manufactured on a larger scale; the Enfield factory was producing rifles by machine from 1857. Railways and steamships changed how troops and supplies could be moved.

Between about 1750 and 1900, industrialisation transformed Britain. Goods were increasingly made using machines rather than by hand. Machines were brought together in factories, concentrating production and employment in particular places.