A transformation of a similar scale is taking place today with the onset of the fourth industrial revolution. The steam engine and the industrial revolution it unleashed fundamentally altered the world. For the working class, the benefits arrived with the formation of labour unions, providing higher wages and better conditions. There was a steady increase in wealth and standard of living for the middle and upper classes, who benefitted immediately. As a result, the lives of millions of people were changed forever. The industrial revolution quickly spread across Europe and North America during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As a result, electric lights were invented and used to light homes and streets. In the 1800s, steam was used to move parts in steam turbines, producing electricity. The first steam-powered locomotive was produced in 1814. Soon, the steam engine moved beyond factories. Larger factories needed workers to function, so millions left rural areas to work in factories in towns. With the steam engine, factories could suddenly be built anywhere, not just near sources of power like water. The technology took off in the late 1700s when Scottish inventor James Watt built his first Watt steam engine.Īt this point, the industrial revolution accelerated. The steam engine was the engine that drove the industrial revolution. And the industrial revolution was driven by one iconic invention: the steam engine.
The industrial revolution transformed European and North American societies into predominantly urban, industrialised economies. People made everything by hand machines needed animals, wind or water to move them. Before it, society in Europe and North America was predominantly rural and agricultural. The industrial revolution, which took place in the latter half of the 18th century, changed the world as we know it.
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