Essay On Why Did Great Britain Become The First Industrial Nation

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Why was Great Britain the first Industrial nation?

Great Britain had an abundance of factors that gave it a significant advantage over other countries and Empires when it came to Industrialisation. Britain had all it needed to begin this revolution as they had large amounts of natural resources such as coal, an increasing population due to agricultural improvements, the development of new inventions and most importantly, an ever expanding Empire. All these factors contribute and provide the foundations for how Britain became the first Industrial nation, best described through “a wave of gadgets swept over England”1 showing how quickly the face of Britain changed once its potential was fully realised.

The sheer scale of the British Empire allowed them to bring in the resources and other goods to begin a chain of events that would lead to the Industrial Revolution. John Stuart Mill stated opening up trade would begin a prosperous industrial nation “in a country whose resources were previously undeveloped for want of energy or ambition in the people”2
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The British Empire heavily influenced the population through ideas of modernisation, whilst significant agriculture improvements provided for the growing population. Agriculture also heavily provided the vital manpower and workforce needed due to the influential enclosure acts introduced by the government. Undoubtedly, urbanisation has proved to play a huge role in achieving Britain’s workforce in previous years however it was due to the ambition and drive on modernisation that it strived in the lead up to the revolution. Political, social, economic and cultural factors all relied on one another to succeed and without working coherently together, Britain could not successfully achieve an industrial nation that was accomplished by the Industrial

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