Title: The Industrial Revolution in Europe - ERIH
Headings: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN EUROPE
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN EUROPE
Content: Around the turn of the 20th century a wave of strikes befell the major industrial countries. The first large-scale organised workers movements were successful in demanding higher wages, and demands for a twelve-hour working day were soon followed by demands for a ten-hour day. The first improvements in working conditions occurred after a law was introduced in 1842 to restrict child labour and women's work in Great Britain. France and Prussia followed. In order to damp down social conflicts the German government introduced sickness, accident and old age insurance for workers in the 1880s. But at the same time the tempo of mechanised work increased, and in many industrial countries thousands of people continued to live in overpopulated slums with catastrophic hygienic conditions. The industrial age in the Netherlands only really began around 1860. The country was not only covered in waterways it possessed very little natural resources. These two factors made it very difficult to build up heavy industry and construct railway connections. For this reason businesses tended to concentrate on developing pre-industrial trades.