How Much Did Industry Change?
Introduced"To what extent" is a real question
- Explain the extent to which industrialisation brought change from 1750 to 1900.
- Extent means the answer is a degree, not a yes or no — so the essay must weigh change against continuity.
- An answer that only lists changes has answered "did it?" instead of "how much?"
"To what extent" requires an answer that is...
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An answer that only lists changes has answered "did it?"
The case for large change
- Railroads, steamships and the telegraph made exploration, development and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration.
- New classes appeared, energy per person rose enormously, and manufacturing shares shifted between world regions.
- This is the strongest single body of evidence, and it is all in units 5.3 to 5.5.
Select all the continuities available for this answer.
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New classes did appear — that belongs on the change side.
The case for limited change
- Most of the world's people in 1900 still worked in agriculture, and most production was still not mechanised.
- Industrialisation was concentrated in parts of Europe, the U.S., Russia and Japan — the CED's own list is short.
- *Industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some * — the qualifier is a limit on the extent.
Evidence for change, for continuity, or the other engine?
Sort each piece of evidence in an extent answer.
Unit 5's second engine, running alongside industry, is ____.
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Driven by Enlightenment thought and nationalism.
"To what extent" asks for a degree, not a list. An essay that names ten changes and no continuities has answered a different question. The CED's own qualifiers — industrialisation in parts of a short list of countries, living standards raised for some — are the limits your degree has to account for.
Put the extent routine in order.
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The qualifiers are the limits your degree has to explain.
And the revolutions belong here too
- The unit's other review statement is about an intense period of revolution and rebellion leading to new nation-states, driven by Enlightenment thought and nationalism.
- So unit 5 has two engines, not one: industry and revolution, running at the same time.
- The strongest extent answers connect them — new wealth and new classes gave the new ideologies their audience.
"Transformative where it happened, and it happened in few places" is a defensible verdict.
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It is a degree, and the evidence for both halves is already in the unit.
An extent routine
- State the largest change and its best evidence in one sentence.
- State the largest continuity and its best evidence in one sentence.
- Then give your degree — substantial but geographically concentrated is a defensible verdict, and the evidence for it is already written.
Change: the energy available to a society multiplied, and railways opened interiors that had never traded. Continuity: in 1900 most people on earth still farmed, and most of them by hand. Degree: transformative where it happened, and it had happened in relatively few places — which is a verdict, and it can be defended from the CED alone.
Extent means a degree, not a yes or no. Change: railroads, steamships and the telegraph opened interior regions, increasing trade and migration; new classes; shifted manufacturing shares. Continuity: most people still farmed, and industry sat in parts of a short list of countries with living standards raised for some. Unit 5's second engine is revolution and nationalism.
Write from farming in 1900
- Some regions had factories, railways, and new classes by 1900.
- Most of the world's people still worked the land.
How large was industrial change for humanity as a whole?
Industry transformed some societies without covering the whole world.
What was still true of most people in 1900?
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The factory system was still geographically limited.