HIS109Y1 Lecture : [19] Captialism.doc
Document Summary
Created new classes which hand"t ben in existence before. Created new cities -- urbanization rather than rural life. Most observers thought change was good - positive step in human progress. Most of europe realized they were better off than they had been before. All but the very poorest thought life was better. High cost in human msery - early factories, system of gov"t, medicine -- not prepared for rapid- ity of change in first 1/2 of 19th c. N. europe - part cause, part effect. Capital was needed more than anthing -- you had to build factories, transport raw materials, transport water. Necessary for early entrepresuer to invest in everything, reinvest ==> more and more captital. Up until mid-19th c. - capital was the focus. New means of organization confounded even most optimistic. 3/4 quarter of 19th c. - industrial production, trade, finance = huge growth. Agriculture even flourished (because of new technology, phosphorus) -- health increased, popu- lation increased.
