Industrial Revolution Quiz

Which of the following most directly explains the importance of improved agricultural productivity to the industrialization of economic production in western Europe in the period 1750–1900 ?

• Because the nutritional quality of food greatly improved, more people were able to sustain the long working hours that factory labor required.

• Because farmers needed less land to produce the same amount of food, they could build textile factories on the excess land.

• Because less labor was needed on farms, more people moved to urban areas to work in factories.

• Because greater quantities of food could be sold at higher prices, governments could tax farmers at higher rates and use those revenues to build factories.

“By the end of the nineteenth century, Germany had advanced beyond Britain in terms of economic output. The prime reason for this development was that Germany developed newer industries, while Britain continued to stress textile production. Formerly an agricultural country, the German Empire has come to be regarded as one of the leading industrial nations of the world and, in the chemical industries, Germany has for some time occupied a leading place.

One of the most successful chemical and pharmaceutical firms in Germany is the Bayer company. Bayer employs 3,500 people alone at its plant in Leverkusen,* and the factory is so gigantic that all of these people are barely noticed when a visitor tours it. The laboratories are arranged very much in the same manner as the university laboratories in Britain. Each workstation receives a supply of electricity, compressed air, steam, and hot and cold water. The research chemists are paid a salary of about 100 British pounds for the first year. If a chemist has shown himself to be useful in his first year, he may receive a longer contract and may receive royalties on any processes that he invented.”

*a city located in west-central Germany near Cologne; until the development of the German chemical industry in the late nineteenth century, Leverkusen was a small rural community.

Harold Baron, British historian, book describing the chemical industry of Europe, published in 1909

The emergence of the German industries referred to in the passage is most directly explained by which of the following processes in the nineteenth century?

• The spread of new industrial technologies such as the internal combustion engine from the United States

• The greater diversity of manufactured goods produced by industrial factories

• The growing importance of using coal as fuel in industrial production

• The development of new methods of production during the second industrial revolution

“By the end of the nineteenth century, Germany had advanced beyond Britain in terms of economic output. The prime reason for this development was that Germany developed newer industries, while Britain continued to stress textile production. Formerly an agricultural country, the German Empire has come to be regarded as one of the leading industrial nations of the world and, in the chemical industries, Germany has for some time occupied a leading place.

One of the most successful chemical and pharmaceutical firms in Germany is the Bayer company. Bayer employs 3,500 people alone at its plant in Leverkusen,* and the factory is so gigantic that all of these people are barely noticed when a visitor tours it. The laboratories are arranged very much in the same manner as the university laboratories in Britain. Each workstation receives a supply of electricity, compressed air, steam, and hot and cold water. The research chemists are paid a salary of about 100 British pounds for the first year. If a chemist has shown himself to be useful in his first year, he may receive a longer contract and may receive royalties on any processes that he invented.”

*a city located in west-central Germany near Cologne; until the development of the German chemical industry in the late nineteenth century, Leverkusen was a small rural community.

Harold Baron, British historian, book describing the chemical industry of Europe, published in 1909

Great Britain’s development of the industry referred to in the first paragraph during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is best explained by the fact that British factories were the first to

• use natural resources from colonies to create finished products

• use steam-powered machines for large-scale economic production

• take advantage of mercantilist economic policies to protect themselves from foreign competition

• use coerced labor for producing manufactured goods

“By the end of the nineteenth century, Germany had advanced beyond Britain in terms of economic output. The prime reason for this development was that Germany developed newer industries, while Britain continued to stress textile production. Formerly an agricultural country, the German Empire has come to be regarded as one of the leading industrial nations of the world and, in the chemical industries, Germany has for some time occupied a leading place.

One of the most successful chemical and pharmaceutical firms in Germany is the Bayer company. Bayer employs 3,500 people alone at its plant in Leverkusen,* and the factory is so gigantic that all of these people are barely noticed when a visitor tours it. The laboratories are arranged very much in the same manner as the university laboratories in Britain. Each workstation receives a supply of electricity, compressed air, steam, and hot and cold water. The research chemists are paid a salary of about 100 British pounds for the first year. If a chemist has shown himself to be useful in his first year, he may receive a longer contract and may receive royalties on any processes that he invented.”

*a city located in west-central Germany near Cologne; until the development of the German chemical industry in the late nineteenth century, Leverkusen was a small rural community.

Harold Baron, British historian, book describing the chemical industry of Europe, published in 1909

Which of the following developments in the nineteenth century would most likely help explain the size and composition of the workforce at the Bayer plant as described in the second paragraph?

• The construction of railroads facilitated the migration of people to interior regions.

• The invention of steamships facilitated the migration of colonial subjects to imperial metropoles.

• The invention of the telegraph made it easier for companies to recruit educated workers from across the world.

• The discovery of electricity made rural communities more attractive places to live for wealthy urbanites.

“The fourth annual meeting of the shareholders of the British South Africa Company was held yesterday at the Cannon-street Hotel. The company’s chairman, in his opening address, said, ‘Twice during the past year we met when fighting with Africans was taking place in the company’s territory, when financial arrangements of a complicated character were pending, and when the outlook of the enterprise seemed full of doubt and difficulty. Today, however, we are in a position far superior to any we had previously occupied and ever had hoped to attain. In founding the British South Africa Company, the shareholders undertook the occupation and development of a considerable extent of valuable territory in South Africa. Thus, because of the far-seeing action of a few men connected with the company, this enormous territory was secured for Great Britain. The perfectly legitimate objections of some people to chartered companies like ours were answered by the certainty that this vast territory—equal in extent to Central Europe—could not have been brought under British sway in any other way.

Turning now to the development of railway communication in our territory, it is being pursued by building lines from the Cape Colony and joining them to other lines that will provide a route over Portuguese Mozambique and to the sea. Postal and telegraphic communications will closely follow, and in some cases already precede, the completion of the railroad. In addition, even before our mines have reached a stage of development great enough to cause a large inflow of population, the shareholders may congratulate themselves on the satisfactory outlook of our finances in Mashonaland*.’”

*a region in northern Zimbabwe that contained extensive deposits of gold and other minerals and metals

Report of Alexander Duff, chairman of the British South Africa Company, to company shareholders in London, recorded in the Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette, published in London, 1895

The economic success of businesses such as the British South Africa Company was in part dependent on which of the following developments in the late nineteenth century?

• The migrations of indentured workers from Asia

• The increasing availability and variety of consumer goods

• The adoption of innovative practices in banking and finance

• The development of new technologies such as the telegraph

“The fourth annual meeting of the shareholders of the British South Africa Company was held yesterday at the Cannon-street Hotel. The company’s chairman, in his opening address, said, ‘Twice during the past year we met when fighting with Africans was taking place in the company’s territory, when financial arrangements of a complicated character were pending, and when the outlook of the enterprise seemed full of doubt and difficulty. Today, however, we are in a position far superior to any we had previously occupied and ever had hoped to attain. In founding the British South Africa Company, the shareholders undertook the occupation and development of a considerable extent of valuable territory in South Africa. Thus, because of the far-seeing action of a few men connected with the company, this enormous territory was secured for Great Britain. The perfectly legitimate objections of some people to chartered companies like ours were answered by the certainty that this vast territory—equal in extent to Central Europe—could not have been brought under British sway in any other way.

Turning now to the development of railway communication in our territory, it is being pursued by building lines from the Cape Colony and joining them to other lines that will provide a route over Portuguese Mozambique and to the sea. Postal and telegraphic communications will closely follow, and in some cases already precede, the completion of the railroad. In addition, even before our mines have reached a stage of development great enough to cause a large inflow of population, the shareholders may congratulate themselves on the satisfactory outlook of our finances in Mashonaland*.’”

*a region in northern Zimbabwe that contained extensive deposits of gold and other minerals and metals

Report of Alexander Duff, chairman of the British South Africa Company, to company shareholders in London, recorded in the Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette, published in London, 1895

As described in the passage, the economic model of the British South Africa Company most directly differed from which of the following economic trends in the late nineteenth century?

• The shift in Asian and African economies from manufacturing of finished goods to resource extraction

• The shift from mercantilism to free-market trade policies

• The shift from nation-based businesses and enterprises to transnational businesses and enterprises

• The shift from heavy industry to industries centered on the production of consumer goods

“The fourth annual meeting of the shareholders of the British South Africa Company was held yesterday at the Cannon-street Hotel. The company’s chairman, in his opening address, said, ‘Twice during the past year we met when fighting with Africans was taking place in the company’s territory, when financial arrangements of a complicated character were pending, and when the outlook of the enterprise seemed full of doubt and difficulty. Today, however, we are in a position far superior to any we had previously occupied and ever had hoped to attain. In founding the British South Africa Company, the shareholders undertook the occupation and development of a considerable extent of valuable territory in South Africa. Thus, because of the far-seeing action of a few men connected with the company, this enormous territory was secured for Great Britain. The perfectly legitimate objections of some people to chartered companies like ours were answered by the certainty that this vast territory—equal in extent to Central Europe—could not have been brought under British sway in any other way.

Turning now to the development of railway communication in our territory, it is being pursued by building lines from the Cape Colony and joining them to other lines that will provide a route over Portuguese Mozambique and to the sea. Postal and telegraphic communications will closely follow, and in some cases already precede, the completion of the railroad. In addition, even before our mines have reached a stage of development great enough to cause a large inflow of population, the shareholders may congratulate themselves on the satisfactory outlook of our finances in Mashonaland*.’”

*a region in northern Zimbabwe that contained extensive deposits of gold and other minerals and metals

Report of Alexander Duff, chairman of the British South Africa Company, to company shareholders in London, recorded in the Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette, published in London, 1895

The “objections” that the chairman refers to in the first paragraph can most directly be explained in relation to which of the following arguments commonly made by laissez-faire economists in the period 1750–1900 ?

• Granting government charters to joint-stock companies such as the British South Africa Company allowed too much free trade and hurt workers in home countries.

• Government involvement in the business of companies such as the British South Africa Company inevitably led to deregulation that removed valuable protections for workers and consumers.

• The creation of government-supported joint-stock companies such as the British South Africa Company excluded private investment.

• The monopolistic practices of government-chartered joint-stock companies such as the British South Africa Company distorted market competition and hurt consumers.

Which of the following best describes an important difference between Karl Marx’s theory of socialist revolution and that of V. I. Lenin?

• Only Lenin argued that the workers’ revolution would have to be led by professional revolutionaries.

• Only Marx stressed the primary role of the industrial proletariat.

• Only Marx stressed the importance of the “class struggle” in history.

• Only Lenin argued that revolution would occur in the most industrialized countries.

• Only Marx thought that a socialist revolution must be achieved through parliamentary reform.

Many historians have argued that by the late nineteenth century the industrialized nations of Europe had achieved global economic dominance more through force and coercion than through the superiority of their industrial products. Which of the following nineteenth-century developments would best support this contention?

• The growth of industrial production in North America

• The growth of South American agricultural exports

• The decline of the Indian textile industry’s share of global manufacturing

• The abolition of slavery in the Americas

The development of the factory system most directly explains which of the following characteristics of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

• The higher degree of educational achievement among workers

• Large increases in the prices of most consumer goods

• A decline in the diversity of consumer goods

• The greater degree of labor specialization