Chapter 14 5. Only by comparing can we know which is the best

The period from 1760 to 1870 was the era of free capitalism, when the importance of the economy became even more prominent.The first big question is the economic development of the capitalist countries during this period. The first big point is the industrial revolution.The importance of the Industrial Revolution cannot be expressed in words.The industrial revolution has a premise and five conditions.One premise is the establishment of bourgeois rule in Britain, because of the establishment of bourgeois rule, it is possible to have a capitalist industrial revolution. The next five conditions, the first one is capital, that is money, the money comes from overseas trade and colonial plunder, let alone how the British money came from, it is all robbed, then it is wrong.The factories and cotton mills ran out of raw materials. You asked the factory manager for it. The factory manager said that he would wait for me to go to China to snatch it. How long did it take you to get it back? Overseas trade and colonial plunder are the things he snatched. According to our current fashion In other words, it has to be laundered, it has been bleached, it can’t be robbed, it’s like Christie’s selling that thing, are you stupid, the broken thing is worth 14 million euros, just kidding, it was only $500 a piece in the 1980s.So this capital is overseas trade, colonial plunder, and not all of it is robbed.

The second is raw materials and markets. This is indeed through colonial expansion, so that it has obtained a large number of raw materials and markets. The third is free labor.Came through the enclosure movement.Pay special attention to this, you must have sufficient free labor for industrial development. The fourth is technology accumulation.Britain was the country with the most developed handicraft industry before the Industrial Revolution, so it has a profound technical accumulation. The fifth is market demand.This market demand is also the direct cause of the Industrial Revolution in Britain.Because the supply of my products is in short supply, I will try my best to improve the production technology and let it develop further. If my supply exceeds the demand, if you don’t change careers quickly and expand production, you will be crazy.So the direct reason is the ever-expanding market demand.

For a country to develop capitalism, the necessary conditions are capital, raw materials, markets, and labor.And these necessary conditions were the most in China in 1760 when Emperor Qianlong was in his prime.At that time, the silver used in China accounted for half of the world, and all the silver from Latin America was shipped to Europe, and Europe shipped it to us in exchange for our silk, bottles, and tea. We are the boss, with the most money and the most labor force. Than that is to die.Not to mention the market, with such a large population, how much would it cost for one person to buy a handkerchief.Raw materials, China really had raw materials at that time, unlike today, everything depends on oil, everything depends on imports, and it really existed at that time.So why didn't the Industrial Revolution happen?The reason is that there is no prerequisite.The imperial court has closed the country again and again, focusing on agriculture and ignoring business. If you don't pay attention to this, of course it will not be able to develop.

From 1760 to 1840, the completion of the Industrial Revolution in Britain lasted nearly 80 years, and it completed the Industrial Revolution around 1840. The Opium War broke out as soon as the Industrial Revolution was completed.Look at the movie "The Opium War", which was filmed in the 1990s. The queen cut the ribbon for the newly opened railway, and another railway in our country was opened to traffic.The queen clicked the scissors, and the camera changed. China's 600-mile fast horse. How do you compare your horse with a train? How do you compare four hooves with a train?One is the industrial age of the 19th century, and the other is the agricultural age of the 16th century. Is there any reason for your war to be won?Machine factories replaced manual workshops, marking the industrial revolution.It was originally a "field" and later a "factory". This is also a change in nature. In 1785, Watt improved the steam engine and entered the age of steam.

During the process of the British Industrial Revolution, there were many inventors, from the cotton textile industry, to the mining and smelting industry, coal mining, metal smelting, and then to transportation, the most typical ones being trains and steamships.It first started with the cotton textile industry. This sector requires a small amount of investment, low-tech content, and is closely related to people's lives. Therefore, it was given priority to develop this sector, and the industrial revolution started from this sector.As soon as the machine was invented, it was necessary to manufacture the machine as soon as the hydraulic loom was invented, and the manufacture of the machine naturally began to develop metallurgy.Then as soon as the steam engine was invented, the steam engine burned coal, and some people said that it boiled water, which was Erguotou.Therefore, the mining and metallurgy industry developed, creating a virtuous circle.Then, to transport products to the market as soon as possible and bring back raw materials as quickly as possible requires the transportation industry.The earliest innovations in the transportation industry were powered by coal, so there were trains and steamships. Steamboats are also called ships. Why are they called ships?There is a wheel next to the ship, steam power pushes the wheel to turn, the ship moves forward, the ship still has sails, when there is wind, it is propelled by the sails, and when there is no wind, it is propelled by the steam engine.This boat looks weird. When the ship sailed at the mouth of the Hades River in New York, the audience agreed that it could not start. When the ship started, the audience agreed that it could not stop. As a result, it took 29 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. If it takes more than 3 months for sailing, it shortens the time by 2/3.Today's ship may cross in six or seven days, which is even more serious.Then Fulton presented this invention to Napoleon. Unfortunately, Napoleon, who was an artillery officer, knew nothing about this stuff, and another scammer came to me to cheat money.At that time, because Napoleon wanted to conquer Britain, many inventors gave him various ideas. Someone suggested that he use balloons to carry troops across the strait. 125,000 troops, tens of thousands of horses, and thousands of cannons were transported by balloons. How big is the balloon, what if a gust of wind blows to Iceland?This thing, Napoleon saw a liar again, and cheated money from me.It’s hard to say if Napoleon accepted this invention. As long as the French army landed in England, the British Army would not give it in vain. Moreover, this ship was not used on warships, because the part of the ship that rotates on the water did useless work. Moreover, the artillery of warships at that time were all installed on both sides. You had a wheel and I didn’t have a cannon, so I destroyed it in one go. Round, like a target.Therefore, during the Opium War, the British warships were still sailing battleships, and the transport ships had steamers, which were also invented in China.At that time, China also built ships, and after we built them, we used people to step on them. The principle is the same as that of bicycles. The British were shocked. It's steam powered, and this is a pedal boat.The reason why the train is called a train is because it burns coal. Today we call it a train, but it is actually a tram.I used to ride a train when I was a child. When we were young, we used to play with model trains that were pushed on the ground. Then the adults smoked a cigarette and sprayed it on the train. You can see that the train is smoking.Do you still see smoking trains today?That's it.When I was young, I took the train from Beijing to Shijiazhuang. I was very impressed. In addition to the driver, there must be a fireman.So at that time, the trains were crawling like turtles, with a speed of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour, which was very slow. You think it is more than 300 kilometers now, just kidding, burning coal, and filling it with my brothers.