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Jethro Tull invents the seed drill
Jethro Tull who was one of the first scientific farmers. He saw that the usual way of sowing seed by scattering it across the ground was wasteful and many seeds failed to take root. He solved thia problem by creating a seed drill in 1701. It allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths. -
John Kay invents flying shuttle
A machinist named John Kay made a shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels. This flying shuttle, a boat-shaped piece of woodto which yarn was attached, doubled the work a weaver could do in a day. -
James Watt builds the first steam engine
Watt, a mathematical instrument maker at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, thought about the problem for two years. In 1756, Watt joined with a businessman named Mathew Boulton. -
Marx and Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
Marx and Friedrich Engels, a German whose father owned a textile mill in Manchester, outlined their ideas in a 23-page pamphlet called The Communist Manifesto. In this they argued human societies have always been divided into warring classes. -
US Civil War ends; US experiences technological boom
The US stayed primarily agricultural until the Civil War ended in 1865. During the last third of the 1800's, the country experienced a technological boom. The wealth of natural resources, burst of inventions, such as the electrical light bulb and the telephone, and the swelling population that consumed the new manufactured goods. -
Germany become dominant industrial power in Europe
Beginning around 1835. Germany began to copy Britain's model. German manufactures sent their children to England to learn industrial management. Most importantly, Germany built railroads that linked its growing manufacturing cities. Germany economic strength spurred its military power and by the 870's they dominated industrial power in Europe. -
British Unions win right to strike
By 1875, British trade unions had won th right to strike and picket peacefully. They also built up a membership of about 1 million people.