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Jethro Tull invents the Seed Drill
The seed drill allowed farmers sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths, increasing the percentage of seeds that took root, and boosted crop yields. -
John Kay invents the Flying Shuttle
The Flying Shuttle was a boat-shaped piece of wood that sped back and forth on wheels that could weave yarn much faster. -
James Watt invents the steam engine
Watt invented a steam engine that worked faster, and more efficiently, while burning less fuel. -
Marx and Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx argued that human societies are divided into warring classes of "haves" and "have nots" in which the wealthy controlled the means of production, and the poor performed back-breaking labor. Marx predicted the gap between classes would become so great, the workers would overthrow the owners, and then create a system of economic equality with cooperative living. -
US Civil War Ends
The US was primarily agricultural until the Civil War ended, but during the last third of the 1800s, the country experienced a technilogical boom, because of natural resources, a burst of inventions, and a swelling urban population. -
Germany becomes dominant industrial power in Europe
With the help of railroads linking major cities, and coal and iron ore deposits, machine shops, coal mines, iron foundries, spinneries, rolling mills, and many other industrial facilities sprang up in Germany, generating tremendous economic strength. -
British Unions win right to strike
The combination Acts of 1799 and 1800 outlawed unions and strikes. Workers ignored threat of jail or job loss, and joined unions, and held strikes until Parliment finally repealed the Combination Acts in 1824.
