How Much Did Industry Change?
"To what extent" is a real question
- Explain the extent to which industrialisation brought change from 1750 to 1900.
- Extent means the answer is a degree, not a yes or no — so the essay must weigh change against continuity.
- An answer that only lists changes has answered "did it?" instead of "how much?"
"To what extent" requires an answer that is...
An answer that only lists changes has answered "did it?"
The case for large change
- Railroads, steamships and the telegraph made exploration, development and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration.
- New classes appeared, energy per person rose enormously, and manufacturing shares shifted between world regions.
- This is the strongest single body of evidence, and it is all in units 5.3 to 5.5.
Select all the continuities available for this answer.
New classes did appear — that belongs on the change side.
The case for limited change
- Most of the world's people in 1900 still worked in agriculture, and most production was still not mechanised.
- Industrialisation was concentrated in parts of Europe, the U.S., Russia and Japan — the CED's own list is short.
- *Industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some * — the qualifier is a limit on the extent.
Evidence for change, for continuity, or the other engine?
Sort each piece of evidence in an extent answer.
Unit 5's second engine, running alongside industry, is ____.
Driven by Enlightenment thought and nationalism.
"To what extent" asks for a degree, not a list. An essay that names ten changes and no continuities has answered a different question. The CED's own qualifiers — industrialisation in parts of a short list of countries, living standards raised for some — are the limits your degree has to account for.
Put the extent routine in order.
The qualifiers are the limits your degree has to explain.
And the revolutions belong here too
- The unit's other review statement is about an intense period of revolution and rebellion leading to new nation-states, driven by Enlightenment thought and nationalism.
- So unit 5 has two engines, not one: industry and revolution, running at the same time.
- The strongest extent answers connect them — new wealth and new classes gave the new ideologies their audience.
"Transformative where it happened, and it happened in few places" is a defensible verdict.
It is a degree, and the evidence for both halves is already in the unit.
An extent routine
- State the largest change and its best evidence in one sentence.
- State the largest continuity and its best evidence in one sentence.
- Then give your degree — substantial but geographically concentrated is a defensible verdict, and the evidence for it is already written.
Change: the energy available to a society multiplied, and railways opened interiors that had never traded. Continuity: in 1900 most people on earth still farmed, and most of them by hand. Degree: transformative where it happened, and it had happened in relatively few places — which is a verdict, and it can be defended from the CED alone.
Extent means a degree, not a yes or no. Change: railroads, steamships and the telegraph opened interior regions, increasing trade and migration; new classes; shifted manufacturing shares. Continuity: most people still farmed, and industry sat in parts of a short list of countries with living standards raised for some. Unit 5's second engine is revolution and nationalism.