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Jethro Tull invents the seed drill
His seed drill would sow seed in uniform rows and cover up the seed in the rows. Up to that point, sowing seeds was done by hand by scattering seeds on the ground. -
John Kay invents flying shuttle
John Kay invented the flying shuttle, an improvement to looms that enabled weavers to weave faster. -
James Watt builds the first steam engine
James Watt added a condenser which cooled the steam while it was hot creating less wasted heat. This greatly improved the previous design because it was functioning at a reasonable cost which hadn't been achieved before. -
Marx and Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto opens with the famous words "The history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles." -
US Civil War ends; US experiences technological boom
Inventors and military men devised new types of weapons, such as the repeating rifle and the submarine, that forever changed the way that wars were fought. Even more important were the technologies that did not specifically have to do with the war, like the railroad and the telegraph. -
Germany becomes dominant industrial power in Europe
Industrialization progressed dynamically in Germany and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports, and also to compete with British industry abroad, particularly in the U.S. -
British Unions win right to strike
British Unions Win Right to Strike 1875 Factory workers had very few rights and worked in horrible conditions for little pay. To fight this they built unions, but in England were not allowed to strike.
