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The Military Revolution: The War of Devolution, the Musket and the Pikeman
The rise of Absolutist Empires was faciliated by the use of new military technology: the musket and the pike, which replaced the archer and mounted knight. In "The compleat body of the art military" (1668) Richard Elton describes modern war techiques and technlogies, which were used in ruler's attempts to expand their vast empires, such as in the War of Devolution between England, the Dutch Republic, Spain, and France. -
Industrial Revolution: Richard Arkwright builds the first modern factory
Richard Arkwright patents the water frame and opens the first modern facotry in Cromford, Derbyshire, employing a variety of workers including women and children. He produces cotton and soon expands his enterprise, opening factories across Britain, kickstarting the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent reshaping of the British landscape is depicted by Joseph Wright of Derby in his oil painting from 1782-3 "Arkwright's Cotton Mills by Night". -
The Agricultural Revolution
By the 1800s the Agricultural Revolution is in full swing in Britain, facilitated by improvements in farming technology such as those depicted in Turner's oil painting "Ploughing Up Turnips, near Slough" (1809), which include James Small's redesigned plough and the new systems of crop growing using turnips. -
Industrial Revolution: The Liverpool Manchester Railway
The creation of the locomotive engine facilitated the expansion of the railway throughout Europe and in 1830 the first public railway, transporting both civilians and materials opened in Britain. It gained international attention and recognition, and many journyed to view the new railway including Frenchman M. Pareau who expressed his admiration of the project in, "Description of the Railroad from Liverpool to Manchester, Together with a History of Railroads" (1833). -
World War I: Aeroplanes become the weapon of combat
The Great War saw revolutionary changes in warfare, planes were initially used for reconnaissance and then adpoted for combat purposes. This photograph entitled "Dogfight" was taken above the Western Front (date unknown, between 1914-1918) and depicts the sky battles between Allied and German fighter planes equipted with modern weapons such as machine guns. -
World War II: First use of Zyklon B Gas at Auschwitz
In Elie Wiesel's book "Night" (1958) he recounts his imprisionment in Auschwitz from 1944-1945 providing a gimpse into one of the most terrible events of human histroy, the Holocaust. Zyklon B gas was one of this period's deadliest technologies, used by the Nazis in concentration camps to murder millions whose bodies fueled the crematoriums' incessant flames.
