Stone Age men hunted with flint axes and club, which they sometimes used for fighting each other, too. The development of metalworking led to finer weapon with sharper cutting edges. Ancient Mesopotamian soldiers wielded bronze swords and spears, and tougher, more damaging weapons made of iron appeared around 1000 BC. Wars tend to be won by the side that has the more advanced weapons.
When did people first ride horses in battle?
Horses were first tamed around 2000 BC by nomads on the Asian steppes. Long afterwards, these warrior horsemen struck terror into neighbouring civilisations and their riding skills were copied by their enemies. Egyptian pharaohs went into battle in horse-drawn chariots, and the Roman army included cavalry. The invention of stirrups around AD 400 allowed cavalrymen to carry lances and swords. By the Middle Ages, mounted knights fought in heavy chainmail, plate armour and visored helmets.
Tag :warfare history
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Mass production
Factory output speeded up considerably when manufacturers adopted mass-production methods. The motor magnate Henry Ford pioneered this system in the United State. Instead of using skilled craftsmen to make a car from start to finish, he employed teams of worker to put together standardised parts. Each worker did the same or two simple jobs on every car as the vehicles came past on a moving assembly line. The Model T Ford was launched in 1908, and 15 million are made in the next 19 years. Mass production meant that the 'Tin Lizzie', as the Model T was called, became cheap enough for ordinary families to afford. There was little variety in design, though. Ford said that the customer could have any colour so long as it was black.
Tag :mass production
Factory output speeded up considerably when manufacturers adopted mass-production methods. The motor magnate Henry Ford pioneered this system in the United State. Instead of using skilled craftsmen to make a car from start to finish, he employed teams of worker to put together standardised parts. Each worker did the same or two simple jobs on every car as the vehicles came past on a moving assembly line. The Model T Ford was launched in 1908, and 15 million are made in the next 19 years. Mass production meant that the 'Tin Lizzie', as the Model T was called, became cheap enough for ordinary families to afford. There was little variety in design, though. Ford said that the customer could have any colour so long as it was black.
Tag :mass production
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Canned food
The practice of preserving perishable food in tins was a product of the Industrial Revolution. Tinned foods were first manufactured in 1812 by the London firm of Donkin & Hall, who went on to supply thousands of cans of corned beef, boiled veal and vegetable soup to the British navy.
Working in the mill
In the early 19th century, many mill-workers were women or children, because they had small, nimble fingers for working the treads and were cheaper to employ than men. They were forced to toil 12-16 hours a day.
Tag :canned food
Tag :mill worker
The practice of preserving perishable food in tins was a product of the Industrial Revolution. Tinned foods were first manufactured in 1812 by the London firm of Donkin & Hall, who went on to supply thousands of cans of corned beef, boiled veal and vegetable soup to the British navy.
Working in the mill
In the early 19th century, many mill-workers were women or children, because they had small, nimble fingers for working the treads and were cheaper to employ than men. They were forced to toil 12-16 hours a day.
Tag :canned food
Tag :mill worker
What was bad about Industrialisation
Industrialisation brought problem. Families who had once worked side by side in the fields were broken up. Factory workers were made to work long hours with hazardous fumes or dangerous machinery. In the coal mines there were accidents from roof falls and gas explosions. Smoke and soot from new coal-powered industries filled the air of factory towns.
How did life change for the better?
The Industrial Revolution brought many benefits. Advances were made in iron production, leading to the cheap manufacture of everything from iron bridges to iron frying-pans, and to the machines and engines used in textile mills and railway travel.Bumper harvest were achieved with new farm machinery, and transport by railways and steamships meant that food could be imported from other countries, giving people a more varied diet.
Tag :bad and better industrialisation
Industrialisation brought problem. Families who had once worked side by side in the fields were broken up. Factory workers were made to work long hours with hazardous fumes or dangerous machinery. In the coal mines there were accidents from roof falls and gas explosions. Smoke and soot from new coal-powered industries filled the air of factory towns.
How did life change for the better?
The Industrial Revolution brought many benefits. Advances were made in iron production, leading to the cheap manufacture of everything from iron bridges to iron frying-pans, and to the machines and engines used in textile mills and railway travel.Bumper harvest were achieved with new farm machinery, and transport by railways and steamships meant that food could be imported from other countries, giving people a more varied diet.
Tag :bad and better industrialisation
Monday, November 26, 2007
INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION
In Britain, from the early 1700s, new inventions began to transform the way goods were produced. People used machines more and more to do work once done by hand. Factories were built, and were often sited near coalfields, which provided the fuel to feed the newly invented steam engines that powered the machines. Manufacturing towns grew up, connected at first by canals and later by railways.
Why and where did the Industrial Revolution happen?
The invention of steam-driven machinery was a key reason for the Industrial Revolution. In 1712, an Englishman called Thomas Newcomen invented a steam-powered engine of pumping water. In 1775, James Watt from Glasgow made the steam engine more efficient, so it could power other machines.
Industrial development began in Britain, partly because the creation of the Bank of England in 1694 had helped businessmen to borrow money and open factories. Britain also had large supplies of iron for making goods and machinery. The Industrial Revolution spread through western Europe and the United States.
Tag :industrial revolution
Why and where did the Industrial Revolution happen?
The invention of steam-driven machinery was a key reason for the Industrial Revolution. In 1712, an Englishman called Thomas Newcomen invented a steam-powered engine of pumping water. In 1775, James Watt from Glasgow made the steam engine more efficient, so it could power other machines.
Industrial development began in Britain, partly because the creation of the Bank of England in 1694 had helped businessmen to borrow money and open factories. Britain also had large supplies of iron for making goods and machinery. The Industrial Revolution spread through western Europe and the United States.
Tag :industrial revolution
New nations
In Roman times, England and France were occupied by Celtic tribes. In the 5th century, the Franks from Germany invaded Gaul and created a Frankish kingdom, the original France. A tribe called the Angles crossed the English Channel to conquer what became known as Angle-land, or England.
In Roman times, England and France were occupied by Celtic tribes. In the 5th century, the Franks from Germany invaded Gaul and created a Frankish kingdom, the original France. A tribe called the Angles crossed the English Channel to conquer what became known as Angle-land, or England.
- The Vikings reached America around AD 1000. They settled for a short time and traded with the Native Americans.
- Viking raids on Britain began in AD 793 with an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery.
- Viking traders wares included furs, horn, walrus tusks and slaves.
- Vikings built settlements abroad. Place-names in Britain ending in-by, thorpe and, beck indicate a Viking presence.
- Norse merchants travelled along the rivers Dnieper and Volga into the heart of Russia, where they lived by trading with the local people.
- An Italian family arrive in America in the early 1900s.
Tag :new nations
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Why did America attract so many immigrants?
Between 1840 and 1914, 28 million people sailed to America to begin life afresh. Mose were from Europe, and the first intakes came chiefly from two countries, from Ireland following repeated potato blights, and from Germany following a series of crop failures. Later tides of immigrants, including Italians, Greeks, Swedes, Poles, Slovaks, Russians and Jews also arrived. Some people came to farm the open prairies, or to find jobs in America's expanding industries. Others were fleeing injustice and persecution at home and seeking freedom in American democracy.
Tag :immigrants
Between 1840 and 1914, 28 million people sailed to America to begin life afresh. Mose were from Europe, and the first intakes came chiefly from two countries, from Ireland following repeated potato blights, and from Germany following a series of crop failures. Later tides of immigrants, including Italians, Greeks, Swedes, Poles, Slovaks, Russians and Jews also arrived. Some people came to farm the open prairies, or to find jobs in America's expanding industries. Others were fleeing injustice and persecution at home and seeking freedom in American democracy.
Tag :immigrants
The Slave Trade
Some mass movement of people have been forced. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, European traders shipped up to 20 million Africans across the Atlantic to America to work as slaves on sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations. Captives seized in the African interior were tethered together from neck to neck, forced-marched to the coast and packed aboard slave ships. There, chained and starving, they were crammed below decks in layers as close, one trader admitted, 'as spoons fitting together'.
Black slaves were transported below decks. As many as 20-30 per cent of the slaves died during these voyages. Slave traders in Africa bring in their captives, tethered together so they cannot escape.
Some mass movement of people have been forced. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, European traders shipped up to 20 million Africans across the Atlantic to America to work as slaves on sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations. Captives seized in the African interior were tethered together from neck to neck, forced-marched to the coast and packed aboard slave ships. There, chained and starving, they were crammed below decks in layers as close, one trader admitted, 'as spoons fitting together'.
Black slaves were transported below decks. As many as 20-30 per cent of the slaves died during these voyages. Slave traders in Africa bring in their captives, tethered together so they cannot escape.
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