The 19th century was a period of change, where countries at the beginning of the century were unrecognizable by the end of the century. One of the major factors that affected the world so dramatically was industrialization, or the development of machines that gave countries advantages. Not all countries industrialized—because of this, “any country before its industrial revolution and modernization is poverty…with low productivity, low output per head” and more disadvantages. The driving force that industrialized only some countries related to the culture and landscape of the countries; some countries did not see the need for industrialization and improvement. In Europe, however, “there existed no uniform authority which could effectively halt commercial development and no central government whose changes in priorities could cause the rise and fall of a particular industry.” This allowed for rapid technological development. Look to China: as Western European countries competed with one another, driven to competition and improvement by the close proximity of their neighbors, “The Qing court remained largely ignorant of these processes” and “dismissed every British request as ridiculous.” While the Chinese did not see the need to industrialize, the competitive landscape of Europe fueled an increase in its technological developments so the countries could maintain the balance of power between the states. Industrialization was incredibly important for maintaining power in the 19th century and this main factor that let certain countries dominate in the 1800s, because it bettered their technology to an extreme, allowing them to exert power over other countries through forced trade and imperialism.

Industrialization first gave countries overall advantages in technology that made dominating the world much easier. It had the biggest impact in technological developments in military and naval warfare. In the military domain, “the advanced technology of steam engines and machine-made tools gave Europe decisive economic and military advantages…the coming of the breechloader, vastly increasing the rate of fire, was an even greater advance; and the Gatling guns, Maxims, and light field artillery put the final touches to a new fire power revolution.” Unable to cope with weaponry so advanced compared to what non-industrialized countries were familiar with, countries such as countries such as India and China rapidly fell to Europe’s onslaught and allowed the industrialized countries such as Great Britain, France, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands to dominate every aspect of their society. The naval technology of industrialized countries also gave them a considerable advantage; the steam-driven gunboat meant that Europeans could extend their sea power, already supreme in open waters, inland, and by the end, European countries could dominate with fewer soldiers and advanced navies. In Great Britain, for example, “Despite a steady reduction in its own numbers after 1815, the Royal Navy was at some times probably as powerful as the next three or four navies in actual fighting power” thanks to their technology. Industrialization contributed to the creation of such advanced technologies because of an increase in productivity. In the realm of agriculture, Great Britain “increased productivity in that sector alone by a factor of 300 to 400,” so it is not surprising that they were one of the first industrial nations in the world. Even the telegram, for example, made communication much easier. Queen Victoria could send a telegram to India with her orders and within a day they would be received and followed, making warfare much easier. What must be noted, however, is that Paul Kennedy, who much of this evidence comes from, is that as a British author writing about Great Britain, his writing displays a prominent bias towards Great Britain. Though this is true, it is still undeniable that Industrialization was a main factor that came to allow European countries to dominate the world with their advanced technology and productivity.

Looking at countries that Europe dominated, it is clear that without the advanced technology countries such as Great Britain and Spain possessed they would have been unable to dominate to such an extreme. China is one such example. While some find that it was a “cruel coincidence of history that Qing dynastic decline coincided precisely with the early Industrial Revolution and the rise of aggressive western European powers competing for world domination,” they are incorrect. It was no coincidence that the Qing dynastic decline coincided with the Industrial Revolution; the Qing dynasty fell due to the pressure Western countries put on China to trade with them and the Opium War that Britain incited. One incidence of Great Britain using its superior technology to get their way in China is when Britain was trying to trade opium with China—they “sent an expeditionary force of sixteen warships, four armed steamers, twenty-seven transport ships, and one troop ship to China in 1840, with a total of 4,000 British troops” but the Chinese had no navy that could defeat such a powerful force. Eventually, Great Britain won, and they negotiated the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Britain forced China to “surrender and to accept every humiliating condition the British demanded,” and after that other countries all came to gain concessions on over a dozen cities until one could see “European and U.S. gunboats patrolled the Yangtze River to protect their own citizens and commercial interests.” Japan, on the other hand, is a counterexample to China. When Great Britain requested “that Japan initiate diplomatic relations…open ports, and more generally, initiate commercial relations,” the Japanese conceded and did so. Later in the century, Japan took the technology they got from opening diplomatic relations, started industrializing, and defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, along with more military victories. Due to the fact that Japan’s technologies were considerably improved compared to China’s technologies, they were able to come out on top of China in that century, whereas China did not open up trade relations or industrialize and ended up being defeated and forced into a humiliating treaty. Industrialization was what allowed countries to dominate—Japan adapted to the situation and came out on top of the Chinese, who were too embroiled in the Opium War and civil wars to industrialize and improve.

The domination of India is yet another example of industrialization being a factor that allowed countries to come out on top of the food chain. When European countries were struggling over India, the ultimate outcome was that “the Portuguese were confined to a few small trading stations on the Indian coast, the Dutch concentrated their power on Indonesia and the Spice Islands, and the English came to dominate the trade of India itself.” The English dominated India because they were, as Kennedy put it, a hegemon. They were the most industrialized country at the time, and as such were able to take India. Even further, the technology from Britain, when given to Sepoys in India, made them infinitely more powerful. For example, in 1857, when 200,000 sepoys were “armed with the latest rifles and disciplined in fighting methods, the sepoys had a potential for successful rebellion that other groups lacked” thanks to the technology they wielded. The Ottomans, contrarily, were a people who attempted to change, but did not succeed. The emperor of Egypt at the time “sought to use a reformed military to strengthen the position of Egypt in the region”, while another stated that to fix the situation, “a serious and powerful effort must be made to improve public education.” Others in China believed that “The real mistake was that we did not secure the right men to manage the new institutions.” All three thought similar things because they did not understand the impact technology had on the everyday lives of the average European; they needed to industrialize and improve their technology to fix the situation. Japan did so, and they ended up doing very well in the second part of the century. Chinese court members were correct in stating that they could learn one thing from the Europeans—“strong ships and effective guns.” The Chinese officials disagreed because the first official was talking about events after the 1st Sino-Japanese war. He believed that they lost the war due to the wrong men, and not due to inferior technology. The other court member was correct, however—it was technology and industrialization that mattered.

Industrialization was a key factor for dominating in the 19th century because it increased the country’s technology to an extreme, which allowed them to exert power over other countries. Without the power that the technology brought to countries they would have been unable to dominate the world in the same way. Back then, industrialized countries ruled the world. Even now, in the present, it is technology that lets certain countries dominate politically, economically, and socially. It brings countries influence and power. Consider the United States, Great Britain, and China—all three are hegemonies in the global network that exists today, and they would be unable to do so without the powerful technology that all three countries boast. Without industrialization, the political and economic state today wouldn’t even be possible.

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