History › Age of revolutions › Industrial Revolution
Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricity
c. 1870–1914· Event· Global
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A second wave of industrialization, about 1870–1914, built on cheap steel, chemicals, oil and electricity, and led by Germany and the United States.
See it on the History map →What happened
The Bessemer process (1856) and later open-hearth furnaces made steel cheap enough for rails, ships and skyscrapers. The US oil industry, born in Pennsylvania in 1859, fed kerosene lamps and later engines. Edison's light bulb (1879) and central power stations electrified cities. Germany led in chemicals and dyes, the US in mass production. The telephone (1876), the gasoline engine and artificial fertilizers came in the same era. Big corporations and research labs replaced small family workshops.
Why it matters
It created the modern economy of big firms, electric power and oil, shifted industrial leadership from Britain to the US and Germany, and gave armies industrial-scale weapons.
How we know
Patent records, company archives and production data: US steel output rose from under 100,000 tons in 1870 to about 10 million by 1900.
Still debated
Economists debate whether it was a truly distinct 'revolution' or a continuation of the first, and why Britain lost its lead.
Connections (3)
▸Industrial Revolution was followed by the Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricityWell documented
The connection
The first Industrial Revolution ran on coal, iron, steam and textiles, mostly in Britain. Its factories, railways and capital paved the way for a second wave after about 1870 based on steel, chemicals, oil and electricity. The new wave leaned more on science and corporate research labs, and leadership shifted toward Germany and the United States.
When and how
Britain about 1760–1840, then Germany, the US and others from about 1870; key names include Henry Bessemer, Werner von Siemens, Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie.
How we know
Output and patent statistics show the shift in technologies and leading countries; economic historians such as David Landes, in The Unbound Prometheus (1969), traced the continuity.
Debates and open questions
Whether these were two separate revolutions or one continuous process in phases is partly a matter of definition, and dates for the second wave vary.
▸Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricity supplied the weapons of World War IWell documented
The connection
Mass-produced steel, chemicals and engines made the war industrial. Heavy artillery, machine guns, poison gas, tanks, submarines and aircraft all depended on second-wave industry. Railways moved millions of soldiers, and factories turned out shells by the hundreds of millions. Victory depended as much on factory output as on generals.
When and how
In the factories of Germany, Britain, France and the US, 1914–1918; chemist Fritz Haber led Germany's poison gas program, first used at Ypres in April 1915.
How we know
Munitions production records, such as those of Britain's Ministry of Munitions, show output soaring; casualty data show artillery caused most battlefield casualties.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate whether leaders understood how deadly industrial war would be, or expected a short war like those of 1866 and 1870.
▸Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricity launched an early wave of GlobalizationMostly agreed
The connection
Steamships, railways, refrigerated ships and undersea telegraph cables cut transport and communication costs. From about 1870 to 1914, trade, investment and migration boomed: tens of millions of Europeans emigrated, and London financed railways worldwide. Economists call this the 'first globalization'. War and the Depression reversed it, and trade's 1913 share of world output was not regained until about the 1970s.
When and how
Worldwide, about 1870–1914; landmarks include the lasting transatlantic telegraph cable (1866), the Suez Canal (1869), and frozen-meat shipping from Argentina and Australia from the late 1870s.
How sure are we?
Trade, price and migration data; economists Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson showed prices of goods converging across continents, a sign of linked markets.
Debates and open questions
Economists debate how this wave compares with today's, and how much it was driven by technology versus policies such as free trade and the gold standard.