How did a second wave of industrialization after 1870 transform the European economy and daily life?
Topic 6.3 Second-Wave Industrialization and Its Effects: the new technologies and industries (steel, electricity, chemicals, the internal combustion engine) of the period c. 1870 to c. 1914 and how they deepened economic and social change.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 6.3, on the Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870 to 1914): new technologies such as Bessemer steel, electricity, chemicals, and the internal combustion engine, the rise of mass production and big business, and the economic and social effects of this deeper phase of industrialization.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this topic is asking
Topic 6.3 asks you to explain the second wave of industrialization, the Second Industrial Revolution of roughly 1870 to 1914, with its new technologies and industries, and to explain how it deepened economic and social change. The College Board wants you to distinguish this later, more advanced phase from the first wave of textiles and steam.
New technologies and industries
Big business and mass production
The scale of industry changed as much as its technology.
Rising standards and a shifting lead
Why it mattered
The second wave produced the modern industrial economy and much of modern daily life: electric cities, consumer goods, big corporations, and global markets. Its rising productivity underpinned the optimism of the Age of Progress (Topic 7.5) and helped fund the New Imperialism (Topic 7.6). Its shift of industrial leadership toward Germany sharpened the rivalry that built toward 1914. And by enlarging both the middle and working classes, it intensified the social and political questions, reform, socialism, the role of the state, that defined the era.
Try this
Q1. Name three new industries or technologies of the second wave of industrialization. [Recall]
- Cue. Cheap steel (Bessemer process), electricity, the chemical industry, and the internal combustion engine (any three), along with the telephone and telegraph.
Q2. Explain how the second wave shifted industrial leadership in Europe. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Britain's early lead in textiles and steam narrowed as Germany and the United States raced ahead in the new industries of steel, chemicals, and electricity, changing the relative economic and military weight of the powers and sharpening pre-1914 rivalry.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2019 (style)3 marksBriefly describe ONE technology of the second wave of industrialization. Briefly explain ONE economic effect of the second wave. Briefly explain ONE social effect.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per task.
A. Describe: cheap steel made by the Bessemer process, or electricity, or the internal combustion engine and chemicals.
B. Economic effect: mass production and big business raised output and living standards and tied national and global markets together.
C. Social effect: a larger, better-paid urban middle and working class, mass consumer goods, and new patterns of work and city life.
Markers want a technology, an economic effect, and a social effect.
AP 2022 (style)6 marksEvaluate the extent to which the second wave of industrialization marked a break from the first in the period c. 1870 to c. 1914.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point continuity-and-change rubric.
Thesis (1): "The second wave deepened rather than replaced the first, but its new technologies, scale, and reach amounted to a real transformation of the economy and daily life."
Contextualization (1): the first wave of textiles, steam, and iron and its spread across Europe.
Evidence (2): steel, electricity, chemicals, and the internal combustion engine; mass production and big business; rising living standards and consumer goods.
Analysis (2): weigh continuity (industry built on the first wave) against change (new industries, scale, and global integration), then add complexity by noting the shift of leadership toward Germany and the United States.
Related dot points
- Topic 6.1 Contextualizing Industrialization and Its Origins and Effects: the agricultural, demographic, financial, and resource conditions that launched the Industrial Revolution in Britain and set the agenda for the 19th century.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 6.1, setting the scene for Unit 6: the agricultural revolution, population growth, capital and resources, and political stability that made Britain the birthplace of industrialization and launched the social and political transformations of the 19th century.
- Topic 6.2 The Spread of Industry Throughout Europe: how industrialization moved from Britain to the continent, why some regions industrialized early and others lagged, and the role of the state in promoting industry.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 6.2, on how industrialization spread from Britain to continental Europe: the early industrialisers (Belgium, France, the German states), the role of the state and institutions such as the Zollverein, and why eastern and southern Europe lagged behind.
- Topic 6.4 Social Effects of Industrialization: how the factory and the city transformed social class, the family, gender roles, working conditions, and standards of living in 19th-century Europe.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 6.4, on the social effects of industrialization: the rise of the industrial middle class and working class, rapid urbanization and its conditions, the transformation of the family and gender roles, and debates over the standard of living.
- Topic 7.5 The Age of Progress and Modernity: the later 19th-century faith in science, reason, and progress, the advances that fed it, and the new ideas (from germ theory to Freud) that confirmed and then challenged it.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.5, on the Age of Progress and modernity: the later 19th-century confidence in science, reason, and improvement, the medical and scientific advances (germ theory, evolution) that supported it, and the unsettling new ideas (relativity, Freud, irrationalism) that began to challenge it.
- Topic 6.10 Causation in the Age of Industrialization: applying the historical reasoning skill of causation to the origins, spread, and effects of industrialization.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 6.10, the causation reasoning skill applied to Unit 6: distinguishing causes from effects, weighing the conditions behind industrialization against its social and political consequences, and structuring a causation LEQ or DBQ on the industrial age.
Sources & how we know this
- AP European History Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)