What effect did iron have on society?

Answer 1

First brought to Europe by the Romans Iron was used to make many of the weapons they used. French and Germans at the time found ways of building small versions of a blast furnace which later was to bring prosperity to millions

Iron was reputed to be the turning point in engineering. Iron production went toward making railway lines and of course the steam engines , rolling stock and tools use to build them. With the railways came communication, with tools improving and being made bigger and more efficient came the range of gears and gantries for making bigger construction machinery and buildings.

Historicly The Dowlais Ironworks (Merthyr Tydfil) was founded by what would become the Dowlais Iron Company in 1759, making it the first major works in the area.

The demand for iron was further fuelled by the Royal Navy, who needed cannons for their ships. In 1802, Admiral Lord Nelson visited Dowlais to witness cannons being made. During the first few decades of the 1800s, the ironworks at Dowlais continued to expand and at their peak were the most productive ironworks in the world. 50,000 tons of rails left just one ironworks in 1844, to enable expansion of railways across Russia to Siberia. There are areas of America where the iron produced in the Welsh town was laid to push the colonies further west thus allowing the great"iron horse" to take more people seeking their fortune.

At its peak, the Dowlais Iron Company operated 18 blast furnaces and employed 7,300 people many of whom came from Wales, England Ireland and even Spain, and by 1857 had constructed the world's most powerful rolling mill.

The increase in iron plated ships pushed whole ship building industries forward making transatlantic travel more affordable for goods and of course passengers who left Europe for the new countries of Australia and America.