How was France different from Great Britain when it came to advancing the Industrial Revolution?

Great Britain and France were comparable in 1700; both had established commerce, trade and a handicraft industry. However, by 1900 there were noticeable differences between these two nations due to the nature in which each of them advanced in the process of the Industrial Revolution that is the name given to the transition to new manufacturing processes begun in Great Britain in 1760 to1840.

In such transition from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing, iron production processes as well as the increasing use of steam power, which characterized Industrial Revolution, France was different from Great Britain.

First, unlike in France in Great Britain aristocrats and landowners supported the pursuit of increasing in agricultural productivity, reason why Great Britain had a number of major technological innovations than France such as the improved land draining techniques. As a consequence of the described before productivity was one third higher in England than France.

Second, coal had become the most in demand fuel not only in Britain but also in France, however in the latter coal resources were discovered in inconvenient locations far from cities or waterways which caused that transport costs for coal were quite higher in France that in Great Britain.

In addition, the railway developed in Britain by 1830, connecting Manchester and Liverpool, providing fastest distribution of goods with 10,500km of railway line open while France only had 3,000km open.

Finally, either in Britain or in France during the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a dramatic increase in population size, whose benefit were related to an increase in the supply of labor However, population growth was much larger and faster in Britain

In conclusion, when it came to advancing the Industrial Revolution, despite France was an industrial power, Britain was leading industrial nation.