Mankind: The Story of all of Us (Part 10: Revolutions)

Beginning in 2012 (nearly 10 years ago), the History Channel has released this 12-episode docu-series about some of the most famous events of the 2 million years of the existence of our species.

This is part 10 of this 12 part wiki page series. In this part we will talk about the episode "Revolutions" which talks about not just the American Revolution, but also the Industrial Revolution.

## Revolutions

### The Industrial Revolution

After talking about the end of the American Revolution, the episode goes to Britain where it talks about another revolution; The Industrial Revolution

In the 1760s, 2 men were working (in secret) a special machine that can spin cotton faster and more efficient than doing it by hand (which was done traditionally by that time), this would start the Industrial Revolution as it will create a brand new workplace; The Factory and to make work standardized with many workers working in shifts and making clothes more tailored and better, and even making products faster and better. Within a few decades, this allows for more work in the city as more and more people work and live in the city.

### The B & O Railroad

The episode goes to the US and to the 1830s were a huge railroad project is underway; The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Hundreds of Thousands of men are working on his railroad project which began in the American city of Baltimore, the idea is to have Baltimore compete with other cities such as New York and Philadelphia by transporting people and goods to the Midwest, but unlike New York however, Baltimore doesn't have a canal to use hips to the Midwest, but thanks to industrialization this project can allow the city to compete with New York, it also has a good amount of Irish immigrants working on this project as well, and some of them were also escaping their home land as an awful Potato Famine is plaguing the island nation, and these Irish immigrants were often praised by their hard work. But this project was also very dangerous as most would die from accidents, mostly from intentional blasting.

### The Spreading of disease, again

The episode goes back to Britain where it talks about the epicenter of another outbreak of disease, Cholera.

As more people move into the industrial city for work, the city becomes a ticking time bomb for an outbreak for disease. This time, it's another disease; Cholera, caused on by the bacteria Vibrio Cholerae.

A stomach virus that kills you, bringing out diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and having it kill you within a matter of hours. The bacteria is native to India, with people on the move it would spread into Russia, Europe, and the US. Over 2 Million are dead.

But, one man is determined to stop the London outbreak; John Snow, some people believe that Cholera is caused by miasma (bad air) but Snow believes that the disease is in the water, and he was determined to prove it. What he does is he makes up a checklist of those who died from Cholera and even uses a map of the city, he discovers that the majority of those who died have drank the water from the center part of London, from the Broad Street Pump. despite his efforts, the authorities refuse to shut down the pump, and that's because there was woman named Suzanna Eeley who also died from Cholera, but doesn't live anywhere near the Broad Street Pump. This is where Snow does more investigating, he asked one of her sons about her, and told her that the water from the pump is what has the deadly bacteria, and Eeley preferred the water from the pump, the piece of the puzzle Snow was looking for, the broad street pump is 3 feet from an open sewer where body waste leaks into the water supply.

This is where the authorities have to shut down the pump, and when they do, the outbreak stops. Snow's methods are still used today; using similar methods of a detective and gathering the right evidence to stop or even prevent the spread of disease.

But, the British government decides to take action since open sewers made life in London miserable (it would be known as The Great Stink), the British government decides to make an underground sewer system to redirect body waste and other things that might spread disease away from the people. This would substantially reduce waterborne diseases. With this new system, Britain becomes the world's superpower, and it can take on another nation that's 40 times its size.

### The Opium Wars

There's already a wiki page series about the Opium Wars, please click here if you want to read about this piece of history.

This episode goes to China where another and different kind of plague is taking hold, a plague in the form of Opium.

Around 20 million people in China are addicted to Opium, and most of them are in the southern regions where opium dens sprouted up like weeds. The drug is illegal, but that doesn't stop people from bringing it in and doing it. Chinese authorities close down opium dens around the country, and sometimes even execute the supplier.

One supplier of Opium named Polao Chin was caught and sentenced to death. As this was happening, British Opium operators try to save him. Supposedly, the episode says that this would be what would begin The Opium Wars. China has 50 times the manpower, but Britain has 50 times the firepower thanks largely to industrialization.

### American Civil War

There's already a wiki page series about the American Civil War. If you want to know more, click here.

The episode now goes to Gettysburg where one of the most memorable battles of the American Civil War take place.

At the battle of Gettysburg, the episode talks about a Union Soldier named Reuben Ruch who just watched a few of his fellow soldiers die from bullets coming from Confederate muskets, during the battle, he takes a bullet to his right leg, he limps out of the crossfire and even tells his general of what just happened, but the general just yells at him to get himself out, and orders him to go to the field hospital.

During the American Civil War is where the latest in medical practices were used, again thanks largely to industrialization and the advancement in science. Amputations, and the use of Chloroform to prevent infections from spreading, and the introductions of nurses (especially a woman named Clara Barton who would go on to create the American Red Cross).

Now, take whatever was said about Reuben Ruch with a grain of salt, as from my own research very little in the way of actual evidence exists about this guy.

Anyway, that;ll do it for this page. The next part (click here) will talk about the episode "Speed" where it talks about how fast Mankind can go, and how fast it's going that it did ever before. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.