MURUGOV A. A. ENERGY AS A COMPREHENSIVE FACTOR OF MODERNIZATION DURING INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN EUROPE: A REVIEW OF WESTERN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The current study attempts to assess the energy base held by Europe in the XVIII – early XIX centuries. The research is based on the English and Russian assessment of foreign historiography devoted to energy balance in Europe. Chronologically, the historiographical base features the period from 1970s up to modern days. The main instrument of the analysis presented in the article is quantitative calculation of the power sources of energy in the countries of Western Europe. The article shows the increase dynamics of coal energy, wood, water, wind, steam, muscular energy and draft animals in Europe. Then, available power growth rate is compared with the rate of GDP that occurred in the study period. The research of the structure and nature of energy has revealed a strong statistical dependence of GDP on the amount of energy used in the era of industrial revolution in Europe and especially in the UK. The research stresses the importance of energy as a key factor of modernization and technological development of material culture.