History glossary
Factory system
production organised around machines, workers, discipline, and centralised workplaces.
- Category
- Economic system
What it means
The factory system concentrated production in large workplaces where machinery, supervision, wage labour, and time discipline shaped how goods were made. It became one of the defining structures of the Industrial Revolution.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Opium Wars
From the Canton System to the fall of Beijing, the Opium Wars turned illegal trade, imperial power and Qing weakness into a new unequal treaty order.
The Mughal Empire
From Babur's victory at Panipat to the sack of Delhi, the Mughals built a wealthy Indian empire whose power rested on conquest, administration, elite integration and court culture before central authority fractured.
Imperial Japan
From Meiji modernisation to colonial rule, militarism, mobilisation and defeat, Imperial Japan rose as a modern empire before collapsing in 1945.
The Meiji Restoration
From Tokugawa order to imperial restoration, conscription, industrialisation and military victory, the Meiji era transformed Japan into a modern imperial power.
Apartheid South Africa
From white minority rule to mass resistance, Mandela's release and the first democratic election, apartheid reshaped South Africa and the world.
Nazi Germany
From Weimar collapse to WWII, Nazi Germany imposed totalitarian rule, expansion, and genocide.
The Cold War
Rivalry between East and West shapes global politics - through proxy wars, propaganda, and nuclear tension.
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread globally, transforming economies, societies and everyday life through machines, factories and new energy sources.
